PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
BRUSSELS, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Voters in the Southern Door School District will see a referendum question on their ballot in the spring.
The Board of Education placed a referendum question on the April 7 ballot, asking voters to allow the district to exceed its state-set revenue limits by $3.15 million for the next three school years (2026-27, 2027-28, and 2028-29).
Voters approved the current $975,000 operating referendum in 2022; this funding is now in its final year and will expire in June 2026. The additional revenue would allow the District to sustain current programs and meet emerging needs. Specifically, it would fund operational expenses for teacher and staff compensation, safety and security, maintaining school facilities and daily operations, and continuing educational programs and services.
If approved, the operating referendum would maintain the current tax/mill rate of $6.99 over the next three years, ensuring sustainable and predictable funding. An operational referendum asks voter permission to exceed the state-imposed revenue limit for the purpose of funding annual school operations. It is not a referendum to incur debt for construction of new schools or remodeling current schools.
Wisconsin public schools are funded through local property taxes along with state and federal aid. Under a 1993 state law, there is a cap, or limit, on the amount a school district can collect from local property taxes and general state aid. The only way to take in more revenue above the limit is to have an increase in overall district student enrollment or ask local taxpayers for an operating referendum to exceed the district’s revenue cap.
Because of the state limits, school districts throughout Wisconsin have struggled to maintain programs, as revenues have not kept up with costs to maintain current services. Nearly 86% of all Wisconsin school districts have pursued operating referendums to exceed the revenue caps, and every other Door County school district has had voters approve operating referendums larger than the current operating referendum at Southern Door. For the past several years, voters have given the Southern Door County School District the authority to exceed the revenue limits in an operating referendum.
If the April 7 referendum does not pass, the district says it will be forced to make significant cuts to employees, programs, and services in order to reduce its budget shortfall.
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