In our July analysis of the 2025-27 state budget, the Wisconsin Policy Forum noted that the legislation would leave school boards with a choice “between locking in an increase in revenue that they have been seeking in recent years and shielding local property taxpayers.”
We now know the result – gross K-12 property taxes rose by $476 million, or 7.8%, the largest percentage increase since 1992. In Madison, for example, the school levy on December tax bills rose by 20.4%.
In essence, state law as written through a 2023 veto by Gov. Tony Evers allows school districts to increase their core funding sources by $325 per pupil this year under what are known as state revenue limits. However, the state budget approved by Evers and lawmakers did not provide any additional state general school aid that districts typically receive to offset at least part of that per pupil increase. As a result, school boards were able to cover the entire revenue limit increase – plus any additional amounts approved by voters in a referendum – by raising local property taxes. Many of them voted to do so.
For decades, the Wisconsin Policy Forum has published a December brief analyzing the changes to local tax levies and we did so again late last year, noting the large increase. In doing so, we sought neither to praise nor critique it, only to provide the information that elected officials and ordinary voters need to make up their own minds.
I am proud to say that the Forum is one of the few organizations that gives citizens the full context on government taxing and spending in our state. Most other groups tend to leave out part of the picture. For example, we noted the once in a generation tax increase in our recent brief, but we also have noted that Wisconsin’s state and local tax ranking has fallen well below the national average. In January, we noted the tax burden was at its lowest level in Wisconsin since at least 1970 and in July 2025 we reported that the K-12 spending per pupil in this state was falling farther behind the U.S. average.
Going forward, we expect heavy pressure on local taxes in communities like Madison, where both the school district and city passed 2024 referenda, and Milwaukee, where the city and county instituted new sales taxes in 2024 and another referendum also passed for the school district. Going forward, local elected officials have to balance the desire to protect property taxpayers and control rising housing costs against the need to pay police officers, staff county jails, and retain licensed teachers in classrooms — as well as to make upgrades to city streets, county parks, and school buildings. One key question for now is whether the governor and Legislature will pass any additional legislation this spring to hold down property taxes, increase school funding, or both.
Either way, local officials have difficult decisions ahead of them. In 2026, one of the top priorities of the Wisconsin Policy Forum will be providing the best possible information to those who have the unenviable task of making these choices.