Weekly Fiscal Facts are provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. The Wisconsin Policy Forum logo can be downloaded here.
After years of major budget shifts linked to federal pandemic funding and referenda, the Madison Metropolitan School District’s 2027 budget proposal is marked by stability, with brisk spending growth but few major changes.
Superintendent Joe Gothard’s budget proposal finds the district in a relatively strong position. The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) can point to its steady enrollment, large and growing property tax base, supportive community, and solid fund balances and credit ratings.
This stability comes at a cost to taxpayers. The budget proposal would raise the district’s property tax by $39.9 million, or 8.3%. This rise would come on the heels of a 20.4% increase in 2026 – the latter being the largest increase in more than three decades. This was the result of MMSD residents voting to approve 2024 property tax referenda, as well as key provisions in the current state budget.
Overall, MMSD is arguably in a better long-term position than any of the state’s other largest districts, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s annual brief on the district’s budget proposal. Yet sustaining these collective advantages is likely to become more difficult over time.
This year, MMSD finances again will benefit immensely from the passage of a 2024 operating referendum, which authorized MMSD to increase its property tax levy by more than $100 million over a four-year period above what would otherwise have been permitted.
The district is upgrading its district facilities as well. By the beginning of the 2029-30 school year each of the district’s major high school and middle school buildings will have been either renovated or replaced, thanks to $824 million in capital funds approved by voters in the 2020 and 2024 referenda.
This year, MMSD will see about $20 million in additional property tax revenue as a result of the 2024 operating referendum. This would allow the district to raise spending on operations at a brisk rate: the superintendent’s proposal calls for operating spending to increase by $35.5 million, or 6.2%, well above the rate of inflation.
However, the district’s cost to pay its share of employee health insurance premiums is set to rise in this budget by $11.8 million, or about 14%. This means nearly three-quarters of the $20 million in additional revenue in 2027 from the referendum will go toward rising health insurance costs. District officials reviewed a number of approaches to hold down the increase, and ultimately decided to require employees to pay a slightly larger share of their healthcare premiums.
Another outcome of the referenda’s passage is that MMSD’s dependence on its main source of local revenue, its property tax levy, is set to grow. Reliance on revenue from state and federal aid, meanwhile, would continue to decline, as these sources would account for only 25.4% of operating revenue, the lowest share since at least 2015.
Despite the district’s many positives, fiscal challenges remain on the horizon. These include the possibility that as soon as 2028, if it wishes to raise wages and maintain current staffing levels, the district may once again need to ask its voters for additional authority to increase property taxes above what state limits would allow.
If the district does opt to pursue another referendum, local voters have shown a consistent willingness in recent years to back such ballot measures and may do so again if asked. However, the accumulating levy increases may dampen that enthusiasm over time.
This information is provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members as a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org.
