Wisconsin GOP legislators are in the process of proposing two bills that would limit the ways local school districts can raise and spend money through referendums and local taxpayers, according to a Monday report by the Wisconsin State Journal.
The bills, one of which has already been proposed, would bar schools from introducing referendums at any other time than the traditional spring or fall elections. In addition, school boards would have to wait two years before re-introducing a failed referendum question.
State Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, who authored the bill, said the measure would protect local voters from getting worn down from repeated referendum questions, according to the State Journal.
Critics say the bill’s language could hinder school districts’ ability to borrow money for emergency and short-term cases. Wisconsin Association of School Boards lobbyist Dan Rossmiller said in the report the bill could “trap” schools in a two-year prohibition from measures like issuing bonds or taking out a loan.
“If they guess wrong, or misjudge voter sentiment, were that bill to pass, they’d be trapped and so I guess what these legislators want is for school districts to just cut and cut regardless what that does to educational opportunities and programs,” Rossmiller said in the State Journal report.
The second bill would restrict the exemption to revenue limits that school districts can receive if they implement energy efficiency programs. A 2013 modification to the exception required any savings produced from lowered energy costs be used to pay back debt. The bill’s motivation is to better restrict and monitor how those savings are spent.
