Wisconsin voters approve majority of school referendums in 2025 Spring Election

WISCONSIN (Civic Media) – Voters across Wisconsin had 89 ballot measures to consider from school districts small and large, and on Tuesday, unofficial results showed that the majority of those referendums passed.

All told, 51 of 89 school referendums were approved by voters in the 2025 Spring Election.

30 of the 51 school referendums that passed were operational referendums. Some districts had warned about massive cuts to programs, staff, and course offerings without the additional revenue, and a couple even hinted at potential dissolution without the operational funds to continue serving students.

21 passed referendums were for facility updates and capital improvements. The largest one passed in the state was Oshkosh, where voters approved a $197.8 million plan.

Of the 51 total passed referendums, 29 of them passed by single-digit margins (50 to 54.9% voting yes).

38 school referendums failed, including 28 operational referendums and 10 for capital improvement projects. Of the referendums that failed, 27 of them were by single-digit margins (50 to 54.9% voting no).

All told, 56 of 89 school district referendums were decided by single-digit margins (under 10% difference between yes and no votes).

24 of the 89 referendums statewide were decided by fewer than 100 total votes. 16 of them were decided by fewer than 50 total votes. Five ballot measures passed by a dozen or fewer votes.

Recent trends in how voters view school spending, rising property taxes, and political stances on public versus private school education are pushing down success rates of referendums in general and making the success or failure of each ballot measure subject to a handful of votes.

The total amount to be levied from passed referendums is slightly over $1 billion, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, coming in with a price tag of $1,009,550,000.

A full list of referendum results, compiled from unofficial election night returns from all 72 county clerk offices in Wisconsin on election night, is here.

You can see more detailed breakdowns of school referendum results from the 2025 Spring Election for northeastern Wisconsin, southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Wisconsin, and north-central Wisconsin here. You can also see a rundown of the five referendums from the spring primary.

If you include the spring primary, 55 of 94 school referendums passed in 2025. This comes on the heels of a record-setting year for school referendums in Wisconsin in 2024.

In the background of this spring’s school referendums, this year brings potential changes to the referendum system in Wisconsin. Republicans have introduced proposed legislation that would curb school referendums in an effort to protect property taxpayers from levy limit increases.

However, school boards and administrators around the state are still going to referendum at a high rate as inflation, declining enrollment, and crumbling facilities, coupled with high turnover and a political preference in Wisconsin to divert taxpayer money into private schools away from public school districts are putting pressure on local school districts to balance their budgets.

Over 90% of districts in Wisconsin have had at least one referendum since the revenue limit system was put in place three decades ago. 245 of the state’s 421 districts have passed a referendum in the past four years.

Nearly every district included notes on advocating for change to the current school aid formula on their referendum websites. The current formula, which was de-coupled from inflation 14 years ago, has left public schools pacing well behind inflation for funding, prompting referendums at nearly every district in Wisconsin.

You can see election results from the 2025 Spring Election county-by-county on the Wisconsin Elections Commission website.

You can see a list of school referendums – and officially-reported totals – on the Wisconsin DPI website.

Finally, Civic Media has added up all the numbers from call sheets and summaries from election night returns.