Wisconsin Statutes 121.07 – General provisions; state aid computation
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In this subchapter:
Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 121.07
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Following: when used by way of reference to any statute section, means the section next following that in which the reference is made. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- State: when applied to states of the United States, includes the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the several territories organized by Congress. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; "year" alone means "year of our Lord". See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
(1) Basis for statistics.
(a) The membership of the school district in the previous school year and the shared cost for the previous school year shall be used in computing general aid. If a school district has a state trust fund loan as a result of s. 24.61 (3) (c) 2., 2009 stats., the school district’s debt service costs shall be based upon current school year costs for the term of the loan and for one additional school year.
(b) If the school district valuation is increased or decreased due to an alteration in school district boundaries before the 3rd Friday in September, the estimated shared cost for the current school year and the estimated mill levy rate shall be based on the school district equalized valuation of the territory comprising the altered school district.
(c) If an order of school district reorganization under ch. 117 is not effective due to litigation until after the 3rd Friday in September but takes effect before April 1 of the current school year, state aid for any affected school district for the first year of operation shall be computed after the order takes effect using calculations by the state superintendent of the number of pupils enrolled and teacher-pupil ratio for the territory in the affected school district, which shall be made as if the school district had been in existence on the 3rd Friday in September.
(2) Membership. For the purposes of ss. 121.08, 121.09, 121.095, 121.105, and 121.137, a school district’s membership is the sum of all of the following:
(a) The school district’s membership, as defined in s. 121.004 (5), in the previous school year.
(b) The number of pupils residing in the school district in the previous school year who were incoming choice pupils, as defined in s. 118.60 (4d) (a), and for whom a payment was made under s. 118.60 (4) (bg) in the previous school year.
(c) The number of pupils residing in the school district in the previous school year for whom a payment was made under s. 115.7915 (4m) (a) or (e) in the previous school year.
(d) The number of pupils residing in the school district in the previous school year for whom a payment was made under s. 118.40 (2r) (e) to an operator of a charter school established under contract with an entity under s. 118.40 (2r) (b) 1. e. to h. in the previous school year.
(f) The number of pupils residing in the school district in the previous school year for whom a payment was made under s. 118.40 (2x) (e) in the previous school year.
(6) Shared cost.
(a) “Shared cost” is the sum of the net cost of the general fund and the net cost of the debt service fund, except that “shared cost” excludes any costs, including attorney fees, incurred by a school district as a result of its participation in a lawsuit commenced against the state, beginning with such costs incurred in the fiscal year in which the lawsuit is commenced, excludes any expenditures from a capital improvement trust fund created under s. 120.137, excludes any debt service costs associated with an environmental remediation project under s. 67.05 (7) (er), and excludes the costs of transporting those transfer pupils for whom the school district operating under ch. 119 does not receive intradistrict transfer aid under s. 121.85 (6) as a result of s. 121.85 (6) (am). In this paragraph:
1m. “Net cost of the debt service fund” includes all of the following amounts:
a. If a school board makes an expenditure from a capital expansion fund created under s. 120.10 (10m), an amount determined by dividing the expenditure by the number of years in which the school district levied a tax for the capital project. This subd. 1m. a. applies for the number of years equal to the number of years in which the school district levied a tax for the capital project.
b. The annual cost of leasing a school or other school district facility if the lease provides for construction of the school or facility and the lease either provides that ownership of the school or facility transfers to the school district at the termination of the lease or provides an option for such a transfer.
2m. “Net cost of the general fund” includes money deposited in a long-term capital improvement trust fund created under s. 120.137.
(am) In par. (a), for the purpose of calculating state aid paid to a school district in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, “shared cost” excludes any amount expended in the previous school year from the school district’s fund balance to pay the school district’s unfunded pension liability under the Wisconsin Retirement System or to pay debt service for debt issued to refinance the balance of the unfunded pension liability if the result of excluding such expenditures is an increase in state aid paid to the school district under s. 121.08.
(b) The “primary ceiling cost per member” is $1,000.
(c) The “primary shared cost” is that portion of a district’s shared cost which is less than or equal to the primary ceiling cost per member multiplied by its membership.
(d) The “secondary ceiling cost per member” in the 2001-02 school year and in each school year thereafter is an amount determined by dividing the state total shared cost in the previous school year by the state total membership in the previous school year and multiplying the result by 0.90.
(dg) The “secondary shared cost” is that portion of a school district’s shared cost which is greater than the primary ceiling cost per member multiplied by its membership and less than or equal to the secondary ceiling cost per member multiplied by its membership.
(dr) The “tertiary shared cost” is that portion of a school district’s shared cost which is greater than the secondary ceiling cost per member multiplied by its membership.
(e)
1. For a school district created by a consolidation under s. 117.08 or 117.09 that takes effect before July 1, 2019, in the school year in which the consolidation takes effect and in each of the subsequent 4 school years, the amounts under pars. (b) and (d) shall be multiplied by 1.15 and rounded to the next lowest dollar.
2. For a school district from which territory was detached to create a school district under s. 117.105, in each of the 3 school years beginning on the July 1 following the effective date of the reorganization under s. 117.105, the amounts under pars. (b) and (d) shall be multiplied by 1.05 and rounded to the next lower dollar.
(7) Guaranteed valuation per member.
121.07(7)(a) (a) The “primary guaranteed valuation per member” is $1,930,000.
(b) The “secondary guaranteed valuation per member” is an amount, rounded to the next lower dollar, that, after subtraction of payments under ss. 121.09 and 121.85 (6) (b) 2. and 3. and (c), fully distributes an amount equal to the amount remaining in the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (ac).
(bm) The “tertiary guaranteed valuation per member” is the amount rounded to the next lower dollar determined by dividing the equalized valuation of the state by the state total membership.
(c) For districts operating only high school grades, the amounts in pars. (a) to (bm) shall be multiplied by 3 and rounded to the next lower dollar.
(d) For districts operating only elementary grades, the amounts in pars. (a) to (bm) shall be multiplied by 1.5 and rounded to the next lower dollar.
(e)
1. For a school district created by a consolidation under s. 117.08 or 117.09 that takes effect before July 1, 2019, in the school year in which the consolidation takes effect and in each of the subsequent 4 school years, the amounts under pars. (a) to (bm) shall be multiplied by 1.15 and rounded to the next lower dollar.
2. For a school district from which territory was detached to create a school district under s. 117.105, in each of the 3 school years beginning on the July 1 following the effective date of the reorganization under s. 117.105, the amounts under pars. (a) to (bm) shall be multiplied by 1.05 and rounded to the next lower dollar.
(8) Guaranteed valuation. A school district’s primary, secondary and tertiary guaranteed valuations are determined by multiplying the amounts in sub. (7) by the district’s membership.
(10) Required levy rate.
(b) The “primary required levy rate” is the primary shared cost divided by the primary guaranteed valuation.
(c) The “secondary required levy rate” is the secondary shared cost divided by the secondary guaranteed valuation.
(d) The “tertiary required levy rate” is the tertiary shared cost divided by the tertiary guaranteed valuation.