Welcome to our referendum webpage! Thank you for visiting to learn more about this important process. 

Watch our video to learn more about funding for public schools.

Milwaukee Public Schools is committed to providing the best education for every child in our city. To do this, we require sufficient funding to pay teacher and staff salaries, maintain buildings, purchase updated textbooks and materials, and keep pace with new technologies. 

Every school district in the state is facing budget concerns. Funding for education that comes from the State of Wisconsin has not been adjusted for inflation since 2009, resulting in a budget shortfall in MPS and elsewhere. 

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In December, district leaders gathered feedback from families and the community. A district survey that opened in mid-December received more than 4,700 responses, and a majority of replies favored adding a referendum question to the April 2, 2024, spring election ballot to help generate the funding needed to support education in Milwaukee. 

The referendum will ask voters for a $252 million four-year phased-in revenue limit increase. The estimated impact for homeowners would be $216 per $100,000 of assessed property value at the end of this calendar year. In future years, the impact to taxpayers would remain flat. 

Over the next several months, you will hear more about the April 2 election and the district’s operational referendum. We invite you to learn more so you can make an informed decision on your ballot in April. 

Please feel free to share your feedback and questions with us at budget25@milwaukee.k12.wi.us. 

Together, we can build a better future for all our students. 

On this webpage, you will find the latest information about the operational referendum and important voting information.