(The Center Square) – The Madison Metropolitan School District has proposed a 2026 budget to support new staff, increased wages and construction projects that would raise district property taxes by $80.5 million, or 20.2%.
The plan would cause property taxes to rise by $834 annually on an average-value Madison home on Dec. 2025 tax bills, according to a report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
This would be more than twice as large as the previous record for the district’s property tax increase, according to Wisconsin Policy Forum’s available data going back to 1994.
The property tax ask comes as the budget predicts a decrease in both state and federal funding. It also calls for the district to dip into its reserves.
“These investments in district operations, staff salaries, and capital projects will come at a substantial cost to taxpayers and have not necessarily solved all of the district’s financial difficulties,” the report finds.
The budget follows the passing of two MMSD referenda last November, with 69% of voters approving a $100 million referendum to fund staff and student programs and 72% voting in favor of a $507 million facilities referendum to improve ten schools.
This follows renovations to four high schools funded separately through a $317 referendum in 2020.
“As the oldest district in Dane County, MMSD has many aging facilities,” MMSD said in a statement. “Twenty-six of our schools were built 60-plus years ago. Some of those buildings were not built to last this long, and we are seeing that now with some of the critical needs we have to address.”
MMSD estimates construction on the 10 schools would last five years, over three phases, beginning in 2026.
Though the district has high property values, nearly half of students come from low-income families, according to the report. Additionally, more than one-fifth of students speak English as a second language and 16% have been assessed as having a disability.
However, unlike most other states, Wisconsin’s main aid formula does not look at these student needs but only at the district’s overall enrollment, spending and property values.
The report concludes that while changing this formula to better reflect the needs of students would not be easy or quick, it could have a substantial impact on Madison.
“With federal funding cuts already a looming concern, the city’s delegation of state lawmakers and business leaders may wish to consider making the state aid formula a greater legislative priority,” the report said. “Without such an approach, the only other major form of relief for property taxpayers in the district would have to come from limiting spending.”
