May 2014
Download complete document including graph and list of 2014 school budget defeats by county. (pdf)
On May 20th, voters across the state approved 664 school budgets and defeated just 12 – a 98.2 percent approval rate, the highest passage rate of all time. Despite this record approval rate many districts continue to struggle with the property tax cap and the lingering effects of state aid cuts that were enacted in both the 2010-11 school year and the 2011-12 school year. Of the 12 districts that experienced a budget defeat, 9 of the 12 were attempting to pierce their Tax Levy Limit and therefore needed a super-majority (60 percent) for approval.
Districts with a defeated budget may resubmit the same budget to the voters, resubmit a revised budget to the voters, or adopt a contingency budget. If a school district chooses to have a budget revote, it must occur on June 17th – the third Tuesday in June. If a second budget proposal is defeated, the district must adopt a contingency budget. Districts that adopt a contingency budget may not increase the tax levy above the previous year's levy—a 0 percent cap.