LFB State Aid and Levy Information For Technical College Districts
LFB State Aid and Levy Information For Technical College Districts
LFB State Aid and Levy Information For Technical College Districts
One East Main, Suite 301 • Madison, WI 53703 • (608) 266-3847 • Fax: (608) 267-6873
TO: Members
Wisconsin Legislature
SUBJECT: Wisconsin Technical College System Aid and Levy Information and Discussion of
Governor's 2011-13 Budget Proposal
This memorandum provides information relating to major revenue sources for the Wisconsin
Technical College System (WTCS) as well as a discussion of major provisions of the Governor's
budget proposal for WTCS.
The Wisconsin Technical College System receives its funding from three major sources:
property taxes, tuition and fees, and state aid. The breakdown of the three largest sources of revenue
is shown in the table below. The property tax figures include both the operational levy and the levy
for debt service. Additional sources of revenue include self-financing operations, debt proceeds,
and contracted services to business and industry. WTCS receives federal funding primarily in the
form of financial aid to students, which totaled $333.4 million in 2009-10 and is partially included
in the tuition revenues shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1
Actual Estimated
2009-10 2010-11
Under the budget bill, technical college operating levies would be frozen at the 2010-11 levy
amounts for 2011-12 and 2012-13. Because technical college budgets for 2011-12 are not set, it is
not possible to predict what districts would levy for 2011-12 in the absence of the proposed levy
freeze. Table 2 shows the total operational levy subject to the 1.5 mill rate limit for each district
from 2005-06 through 2010-11, as well as the change in the amounts levied by each district
compared to the prior year.
As shown in Table 2, the operating levy for WTCS districts increased each year. The annual
increases range from a high of $30.3 million in 2008-09 to a low of $8.4 million in 2010-11.
Operating levies in 2010-11 reflect the impact of declining district-wide property values in some
districts, with the operating levy for the Milwaukee Area Technical College being reduced by $8.8
million compared to 2009-10. Under the bill, the 2010-11 amounts represent the maximum amount
that each district could levy in the coming biennium. In the case of those districts experiencing a
loss in property value, and that are already levying the maximum possible rate, the amounts levied
could decrease again in 2011-12, rather than remain at the 2010-11 amount.
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TABLE 2
Technical College Operational Levy -- Change over Prior Year 2006-07 to 2010-11
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Under the bill, state general aid to technical college districts would be reduced by $35.8
million annually in 2011-12 and 2012-13, from base level funding of $119.3 million. Reliable data
is not available to project changes in the distribution of aid by technical college district under the
bill in 2011-12 and 2012-13. However, Table 3 uses data on the distribution of aid in 2010-11 to
illustrate the potential effects of the Governor's proposed funding reduction. The first column in
Table 3 shows equalized aidable costs for each technical college district under the state general aid
formula, and the second column shows the aid distribution according to data from the November,
2010 aid estimate, the most recent available estimate for the 2010-11 aid year. The third column
shows the aid distribution, based on the same November, 2010, data, if the aid level provided under
the Governor's version of the budget had applied in 2010-11. Finally, the last column shows the
amount of the change in aid for each WTCS district, had the Governor's budgeted aid level applied
in 2010-11.
TABLE 3
LM/le
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