On Thursday, May 23 the GOP members of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee (JFC) passed an omnibus motion on K-12 education on a party-line vote. The motion covers two fiscal years (2019-20/1st year & 2020-21/2nd year). The total amount by which state funding for K-12 education is increased over those two years under the motion is approximately $500 million.
Below are highlights of that plan (numbers are rounded): (more…)
The Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) will meet in Executive Session to vote on K-12 education funding in the 2019-21 state budget on Thursday, May 23, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. The meeting will be held in Room 412 East, State Capitol. View meeting notice.
The committee will work from budget papers (see below) prepared by the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB). Those budget papers deal with specific subjects–e.g., revenue limit adjustments, per pupil categorical aid, special education categorical aid, etc. The budget papers provide background information and typically lay out a series of alternatives for the committee to consider on each topic. (more…)
Voters approved about 75 percent of all school referenda on local ballots at Tuesday’s (April 2) election, continuing to show support for providing additional resources for schools in communities throughout the state.
Overall, local voters approved 28 of 33 referenda to exceed revenue caps, an 85 percent passage rate.
Governor Tony Evers’ proposed state budget makes a number of school funding changes that are in addition to the “Fair Funding for our Future” reforms.
For example, in addition to an unprecedented increase in special education categorical aid (see previous post), the proposed budget also calls for per pupil increases in both school district revenue limits ($200 in 2019-20 and $204 in 2020-21) and the low revenue ceiling (to $9,700 in 2019-20 and to $10,000 in 2020-21).
In addition to school board elections, there will be 59 school referenda on the Tuesday, April 2 spring general election ballot in school districts across the state.
The April 2 ballot includes seven referenda to exceed revenue limits on a recurring basis, 26 referenda to exceed revenue limits on a nonrecurring basis and 26 borrowing referenda.