DOA:......Kretschmann, BB0159 - Sparsity Aid
For 2025-2027 Budget -- Not Ready For Introduction
An Act ...; relating to: the budget.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
EDUCATION
Primary and secondary education
Sparsity aid
Under current law, a school district is eligible for sparsity aid if the number of pupils per square mile in the school district is less than ten and the school district’s membership in the previous school year did not exceed 1,000 pupils. The amount of aid is $400 per pupil if the school district’s membership in the previous school year did not exceed 745 pupils and $100 per pupil if the school district’s membership in the previous school year was between 745 and 1,000 pupils. Beginning in the 2025‑26 school year, the bill increases these payment amounts to $500 and $200, respectively.
Current law also provides a reduced payment, known as a stop gap payment, to a school district that was eligible to receive sparsity aid in the previous school year but is not eligible to receive sparsity aid in the current school year because it no longer satisfies the pupils-per-square-mile requirement. The amount of the stop gap payment is 50 percent of the amount of sparsity aid the school district received in the previous school year. Under the bill, beginning in the 2025-26 school year, a school district is eligible for a sparsity aid stop gap payment if the school district is ineligible for sparsity aid in the current school year because it no longer satisfies the pupils-per-square-mile requirement or the membership requirement.
For further information see the local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. 115.436 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
115.436 (3) (a) Beginning in the 2018-19 school year, from From the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (ae) and subject to par. (b), the department shall pay to each school district eligible for sparsity aid under this paragraph $400 $500 multiplied by the membership in the previous school year.
Section 2. 115.436 (3) (am) of the statutes is renumbered 115.436 (3) (am) 1. and amended to read:
115.436 (3) (am) 1. Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, from From the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (ae), the department shall, subject to par. (b), pay to each school district that received aid under this section par. (a) in the previous school year but does not satisfy the requirement under sub. (2) (a) or (2m) (a) is ineligible to receive aid under pars. (a) and (c) in the current school year 50 percent of the amount received by the school district under par. (a) in the previous school year.
Section 3. 115.436 (3) (am) 2. of the statutes is created to read:
115.436 (3) (am) 2. From the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (ae), the department shall, subject to par. (b), pay to each school district that received aid under par. (c) in the previous school year but is ineligible to receive aid under pars. (a) and (c) in the current school year 50 percent of the amount received by the school district under par. (c) in the previous school year.
Section 4. 115.436 (3) (c) of the statutes is amended to read:
115.436 (3) (c) Beginning in the 2021-22 school year, from From the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (ae) and subject to par. (b), the department shall pay to a school district that is eligible for sparsity aid under this paragraph $100 $200 multiplied by the school district’s membership in the previous school year.
Section 9334. Initial applicability; Public Instruction.
(1) Sparsity aid; payments. The treatment of s. 115.436 (3) (a) and (c), the renumbering and amendment of s. 115.436 (3) (am), and the creation of s. 115.436 (3) (am) 2. first apply to payments made under s. 115.436 in the 2025-26 school year.
(end)
