AB 615

This bill changes the appropriation for sparsity aid from a sum certain

appropriation to a sum sufficient appropriation and makes additional school

districts eligible for sparsity aid.

Under current law, a school district is eligible for sparsity aid in the amount of

$300 per pupil if the school district's membership in the previous school year did not

exceed 745 pupils and if the membership divided by the school district's area in

square miles (pupil density) is less than ten. Also under current law, as affected by

2017 Wisconsin Act 59

, the 2017 Biennial Budget Act, a school district that was

eligible to receive sparsity aid in the previous school year but that is not eligible to

receive sparsity aid in the current school year may receive up to 50 percent of the aid

the school district received in the previous school year. Currently, in any school year

in which the amount appropriated to the sparsity aid program is insufficient to pay

the full amount to all eligible school districts, the Department of Public Instruction

must prorate the payments.

Beginning in the 2018-19 school year, the per pupil payment to eligible school

districts with a pupil density of less than ten increases to $400. In addition, the bill

makes a school district that has a pupil density of less than ten and a membership

of between 745 and 1,000 pupils eligible for sparsity aid. Also under this bill,

beginning in the 2018-19 school year, a school district with between 1,001 and 2,700

pupils and a pupil density of less than seven pupils per square mile is eligible for

sparsity aid in the amount of $100 per pupil. The bill eliminates the need to prorate

payments among eligible school districts.