The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction announced state general school aids for the 2025-26 school year, and most area school districts are seeing a reduction of the aid it received in the previous school year.
Enrollment numbers, combined with year-end financial data, determines the amount that each school district receives. Also part of the determination are enrollment numbers for independent charter schools and private schools. Of the state’s 421 school districts, more than 300 are seeing reduced support.
Glenda Butterfield-Boldig, superintendent for the Bowler School District, said her district is receiving $46,475 less in equalization aid this school year, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to other factors.
Butterfield-Boldig pointed out “that reduction doesn’t impact us as much as the other areas that increased this year for payments to open enrollment and voucher schools. We will feel the full impact of our reduced aid next year, because we’ve had to adjust our expenditures this year to develop a minimally deficit budget, which will impact our shared costs for the aid formula into next year. This will mean even less aid for our district in future years unless the state increases its support to districts.”
State-mandated rates for open enrollment and voucher programs have increased, with Bowler paying an additional $1,140 per student for open enrolled students without disabilities going out of the district, and an additional $640 for open enrolled students with disabilities and students in the private school voucher program.
“All together, these changes mean Bowler will pay about $168,000 more to other schools this year. These programs will funnel $1.1 million of our district’s revenues away from our programs,” Butterfield-Boldig said. “This represents a troubling trend. What once cost local taxpayers about $30,000 in the 2024-2025 school year for private school voucher payments now costs $93,000 in 2025-26 with the addition of six more students enrolling in private schools.”
State aid covered nearly 78% of Bowler’s budget under state-imposed revenue limits in the 2024-25 school year, but that drops to 71% for this school year, requiring local taxpayers to pay more.
The pinch will be felt in the Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District, as well. Superintendent Garrett Rogowski noted that the state provided almost $9.4 million to the district last year, but the aid is dropping almost $275,000 this year.
In the Lena School District, officials will see a decrease of $195,065 for this school year. Superintendent Ben Pytleski said it’s a tremendous reduction for his small district, because it’s heavily dependent on state aid due to low property values in the district.
Pytleski said Lena has under-levied its budget for the past three years, saving taxpayers more than $1 million, but the district won’t be able to do that this year because of the state aid reduction. The tax rate has been $5.26 for every $1,000 of equalized valuation the last two years, but the district will need to raise it to balance its budget.
“The drop in state aid along with declining enrollment (district residents) will present a challenge for us,” Pytleski said. “Thankfully, we have been offsetting our declining enrollment with some very strong net-positive open enrollment numbers (net positive 44 students) that has kept our student population numbers steady.”
Only three school districts in the area will see an increase in state aid for the 2025-26 school year. Menominee Indian School District is in the top 10 of students getting more aid, with more than $2 million added, an increase of 16.22%. Shawano School District will see an additional $899,121, growing its state aid total by 5.39%, while Pulaski Community School District expects to receive an additional $703,802, an increase of 2.07%.
BY THE NUMBERS
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction general aid to school districts:
District 2025-26 aid 2024-25 aid $ change % change
Menominee Indian $14,752,378 $12,693,420 $2,058,958 16.22
Shawano $17,588,226 $16,689,105 $899,121 5.39
Pulaski $34,775,887 $34,072,085 $703,802 2.07
Bonduel $5,263,290 $5,440,817 -$177,527 -3.26
Bowler $3,846,015 $3,892,490 -$46,475 -1.19
Gillett $4,529,876 $5,022,423 -$492,547 -9.81
Gresham 2415 $2,557,664 $2,639,780 -$82,116 -3.11
Lena $3,199,399 $3,394,464 -$195,065 -5.75
Marion $3,673,588 $3,781,967 -$108,379 -2.87
Suring $38,775 $45,617 -$6,842 -15
Tigerton $2,008,005 $2,192,848 -$184,843 -8.43
Wittenberg-Birnamwood $9,120,612 $9,395,076 -$274,464 -2.92
