Fact Sheet 18-8: 97.6% Passage Rate for School Budgets

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On May 15th, voters across the state approved 659 school budgets and defeated sixteen – a 97.6 percent passage rate, slightly below last year’s record passage rate of 99.3%.  Of the sixteen districts that experienced a budget defeat, seven 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 take place on June 19^th – 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.

The following page provides a listing of those districts that had their budget defeated.

2018 Budget Defeats (by County) 

* District needed a super-majority 60% for approval.

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