79 Wisconsin school referendum questions on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot, as districts reported them to DPI

79 questions in 72 Wisconsin school districts, as districts reported them to DPI: 62 revenue-limit and 17 borrowing questions. Not the certified ballot.

72 Wisconsin school districts reported 79 referendum questions to the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for the November 3, 2026 ballot. Of the 79, 62 ask voters whether a district may exceed its state revenue limit, and 17 ask whether a district may borrow. The list is the questions as districts reported them to DPI; it is not the certified ballot, which county and municipal clerks publish.

DistrictFacts lists every question on its Wisconsin ballot page, with the ballot text DPI holds, and on each district’s page. 7 of the 72 districts have more than one question: two each.

The questions, by DPI’s type

What the types mean, in the questions’ own words

A revenue-limit question asks voters whether a district may exceed its revenue limit. In 49 of the 62 ballot texts DPI holds for these questions, the district asks to “exceed the revenue limit specified in Section 121.91, Wisconsin Statutes”; the others word it differently.

DPI types each revenue-limit question as non-recurring or recurring. In 45 of the 54 non-recurring questions, the ballot text uses the words “for non-recurring purposes”; in 7 of the 8 recurring questions, it uses “for recurring purposes”. DPI’s report divides the recurring questions into “Recurring Referendum - Type 1” and “Recurring Referendum - Type 2”. It gives the labels without a definition, so this article does not define them either.

A debt question asks voters whether a district may borrow. In 15 of the 17, the ballot text names “general obligation bonds”. The amount DPI records for a debt question is the borrowing the question would authorize: the principal, “not to exceed”.

Borrowing amounts

DPI records an amount for each of the 17 debt questions. The median of the 17 is $35,000,000: the middle amount when all 17 are put in order. The 5 highest are below, as districts reported them to DPI.

Borrowing the question would authorize, as recorded by DPI: the 5 highest of 17 debt questions

Elmbrook School District
$100,000,000
Waunakee Community School District
$97,500,000
Whitefish Bay School District
$90,000,000
Reedsburg School District
$83,000,000
Bloomer School District
$77,000,000

5 of 17 debt questions shown. Bars start at zero and the line marks the median of all 17, $35,000,000. Each bar links to the district’s page, where the ballot text is shown in full.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, School District Referenda Report, retrieved Sep 28, 2026

Revenue-limit amounts

Revenue-limit questions carry a dollar amount too, but DPI records this figure differently from question to question (a yearly amount, a final level or a total); read it with the year-by-year schedule and the ballot text. Because the same field means different things from question to question, this article does not rank revenue-limit amounts, add them up, or set them beside borrowing amounts. Each district’s page shows the amount beside the ballot text and, where DPI records one, the year-by-year schedule.

Look up your district

The Wisconsin ballot page, at districtfacts.com/wi/ballot-2026/, lists all 79 questions by district name, with the amount and the ballot text DPI holds, and can be searched by district. Each question also appears on its district’s page.

Before and after the vote

Every question in this article is dated November 3, 2026. The article describes the questions as DPI listed them before the vote and does not report results. On the ballot page and the district pages, results are added from what districts report to DPI, after the official count.

What this does not tell you

The amounts are what DPI recorded for each question. They are not an estimate of a tax bill or of what a question would cost a household, and this article does not compute one. The list does not say why a district put a question to voters or whether it is needed. A useful question to ask a district is what its question would pay for and how the amount was set; the ballot text on its page is a place to start. DistrictFacts does not recommend how to vote on any question.

This report was generated from public records by the DistrictFacts Data Desk. Every figure in it is read from DPI’s School District Referenda Report, retrieved September 28, 2026 and checked again on October 1, 2026, unchanged, as published on the DistrictFacts ballot and district pages. The list is the questions as districts reported them to DPI; it is not the certified ballot. None of the figures was typed by hand. The method is described on the DistrictFacts methodology page, and a correction can be requested from this story.

Sources

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