By the numbers
Wisconsin’s count of 421 school districts has been mostly steady for decades, but it’s far below the figures of a century ago, when the Badger State was divided into more than 7,000 school districts.
The number of districts peaked at 7,777 in the school year 1937-38, more than 18 times the current number, according to the Wisconsin Blue Book, the state’s official almanac, published by the Legislative Reference Bureau.
According to Wisconsin statute, school districts are creatures of state government designated for the local administration of public education. “Local” prior to World War II included many single-school rural districts, giving rise to the high count.
The period from the 1940s to 1960s brought a massive wave of district consolidations, even as enrollment increased. The school district count dropped from 6,936 in 1940 to 2,371 by 1960. One decade later, the count was at 454.
From the 1970s onward, consolidations slowed. In 1981, the state tallied 433 districts, and 426 by 1999. Wisconsin reached its current number of 421 districts in 2019.
