Effects of the Revenue Caps on Wisconsin's School Districts, 1997-98 School Year

Significant Findings from Previous Studies

1. At the end of the first year of the revenue caps, more than 90% of superintendents thought the long-term consequences would be negative. When asked five years later about the effects of the revenue caps, 64% of superintendents say the effects have been negative, while 24% say the effects have been “neutral.”
2. Districts with declining enrollments tend to report significantly more cost cutting actions than districts with increasing or stable student populations. Superintendents from declining enrollment districts also have been more critical of the revenue caps than superintendents from districts in which the student population has been stable or increasing.
3. Consistently, it has been found that there are no significant differences among rural/small town, suburban, and urban school districts as to the number of cost-cutting actions taken. Further, the number of cuts is unrelated to per pupil spending amounts. This does not mean that cuts have the same impact in poor and rich districts, or that all cuts impact students in the same way.
4. In 1997, superintendents reported that the revenue caps, along with the Qualified Economic Offer, were having a negative effect on school employees. Of the more than 200 written comments about employee morale, all but a few superintendents indicated that morale had deteriorated since 1993.
5. Although cuts have occurred in each of the areas listed in the questionnaires, districts have tended to target five or six areas over the years:
   * delaying/reducing purchase of computers and other technology,
   * spending less for improvements of buildings and grounds,
   * spending less for maintenance of buildings and grounds,
   * delaying building maintenance or improvement projects,
   * increasing administrator workload, and
   * delaying/reducing hiring of new staff.

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