DELAVAN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Last December, property taxes across Wisconsin increased at rates not seen in nearly 20 years. The main driver of that is school districts raising their local levies, largely through referendums that have dotted ballots with greater frequency in recent years.

In 2024, a total of 241 school referendums were on voters' ballots, setting a new single-year record for Wisconsin.

District administrators' calls for revamping the state's school formula have only grown louder this year, as districts deal with higher transportation costs tied to a spike in gas prices.

A common refrain from school leaders is they understand it's not an ideal time to ask voters for more money, but cuts are the alternative.

At Delavan-Darien High School, Interim Superintendent Anthony Klein shows off a large workshop wing where the school offers construction, welding and auto repair courses.

Klein says if the district's $22 million referendum fails, those courses will be the most likely victims of budget cuts, along with the district's two school resources officers.

"Obviously, we can make cuts, but it's gonna lead to a lack of programming," Klein said. "Maybe some of this stuff we think is really good for kids and we believe our community believes is really good for kids, maybe that has to go away."

Klein pushes back on any suggestion the district isn't spending its money wisely. He notes the district will be spending about $11,000 per pupil -- the absolute state minimum -- if the referendum fails.

The district's $22 million referendum would span the next four years, and it'd maintain a level of funding voters previously approved.

Across Wisconsin, 73 school districts will hold a total of 78 referendums on the November ballot, according to tracking done by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

The priciest are in Green Bay ($158 million over four years), Whitefish Bay ($90 million for capital expenses), and Sheboygan Falls ($65.7 million for capital expenses).

Two of the November referendum questions will be answered by voters in Greenfield. The school district there will hold a $20 million referendum for operating expenses over the next four years, as well as a $35 million request to issue bonds for a series of renovations.

"Our middle school was built in 1968," Greenfield Superintendent Lisa Elliott said. "It's an aging facility."

Elliott said funding for previous renovations was not enough to revamp the music wing, so there is cluttered storage on top of water damage from flooding this past spring.

Students currently practice in four small, isolated rooms.

"It's very difficult for a classroom teacher to be able to utilize this space with a large group of students," she said. "And have small groups of students across the hallway, through two brick walls, in those practice areas."

Inflation grips already tight budgets

Both Klein and Elliott cited inflation as a main driver of their budget crunch. They noted the state's move in 2009 to no longer index school funding to inflation under former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat. Republicans with a trifecta further cut K-12 funding under former Gov. Scott Walker.

Persistent inflation since 2022 has continued to cause headaches as costs across the board have risen for districts.

"Healthcare benefits are going up faster than inflation, Dan Rossmiller, director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, said. "It's not unusual to see increases of 15% to 20% in health insurance costs.

More recently, fuel costs have spiked following the Trump administration's decision to launch a war with Iran, resulting in chokepoints in the Strait of Hormuz.

"We bear that with our transportation costs," Elliott said. "The more fuel costs, the more our busing costs."

Candidates' plans for school funding

Both major party candidates for governor, Democrat David Crowley and Republican Tom Tiffany, have vowed to increase school funding.

However, they have offered different paths of getting there, and neither candidate has provided a clear explanation for how they'd pay for those plans within their broader budget pledges.

Crowley said at a Sept. 29 event in Milwaukee he'd substantially increase school aids, including a massive jump in the share of special education costs the state reimburses, which is currently less than 45%.

"We have to make sure that we're fully funding our public schools across the state of Wisconsin," Crowley said. "That means we have to get back to a two-thirds funding formula and increase the 90% reimbursement rate."

Tiffany has pledged to return all of the state's $3 billion surplus to taxpayers. Yet, beyond that, he told a veterans' roundtable in Milwaukee on Sept. 24 his budget would also include more funding for teacher salaries in high-performing schools.

"When we put more money into education, and we will put more money into education, it's going to come with accountability," Tiffany said. "There has to be accountability for performance. And more money needs to go into the classroom, rather than this administrative bloat."

Demographic dilemma

Beyond this election, the long-term challenge for Wisconsin schools is demographics.

The number of K-12 students statewide has fallen by 9.2% since the 2010-11 school year, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Rossmiller said cuts are not an easy solution because there's no clean way to close schools or lay off staff in tandem with gradual enrollment declines.

"Whether there are 20 kids in a classroom or 12, you still have to have a teacher teaching that class," he said. "You still have to heat and light the building. You still have to transport the kids."

That's why Elliott and Klein maintained trimming spending is not a simple alternative to seeking a referendum.

At the same time, they acknowledged it's a bad time to be asking taxpayers for more funding, given families' own challenges with costlier bills.

"Everyone's going through the same thing," Klein said. "What we can is do ask, and that's truly what we're doing, is we're asking the community, 'Is this something we can support? Is this something we can afford or you can afford?'"