A five-year operational referendum is the Gillett School District’s last hope to return its finances to a healthy outlook and prevent closing its doors.
Superintendent Nathan Hanson is diverting much of his time over the next two months to answering questions and explaining to voters why Gillett and other school districts are having to ask voters to allow them to go beyond the state-mandated levy limits. For Gillett, that was $3.1 million for the 2025-26 school year, the lowest in the area, compared with $5.1 million for Suring, $12.5 million for Oconto Falls and topping out with $22.4 million for Pulaski.
“The reason we are doing a five-year referendum vs. a three-year referendum is that feedback we have gotten from the community has really shown us that people are tired of the three-year referendum cycle,” Hanson said. “Five years gives us the ability to plan forward with our finances and allows us to focus on working with our community in ways that build programming for kids and grows opportunities for our community at large.”
The situation is not unique to Gillett, as Suring went to a referendum in 2025, asking for $1.5 million annually. However, most schools have had to ask voters to go above and beyond what Wisconsin allows municipalities and school districts to tax. In the last 25 years, 391 of the state’s 421 school districts have had to go to referendum for capital reasons like building new facilities or improving the existing ones, operational needs like what Gillett has now — or both.
“People are tired of having to go to referendum constantly, and without a change in the way our state funds education, every school district in the state will have to go to referendum on a regular basis to survive,” Hanson said.
Gillett is asking for $2 million in its first year, but that eventually grows to $4.3 million by year five. The first two years’ funding will be used to get teacher pay up to a standard where the district isn’t losing staff to other districts where the pay is higher.
Currently, Gillett is dead last in the region for teacher pay, and it’s eighth from the lowest in the state. The starting wage for a new teacher in Gillett is $41,648, whereas nearby districts are offering new teachers $44,000 to $45,000 on average, according to Hanson.
“This would have also required us to have surpluses our first few years that would have had to go into fund balance to cover deficits in years four and five,” Hanson said. “The most fiscally responsible way for us to approach this referendum was to only ask for what we needed each year instead of asking for more than what we needed up front and then knowing we would need more than we were getting at the end.”
Hanson said the school district has tried to cut expenses over the years, but it has not been enough. Even with two prior operational referenda, Gillett has had to use its fund balance to keep its budgets in check. The fund balance is now depleted, he said.
“There have been reductions over the years, and we’re at a point where, if you look at the things we have to cut, I’m not sure we could have a school district that we could stand behind,” Hanson said.
To keep the budget under the levy limits, teaching positions would have to be cut, and Gillett Elementary School classrooms would be in excess of 40 students each, according to Hanson. The same would be true for Gillett High School, he said, plus some programs would have to be eliminated.
Gillett has cut administration, eliminating the dean of students position for the district, but that has had limited impact. In the past year, the district has developed a strategic plan with the input of community members to see where the district can make tweaks.
“A big part of that — we want to make sure that we’re attracting and retaining quality staff,” Hanson said. “It isn’t about a raise. It’s making sure that we’ve got good staff here. So attracting the best and keeping the best is really important.”
Besides the pay increases, the district is looking at restoring its existing fund balance, which helps school districts in emergencies and also pays staff and its bills while waiting for state aid payments to come in on a quarterly basis. With Gillett’s fund balance depleted, Hanson said the district has had to initiate short-term borrowing to keep the lights on and then pay the money back with interest. A solid fund balance would eliminate the interest payment expenses.
Polling done for the district by the Morris Leatherman Company shows that 61% of respondents would favor a referendum that is higher than what Gillett is asking for. Hanson said the district didn’t want to impact property owners too much by asking for the maximum amount recommended. Even with the existing numbers on the ballot question, it doesn’t mean that the district will need the full amount in a year, and it can return the savings to taxpayers.
The expected impact of the referendum is $19.75 per month per $100,000 of equalized property valuation, which comes to $237 per year. The tax rate for the school district is currently $5.93; if the referendum passes, it would go up to $8.30 for the 2026-27 school year.
Currently, Gillett is projecting a $1.3 million deficit in its 2026-27 budget, which would be finalized in October. The deficit comprises about 14% of the total budget, and the fund balance would be completely used up to fill that gap.
If that happens, Hanson said, the district will have no choice but to close its doors. That means the district could be absorbed by neighboring districts like Bonduel, Suring, Oconto Falls or Pulaski, but the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction would dictate which school districts Gillett could be absorbed into.
Hanson noted that school districts sometimes “threaten” bad things will happen if referenda don’t pass, but in Gillett’s case, it means no more Gillett School District.
“If the referendum does not pass in April, the next day, I’ll be calling DPI to ask, ‘How do we dissolve?’” Hanson said. “It would take an entire year, and we’d be talking to the public again about going to referendum (in that time).”
Hanson noted that, out of all the CESA 8 schools, Gillett has asked for the least amount of money through referenda since 2001, aside from Bowler School District in Shawano County. Gillett has only requested $3.6 million, mostly for operational expenses, but other school districts have requested anywhere from $5 million to $85.4 million.
“What taxpayers should know is that Gillett has done a really good job in not having to go to referendum,” Hanson said. “Other districts have had to, and there’s a variety of reasons they’ve had to. But for us, we’ve tried to hold a strong line.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
