2019 - 2020 LEGISLATURE
May 15, 2019 - Introduced by Senators Marklein, Kooyenga, Olsen and Nass,
cosponsored by Representatives Kitchens, Novak and VanderMeer. Referred
to Committee on Education.
SB206,1,5 1An Act to renumber and amend 121.07 (6) (am); to amend 121.07 (6) (a)
2(intro.) and 121.07 (6) (d); and to create 121.07 (6) (am) 1., 2. and 3. and 121.07
3(6) (ap) of the statutes; relating to: determining shared costs and the
4secondary cost ceiling for the purpose of general equalization aids for school
5districts.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, the equalization formula provides three tiers of state
support for school districts. The second tier of support is for costs per pupil between
$1,000 and the secondary cost ceiling. Under current law, the secondary cost ceiling
per pupil is set at 90 percent of the previous school year statewide shared cost per
pupil. Beginning in the 2020-21 school year, this bill increases the secondary cost
ceiling to 100 percent of the previous school year statewide shared cost per pupil.
A school district's shared cost is one of the factors used to calculate a school
district's equalization aid. Generally, under current law, a school district's shared
cost is the sum of the school district's expenditures from its general fund and its debt
service fund. Under this bill, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, expenditures
from either a school district's general fund or debt service fund that are authorized
by an operating or capital referendum held after the date on which this bill becomes
law are excluded from the school district's shared cost if the school district is a
negative tertiary school district. A school district is a negative tertiary school district
if its equalized valuation exceeds the tertiary guaranteed valuation per member. In

other words, under the bill, a negative tertiary school district will not lose
equalization aid for operating and capital expenditures that exceed the tertiary
guarantee and are funded by referenda approved after this bill becomes law.
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:
SB206,1 1Section 1. 121.07 (6) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB206,2,132 121.07 (6) (a) (intro.) “Shared Subject to pars. (am) and (ap), “shared cost" is
3the sum of the net cost of the general fund and the net cost of the debt service fund,
4except that “shared cost" excludes any costs, including attorney fees, incurred by a
5school district as a result of its participation in a lawsuit commenced against the
6state, beginning with such costs incurred in the fiscal year in which the lawsuit is
7commenced, excludes any expenditures from a capital improvement fund created
8under s. 120.135 or a capital improvement trust fund created under s. 120.137,
9excludes any debt service costs associated with an environmental remediation
10project under s. 67.05 (7) (er), and excludes the costs of transporting those transfer
11pupils for whom the school district operating under ch. 119 does not receive
12intradistrict transfer aid under s. 121.85 (6) as a result of s. 121.85 (6) (am). In this
13paragraph:
SB206,2 14Section 2. 121.07 (6) (am) of the statutes is renumbered 121.07 (6) (am) (intro.)
15and amended to read:
SB206,3,416 121.07 (6) (am) (intro.) In par. (a), for the purpose of calculating state aid paid
17to a school district beginning in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 2020-21 school years year,
18“shared cost" excludes any the amount expended in the previous school year from the
19school district's fund balance to pay the school district's unfunded pension liability

1under the Wisconsin Retirement System or to pay debt service for debt issued to
2refinance the balance of the unfunded pension liability
calculated as follows if the
3result of excluding such expenditures the amount is an increase in state aid paid to
4the school district under s. 121.08.:
SB206,3 5Section 3. 121.07 (6) (am) 1., 2. and 3. of the statutes are created to read:
SB206,3,96 121.07 (6) (am) 1. Determine the amount levied by the school district or levied
7for school purposes in the current school year that was authorized by a referendum
8approved under s. 121.91 (3) after the effective date of this subdivision .... [LRB
9inserts date].
SB206,3,1110 2. Subtract the levy amount set by the school board from the maximum levy
11amount allowed under s. 121.91 (2m).
SB206,3,1312 3. If the difference under subd. 2. is a positive number, subtract that number
13from the amount determined under subd. 1.
SB206,4 14Section 4. 121.07 (6) (ap) of the statutes is created to read:
SB206,3,1815 121.07 (6) (ap) In par. (a), “debt service” excludes debt service on debt
16authorized by a referendum held after the effective date of this paragraph .... [LRB
17inserts date], if the result of excluding the debt service is an increase in state aid paid
18to the school district under s. 121.08.
SB206,5 19Section 5 . 121.07 (6) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB206,3,2320 121.07 (6) (d) The “secondary ceiling cost per member" in the 2001-02 school
21year and in each school year thereafter
is an amount determined by dividing the state
22total shared cost in the previous school year by the state total membership in the
23previous school year and multiplying the result by 0.90.
SB206,6 24Section 6 . Initial applicability.
SB206,4,2
1(1) The treatment of s. 121.07 (6) (d) first applies to the distribution of school
2aid in the 2020-21 school year.
SB206,4,33 (End)
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