AB 677

Under current law, the state supports the costs of kindergarten to 12th grade

education through three different methods: unrestricted general school aid, also

known as equalization aid; grants and categorical aids, which partially fund specific

program costs; and the state school levy tax credit and the first dollar credit. The

amount of equalization aid available to be distributed statewide each year is

established in a sum certain appropriation, and equalization aid is distributed

amongst school districts on the basis of the relative fiscal capacity of each school

district as measured by the district's per pupil value of taxable property.

Beginning in May 2013, and annually thereafter, this bill directs the

Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the Department of Administration, and the

Legislative Fiscal Bureau jointly to certify to the Joint Committee on Finance the

amount necessary to appropriate as general school aids in the following fiscal year

to pay for the following portion of public school costs:

1. For the 2013-14 school year, 65.28 percent.

2. For the 2014-15 school year, 65.56 percent.

3. For the 2015-16 school year, 65.84 percent.

4. For the 2016-17 school year, 66.12 percent.

5. For the 2017-18 school year, 66.40 percent.

6. For the 2018-19 school year and each school year thereafter, two-thirds.

The bill directs the Joint Committee on Finance to determine the amount

appropriated as general school aids for the 2014-15 fiscal year and biennially

thereafter.

This bill also eliminates the first dollar and school levy property tax credits.

This bill specifies that a pupil who is eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch

under the federal School Lunch Act is counted an additional 20 percent of what he

or she would otherwise be counted for state aid purposes.

This bill modifies the secondary ceiling cost factor in the school aid formula.

Currently, it is the amount determined by dividing the state total shared cost by the

state total enrollment and multiplying the result by .90. This bill removes the 10

percent reduction.

Current law guarantees a school district at least 85 percent of the state aid it

received in the previous school year. This bill increases the guarantee to 90 percent.

This bill also provides that no school district may receive less in general state aid

than $3,000 per pupil.

Current law reduces the state aid of the school districts in which parental choice

programs have been established (currently only Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS)

and Racine Unified School District) by 38.4 percent of the amount paid to the private

schools participating in the parental choice programs. This bill reduces the

reduction to 30 percent.

This bill eliminates categorical state aid for high-poverty school districts.