Annysa Johnson

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin taxpayers will be asked to commit more than $1 billion in additional funding for their public schools in the November election. And if they pass at the rates seen in recent years, 2018 could be the highest year on record for dollars raised by school district referendums, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

According to the report, voters already approved about $648.1 million in referendums for 48 of the state's 421 school districts this year. And next month, 61 districts will seek an additional $1.4 billion. Together, they appear on track to exceed the more than $1.7 billion approved in 2016.

Referendums are rising, both in size and numbers, despite recent increases in state aid for schools and attempts by lawmakers to rein in the ballot questions, according to the Policy Forum. The findings come in the midst of a heated governor's race in which K12 education — and how to pay for it — has emerged as a crucial issue.

Democratic candidate and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers said Tuesday that the rise in referendums is "directly related" to the budget cuts Gov. Scott Walker made to schools after he first got into office in 2010.

"Frankly, that's a Scott Walker tax," said Evers, who maintains his plan to increase school spending by $1.4 billion in 2019-'21 would reduce the need for school referendums.

Walker's campaign staff said the number of referendums proposed has actually declined under the governor, to 735, compared with the 858 proposed under his Democratic predecessor Gov. Jim Doyle.

“While Evers pushes tax hikes to pay for his exorbitant spending, Scott Walker's reforms balanced the state budget so we can afford to invest in our priorities, and still enables people in local communities to decide what’s best for them," his campaign said.

RELATED:Tony Evers seeks $1.4 billion increase for Wisconsin schools

Jason Stein, research director for the forum, pointed to a host of factors that appear to be driving the numbers, including enrollment changes, up or down; the economic expansion; and a shift in voter attitudes toward tax increases for schools.

He cited repeated Marquette University Law School polls this year showing a majority of voters supported increasing funding for schools over cutting taxes, and ballot questions in other states.

"We're seeing sort of a national trend in which more candidates are talking about increasing education funding in this election cycle," Stein said.

School referendums are rooted in the revenue caps imposed by lawmakers beginning in the 1993-'94 school year that limit how much districts can raise in their local tax levies — a response to two decades of rising property taxes tied to school funding.

In the past, the caps increased with inflation. But they were cut with the passage of Act 10 in 2011 and have been frozen since 2014-'15.

As school district budgets were squeezed, many turned to referendums for additional tax dollars — pushing up local property taxes to pay for capital projects, maintain and expand programs and services, and finance costly retirement benefits.

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Since 1990, Wisconsin school districts have passed more than 1,600 referendum proposals totaling $12 billion — more than half of that in the last decade. Most of those have been to acquire debt for capital projects, but a growing number are to exceed revenue limits for operating costs to maintain programming.

In 2016 alone, voters approved referendum questions that authorized borrowing $1.35 billion, according to the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, a predecessor organization to the Policy Forum. That was 10 times more than in 2011 and the most since the alliance began tracking the data in 1993.

Several school districts in southeastern Wisconsin have referendums on the ballot next month. Those include questions valued at $39.7 million in Pewaukee, $60.9 million in Oak Creek-Franklin, and $124.9 million in Wauwatosa. And questions cover a range of projects, from building and remodeling schools, security improvements and maintaining educational programming.

Officials in districts that have turned to referendums say they often have no choice but to ask local taxpayers for more money.

"With the revenue cap, we have to limit what we can put in the annual capital improvement budget," said Todd Gray, superintendent of the Waukesha School District, which is asking voters to approve $60 million for safety and building repairs and upgrades. "We have three building projects that are impacting educational areas and safety that we didn't have to worry about 10 or 12 years ago."

Dan Rossmiller, government relations director for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, said many of the larger referendums are in growing communities where they have to build new facilities.

"Every district is making these decisions based on what they think is in the best interest of their students and their community," he said. "They are in a competitive environment between private school choice and public school open enrollment. And good schools are absolutely critical to communities in terms of economic development."

Other findings in the report:

In 2018, the number of referendums is expected to hit 156 (some districts post multiple questions), the highest number since 2001. That could change if any are withdrawn before election day or new, emergency referendums are required because of a natural disaster.

Over the past two decades, the number of referendums on ballots tended to reflect the health of the economy.

The approval rates for referendums has been rising since 2003, hitting 79% in 2016.

Most school districts seeking referendums were rural schools, the majority of which are experiencing declining enrollment that effectively lowers their state aid, forcing them to make that up from local taxpayers.

Republican lawmakers, troubled by the rise in referendums, have introduced several measures over the last two sessions aimed at reining them in, with limited success. Beginning this year, school districts may float only two referendum questions a year, and in most cases only during regularly scheduled fall or spring elections.

RELATED:Wisconsin GOP lawmakers take aim at mounting school referendums

Stein said he expects lawmakers to raise the issue again in the next legislative session.