Green Bay Area Public School District building. (IMAGE: Courtesy of Fox 11 WLUK)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Green Bay Area Public School District leadership is recommending a major referendum be held in November instead of in April — and the list of projects to be included could change.
As the district copes with dropping enrollment and some facilities issues, a consultant’s report recommended closing about a dozen schools, realigning grade levels, re-drawing attendance boundaries and building some new facilities to accommodate the changes. The district has already voted to close Wequiock, Tank and Keller elementary schools after this academic year.
The district has been considering a $150 million referendum for spring, with the biggest single item being a new elementary school on the west side.
But with the attendance boundary taskforce just beginning its work, results returned from a recent survey gauging support for the projects, and other factors, the district is now recommending pushing a referendum from spring until fall. Additionally, the list of projects to include could change, as could the amount, according to district spokesperson Lori Blakeslee.
The memo to the school board for Monday’s meeting lists several factors as reasons for the delay:
The majority of the November 2022 Referendum projects will be completed enabling the community to see and enjoy their investments (especially the public spaces such as auditoriums, gymnasiums and stadiums). In addition, $81.2M of the $92.6M debt from the November 2022 Referendum will be paid off by the end of 2024.
(Superintendent Claude) Tiller will be leading the District through a strategic planning process between January and May 2024, which will provide opportunities for stakeholder voice. The end result will be a strategic plan that provides direction and priority areas for the next three to five years. This may have an impact on future decisions regarding programming, facilities, etc.
The Boundary Adjustment Advisory Committee will have completed its work and the Board will have received its recommendations in June 2024. This is important for the following reasons:
-Having this work completed will address questions that are still unresolved regarding many of the District’s schools.
-This will help to reassure taxpayers that future referendum dollars will not be spent on schools in ways that contradict the Boundary Adjustment Advisory Committee’s recommendations (i.e., facility improvements for a school that is recommended to close).
-The committee will be determining alternative boundaries for MacArthur, Kennedy and Keller for the Board of Education to consider implementing should a referendum fail regarding a new west side elementary school. These boundary maps are important for voters to make an informed decision.
The school district recently asked the public for feedback on the proposals, with 2,639 community members completing it.
For the “big picture” question of whether respondents would support the $150 million referendum, 63.09% either strongly agreed or agreed with that statement.
The consultant, however, also provided a weighted score, giving more weight to those without direction connection to the district. With that factor, support for the question drops to 48.45%.
The school board meets at 6 p.m. Monday at the district office building, 200 S. Broadway, Green Bay.
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