School Finance Bulletin #1022
October 15 Certification of General School Aids
We have posted the 2024-25 October 15 General School Aid Certifications. There is a link on the SFS homepage or you can go directly to the October 15 page with summaries by district and percentage change. This annual aid certification is required by law. Updated versions of the Excel aid worksheets are also available on the General Aid Worksheets page.
This year's aid certification uses shared cost, membership and equalized value factors from 2023-24. Aid membership was 3,635 FTE (0.4 percent), lower than the prior year. When combined with overall increases in shared cost and equalized values, the secondary cost ceiling (90 percent of the state average) increased by 7.6 percent to $11,943 per member, the secondary guaranteed value increased by 8.6 percent to $2,207,144 per member and the tertiary guaranteed value (state average) increased by 13.2 percent to $975,802 per member.
For questions about this information, contact Ben Kopitzke (608) 267-9279. You can also review the DPI press release.
Prepopulated 2024-25 Revenue Limit Worksheet
Updates of the prepopulated 2024-25 revenue limit worksheet have begun and a new version is posted on the Revenue Limit Worksheets page. As districts set tax levies and update reports over the next few weeks, we will refresh the worksheet daily based on current data.
Remember that it is a school district’s responsibility to ensure the accuracy of its data. We provide the revenue limit worksheet as a service to show what our version of your computation is—the worksheet is only as accurate as your data that we had on file when it was last updated.
We recommend you verify your district’s September 2024 pupil count and Summer 2024 FTE and, if necessary, update them as soon as possible. We also recommend that you ensure your district’s Annual Report for 2023-24 matches your books and any final corrections made by you and your auditor.
If something does not look right on your revenue limit worksheet, contact us before your board sets its 2024-25 tax levy.
Tax Levy and Referendum
With over 120 districts holding referendum elections in November, we have received many questions regarding how districts should report their tax levies to comply with statutory deadlines.
Districts must vote a levy prior to November 1 each year per Wis. Stats. 120.12 (3)(a). Districts with referendum questions on the November ballot should adopt levies contingent upon the result of the referendum election.
The district clerk must deliver a levy statement to the clerk of each municipality having territory in the district on or before November 10. This year, November 4 falls on a Monday, election day is Tuesday, November 5, and November 10 is a Sunday, making for a tight turnaround to meet these statutory deadlines.
Districts must enter levy information in WiSFiP by November 4, 2024. If changes occur due to results of a referendum, districts must revise the entry in WiSFiP. Since the statutory deadline is November 10, a Sunday, districts must deliver levy statements to municipal clerks by the end of the day on Friday, November 8, unless arrangements are made with the clerks to deliver them on the weekend.
Please contact dpifin@dpi.wi.gov if you have further questions.
The FY 2023-24 WiSFiP (Wisconsin School Finance Portal) Special Education Data is due Friday, October 18, 2024
Local Education Agencies (LEAs), Cooperative Education Service Agencies (CESAs), County Children with Disabilities Education Boards (CCDEBs) and Independent Charter Schools (ICS) will now report and validate their FY 2023-24 special education data using the Wisconsin School Finance Portal (WiSFiP).
The initial review of FY 2023-24 reported special education expenses in WiSFiP begins Monday, October 21, 2024. LEAs must certify their FY2023-24 Fund 27 data by Friday, October 18, 2024.
Special education data certification is completed in WiSFiP. Select the Certification tab as shown below:
Additional resources are available in the previous School Finance Bulletin linked here.
For questions about completing special education validation and reporting, please contact Rick Cruz (608) 266-8255, Matthew Baier (608) 266-1863 or Jennifer Buros (608) 266-1966.