APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – For the first time in over two years advancements to schools in the Appleton Area School District are being considered.
The district’s Chief Financial Officer, Greg Hartjes, tells FOX 11 they’ve been looking at facility challenges across the schools for three to five years.
“This fall, with the school year up and running, it felt like it was the right time for us to go back and revisit and really start to move forward again with a potential referendum.”
And he says there’s lots to consider as to what gets a face lift.
“With any district, the age of Appleton, the age of our buildings, we have to constantly be thinking about how do we keep our buildings functional. Do we meet the educational needs for our students in the spaces that we have?”
Four projects are being considered, with the referendum carrying a total of $98 million.
The first is to build an elementary school to relieve overcrowding. Next is to increase middle school capacity and update STEM areas, followed by remodeling vacated spaces at elementary schools, and lastly, building additions at the district’s three high schools
Hartjes adds they have a plan to minimize the financial burden on tax payers, telling us they can do all projects for about $30 on each $100,000 of a home’s value
“The biggest factor is we have been prepaying on our 2014 referendum debt. Next year we will be debt-free as a district, which allows us to move any debt payments over to a new referendum.”
Some of the possibilities moving forward include some basic steps.
“One of the pieces were going to have to look at is the possibility of consolidating some of our schools. And looking at where is our enrollment moving to within our district.”
The big concern is overcrowded schools, in particular north of Interstate 41.
The district currently doesn’t have any elementary schools there, but it’s where most growth is occurring.
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