Department of Public Instruction Releases General Aid Figures for 2017-18 School Year

A little more than half of Wisconsin public school districts will receive less general aid in the 2017-18 school year than they did for the 2016-17 school year, according to estimates released by the Department of Public Instruction.

Although the 2017-19 state budget has not been finalized, the current budget proposal maintains the same level of general school aid ($4.584 billion in 2017-18) as was appropriated in the 2016-17 fiscal year. Of the state’s 422 school districts, 55 percent (231) are estimated to receive less general aid in 2017-18, while 44 percent of districts (187) are expected to receive more aid. The estimate shows four districts will have no change in the aid between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 fiscal years. With school aid being held at the same level as the prior year, other factors that comprise the general equalization aid formula – property valuation, enrollment, and shared costs – impact whether general aid for a district increases or decreases.

In Door County, Gibraltar Area and Sevastopol districts have 15.03 percent less than their 2016-17 general aid; Sturgeon Bay’s will increase by 6.24 percent; and Washington remains unchanged with zero aid. District aid estimates can be found on the department’s School Financial Services website, https://dpi.wi.gov/sfs/aid/general/summary, both alphabetically and by percent change.