Southern Door County School District, August 16, 2022. PC: Fox 11 Online
BRUSSELS, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Monday, Southern Door’s school board officially putting a referendum on November’s ballot. They’ll ask taxpayers to pay $2.055 million per year over the next three years.
“We were unable to give any raises for this coming school year. We had to make a lot of cuts. We had to… we were not able to make any upgrades in facilities,” said School Board President, Janel Veeser.
“I think we feel pretty strongly that it’s a good plan for our students, staff and community that balances and the needs of the students and the staff and needs of the district with that of the taxpayer,” said Superintendent Kevin Krutzik.
According to the district:
- Approximately $1.43 million will be spent on “Staff Compensation Market Adjustment” to stay competitive with other districts.
- $300,000 will be spent on “Facilities and Maintenance.”
- Approximately $282,000 will be spent on “Restoring Three Critical Teaching Positions.” They are a reading interventionist, an elementary classroom teacher and a high school technology education teacher.
During Monday’s meeting, the board referenced a list of facilities needs. However, it did not specify which projects the money would be spent on.
“We decided that both the staff and the facilities were too important to not bring it to the community for referendum,” said Veeser.
Earlier this month, the district said it’s facing a deficit of $1.67 million.
The district had a three-year operational referendum expire June 30. It was worth $975,000.
In April, 56% of voters said no to a three-year operational referendum worth $3 million per year. In May, the district made several cuts to staff and programs.
No community members spoke at Monday’s meeting.
Compared to April, what will make this referendum different?
“We’ve had to prioritize a little bit. So, we heard the community say they weren’t ready to give us the 3.15. I mean, to be honest, that wasn’t going to be enough. Neither is this, we’re just trying to prioritize the needs that we really need,” said Veeser.
Voters in November will get to decide if this referendum will have a different outcome.
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