Wisconsin school referendum transparency bill has Senate committee hearing

(The Center Square) – A pair of Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are looking for more transparency on the ballot related to school referendum, requiring information on how much an initiative would cost an average taxpayer in property tax payments.

Opponents representing school administrators in the state say that information would be tough to figure and make accurate when ballot language is due and it’s better to provide that information to taxpayers in informational meetings.

Senate Bill 58 is similar to school referendum transparency bills that made their way through the Wisconsin Legislature the past two years but added stipulations requiring estimates on interest related to bonds for capital referendums as well.

“The point is simply to give voters the information they need so they can make informed choices, said Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, a bill sponsor.

Allen and Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, testified in front of the Senate Committee on Education along with opponents of the bill.

“I have no problem funding things, I just want to know what the true cost of that would be,”

Cabral-Guevara noted, saying a school district in her district held a referendum without fully telling voters the cost of interest on bonds, noting there were $55 million in interest payments alone related to the referendum.

The proposal comes after 169 out of 241 school ballot referenda in 2024 elections were approved by voters at a cost of $4.4 billion to taxpayers.

It’s unclear if the changes would make Gov. Tony Evers receptive to the bill or if he would exercise his veto power to prevent it from becoming law.

“What I like about referendums is, at its purest, it’s democracy in action,” Allen said.

But Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, continued to point toward the rise of school referenda and the reason for that rise as local school district funding asks are related to both state and federal funding and state reimbursement amounts for services such as special education.

White Lake School District Administrator Lance Bagstad said the required information and timeframe would muddy up the informational process for voters and, what they really want to know is how much a referendum would cost them year-by-year individually, something that districts can provide through informational meetings and communications rather than on a ballot in concise form without context.

“That’s the information, quite frankly, that taxpayers want to know,” Bagstad told the committee.

Allen said that, as a realtor, an essential part of the job is doing the math on property taxes and future property taxes so that potential home owners can figure out their ability to make mortgage payments.

“It’s about making good decisions,” Allen said.