School lockers, generic school. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — In addition to the governor and assembly seats on the ballot, many voters will be asked to approve a school referendum. 72 districts around the state have a referendum on the ballot.
Several are in Northeast Wisconsin, including:
- Southern Door County School District
- Sturgeon Bay School District
- Oconto Unified School District
- Green Bay Area Public School District
- West De Pere School District
- Ripon Area School District
- Pulaski Community School District
- Little Chute Area School District
- Weyauwega-Fremont School District
- Gillett School District
- Luxemburg-Casco School District
- Brillion Public Schools
- Marinette School District
$1.6 billion worth of school district referenda are on Wisconsin ballots.
Many say that’s because they believe school funding has fallen behind. The Green Bay School District is asking for $158 million over the next four years.
“I think it’s a clear indication that just the lack of state funding, not keeping up or keeping pace with inflationary costs that districts have all across the state,” said Green Bay School District Chief Financial Officer, Angie Roble.
Research Director for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Will Flanders, isn’t so sure.
“There’s, you know, referenda that, you know, may be very necessary for, you know, building construction. There’s also referenda that we think voters ought to call a little bit more into question,” said Flanders.
Flanders specifically referenced the Green Bay School District, which he says including federal funding receives more than $19,000 per student.
Roble says federal money comes in for expenses like food service or the district’s head start program.
“We do receive a lot of federal funding, but it can only be used for specific things. It’s allocated to specific students, and not to be used for general operating purposes,” said Roble.
“Federal money is set aside in many instances for certain types of spending but that just means that the rest of the money can be used for other things,” said Flanders.
Roble says the district has consolidated schools and decreased 100 full-time staff positions. Statewide. Flanders says there has been huge growth in administrative staff and cuts could be considered there.
In the West De Pere School District, School Board president Jenni Fuss says it is asking voters to approve a referendum worth $4.9 million annually over the next five years.
“That is not additional money. It’s money that’s already budgeted within the West De Pere School District. However, we need voter approval in order to reallocate those dollars,” said Fuss.
The money would be moved from the district’s debt services.
“Recently, we did make some cuts in our district, and we reduced our budget by $1.5 million in anticipation for preparing for our deficit, how to care for that deficit. Even with those cuts, we still need this referendum,” said Fuss.
According to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, just 61.3% of referendums on the ballot were approved in the Spring. If that happens again in this fall election, it’d be a drop from the 70% approval rate in 2024.
If their referenda are declined, Fuss and Roble say staff and program cuts would be the result. Roble says should the referendum be declined, the Green Bay School District would ask for another in the spring election.
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