View Metadata

All School Districts, Wisconsin 2026

Identification Information

Citation
Title
All School Districts, Wisconsin 2026
Originator
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Publication Date
2026-06-29
Edition
2026
Geospatial Data Presentation Form
mapDigital
Collection Title
Statewide, Wisconsin State Agencies
Abstract
This dataset includes boundaries for all school district boundaries within the state of Wisconsin. By law, all territory in the state must be included within a public school district. The US Census Bureau identifies three types of school districts. Unified school districts serve children of all grade levels, Elementary primarily serve students in the elementary grades, and Secondary primarily serve children in grades 9-12. Out of 421 school districts in Wisconsin, 43 are considered elementary districts, 10 are secondary districts, and 368 are unified districts. Elementary and secondary school districts overlap. This layer is an aggregate of county-submitted data for school district boundaries. Each year, there is a chance for reorganizations to take place that either transfer territory between school districts or consolidate/dissolve/create districts. These reorganizations go into effect on July 1st of each year. In 2025, there were thirteen (13) reorganizations that involved unified school districts. There weren't any reorganizations involving secondary and elementary districts. The reorganizations took place in Calumet, Dane, Dunn, La Crosse, Ozaukee, St. Croix, Sauk, and Sheboygan counties. Transfers of territory took place between the following pairs of districts: River Valley and Sauk Prairie, Plymouth and Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, Eau Claire Area and Elk Mound Area, Holman and Onalaska, Verona Area and Madison Metropolitan, River Falls and Hudson, Durand-Arkansaw and Eau Claire Area, Chilton and Stockbridge, and Grafton and Cedarburg. Please refer to the property transfer log for more information.This is not an official authoritative statewide dataset for school district boundaries nor does one exist for Wisconsin. These boundaries are updated annually around July 1 to reflect boundary changes from the reorganization process and as needed throughout the rest of the year.
Purpose
This dataset includes boundaries for all school districts within the state of Wisconsin. Valid for the 2025-2026 school year.
Supplemental Information
This is an archived dataset at UW-Madison. [In 2023, there were four (4) reorganizations that involved unified school districts and no reorganizations involving secondary or elementary districts. The reorganizations took place in Dane, Marathon, and Waukesha counties. Transfers of territory took place between the following pairs of districts: Edgar and Marathon City, West Allis-West Milwaukee and New Berlin, and Verona and Madison Metropolitan. Please refer to the property transfer log for more information. In 2022, there were seven (7) reorganizations that involved unified school districts. The reorganizations took place in Adams, Dane, Marathon, and Waukesha counties. Transfers of territory took place between the following pairs of districts: Adams-Friendship Area and Westfield, Wausau and Marathon City, Middleton-Cross Plains Area and Madison Metropolitan, Waukesha and Elmbrook, and Hamilton and Menomonee Falls. Please refer to the property transfer log for more information. In 2021, there were six (6) reorganizations that involved unified school districts. The reorganizations took place in Dane, Marathon, and St. Croix counties. Transfers of territory took place between the following pairs of districts: Merrill Area and Athens, DeForest Area and Madison Metropolitan, Middleton-Cross Plains Area and Madison Metropolitan, and Somerset and Hudson. In 2020, there were six (6) reorganizations that involved unified school districts. The reorganizations took place in Dane, St. Croix, and Waukesha counties. Transfers of territory took place between the following pairs of districts: Mineral Point and Iowa-Grant; Norris and Mukwonago; Middleton-Cross Plains and Madison Metropolitan; New Richmond and Somerset; and Middleton-Cross Plains and Wisconsin Heights. In 2019 there were eleven (11) reorganizations that involved unified school districts. The reorganizations took place in Calumet, Dane, Eau Claire, Iowa, La, Crosse, St. Croix, and Winnebago counties. Transfers of territory took place between the following pairs of districts: In 2018, there were twelve (12) reorganizations that involved unified school districts. The reorganizations took place in Dane, Fond du Lac, Iron, Iowa, La, Crosse, Polk, St. Croix, and Washington counties. Transfers of territory took place between the following pairs of districts: Turtle Lake and Amery; Hurley (unified) and Lakeland UHS (secondary) / North Lakeland (elementary); West Salem and La Crosse; Waupun and Rosendale-Brandon; Middleton Cross-Plains and Madison Metropolitan; Osceola and Somerset; Mineral Point and Pecatonica]
Temporal Extent
Time Instant
2026-06-29T00:00:00
Bounding Box
West
-92.88811399999527
East
-86.8054149999956
North
47.08062099999761
South
42.49198299999784
ISO Topic Category
boundaries
Place Keyword
Wisconsin
Place Keyword Thesaurus
Theme Keyword
Boundaries
Theme Keyword Thesaurus
Resource Constraints
Use Limitation
Although this data is being distributed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the University as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the University in the use of this data, or related materials. [The layer is intended for your reference use only. It contains the best information the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has to date, but no guarantee of accuracy is made. It should not be used for any land transactions, financial decisions, taxation, surveying, or other similar uses. See summary information about boundary changes in the DPI property transfer log. The DPI is not responsible for data that is misinterpreted or altered in any way. Derived conclusions and analyses generated from this data are not to be considered attributable to the DPI.]
Status
completed
Maintenance and Update Frequency
annually
Language
eng
Credit
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Point of Contact
Contact
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Position Name
-
Delivery Point
201 W Washington Ave
City
Madison
Administrative Area
WI
Postal Code
53703
Country
US
Phone
608-266-3390
Point of Contact
Contact
Shelley Witte
Position Name
GIS Specialist
Email
shelley.witte@dpi.wi.gov
Phone
608-266-3939

Spatial Reference Information

Reference System Identifier
Code
3071
Code Space
EPSG
Version
6.12(9.2.0)

Data Quality Information

Lineage
Statement
This layer is the result of aggregation procedures implemented over school district boundary data provided by Wisconsin's 72 counties. The original statewide layer was developed using county school district boundary data submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in 2017. In some places, these boundaries reflected school district information from tax parcels, in other places they did not. In 2020, the entire statewide layer was modified to wholly reflect the most recently released tax parcel data which is maintained at the county level.
Process Step
Description
Added data to the UW-Madison geospatial archive.
Process Date
2026-06-29T00:00:00

Distribution Information

Format Name
File Geodatabase Feature Class
Format Version
1.0
Distributor
-
Distributor
UW-Madison
Online Access
https://web.s3.wisc.edu/rml-gisdata/WI_School_Districts_2026.zip
Protocol
WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download
Name
GeoData@Wisconsin
Function
download

Spatial Representation Information

Vector
Topology Level
geometryOnly
Vector Object Type
composite
Vector Object Count

Metadata Reference Information

Hierarchy Level
dataset
Metadata File Identifier
2AA97DC0-AF43-4627-A7DA-5C5A67EE1CC6
Metadata Point of Contact
Name
Shelley Witte
Position Name
GIS Specialist
Email
shelley.witte@dpi.wi.gov
Phone
608-266-3939
Metadata Date Stamp
2026-06-29
Metadata Standard Name
ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
Metadata Standard Version
2007
Character Set
utf8
Download