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Consolidation Aid

Overview

Public school districts consolidating under Wis. Stats. 117.08 or 117.09 may be eligible for additional funding from the State General Aid appropriation. Per s. 121.105(3), for the first five years after consolidation, the newly consolidated school district’s state aid shall be at least the sum of the state aid received by the consolidating school districts in the year prior to the consolidation. If during that five-year period state aid is lower than this sum, the consolidated district receives Special Adjustment Aid to reach the sum of aid received in the year prior to consolidation.

Statutory References

s. 121.105(3) - Special Adjustment Aids

In the school year in which a school district consolidation takes effect under s. 117.08 or 117.09 and in each of the subsequent four school years, the consolidated school district’s state aid shall be an amount that is not less than the aggregate state aid received by the consolidating school districts in the school year prior to the school year in which the consolidation takes effect.

s. 121.90(2)(bm) - State Aid Exclusions

"State aid" (as defined for revenue limit purposes) excludes any additional aid that a school district receives as a result of ss. 121.07(6)(e)1 and 121.07(7)(e)1; and 121.105(3) for school district consolidations that are effective on or after July 1, 1995, as determined by DPI.

Calculation Details

All General Aid is paid on prior-year information, so in the first year of the consolidation when each of the consolidating districts has individual data from the prior year, aid is computed for each district separately, summed and vouchered to the single, newly-consolidated entity. In all subsequent years, there will be only one set of prior-year data, that of the single consolidated district.

Three-step Process

A three-step process computes aid in the following order:

  1. Equalization Aid
  2. 85 percent Prior-Year Hold Harmless Special Adjustment (if applicable)
  3. Five-Year Hold Harmless Special Adjustment