MADISON– 96 of the 99 State Representatives serving in the State Assembly represent at least one school district that has gone to referendum since 2024. Failure to adequately fund the schools is pushing school districts to referendum, and forcing taxpayers into a difficult choice whether or not to fund their schools by raising their own taxes. These referendums are occurring as the cost of living is becoming more and more unaffordable for Wisconsinites–all the while the State of Wisconsin has a $4B+ surplus. Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) released the following statement in response:
“96 of the 99 State Representatives have school districts that have gone to referendum since 2024. That means nearly every single lawmaker in the State Assembly–Democrat and Republican–represents a district with at least one school referendum proposed in 2024 or 2025. 92 Assembly Districts have school districts with 1 or more passed referendum/s, and 4 Assembly Districts have school districts with 1 or more failed referendum/s. Only 3 Assembly Districts have school districts that have not proposed a referendum in 2024 or 2025.
“Multiple Republican lawmakers represent Assembly Districts that have gone to referendum over 20 times since 2024, the highest being 25. That is 25 times constituents in one Assembly district have been asked to raise their property taxes to fund the schools in less than two years.
“One of the top two issues the Joint Finance Committee heard about at the statewide state budget listening tour was funding public schools. School districts across the state have been waving their hands in the air for years, and now taxpayers are screaming–understandably–to end this cycle of referendums that is rooted in about a decade and a half of the state legislature underfunding Wisconsin’s public schools.
“So, how do we end this cycle of school referendums? We fund the schools in the state budget that is being written right now. We increase the special education reimbursement rate to 90%, and we index per-pupil funding to inflation. We as a legislature need to take action to ensure our schools have the state funding they need to provide our students with the constitutionally guaranteed education they deserve.
“This isn’t a Republican v. Democrat issue across Wisconsin, so it shouldn’t be a Democrat v. Republican issue in Madison! Let’s represent our districts well and propose adequate funding for our public schools to move Wisconsin Forward, together.”
Rep. Vining represents the 13th Assembly District, which includes Elm Grove, and parts of Wauwatosa and Brookfield. For more information visit Rep. Vining’s website here.
Red: School districts with passed referendums. The deeper the red, the more referendums passed in that district–that’s right, some districts have passed more than one referendum in 2024 and 2025. (I represent one of them.)
Purple: School districts with failed referendums
White space: No referendums proposed
Assembly District lines and numbers provided. All data compiled by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau and mapped by the nonpartisan Legislative Technical Services Bureau.
