Board gets update on referendum discussion

The school closure has been taken off the table for closing next year’s $2 million budget gap, but it might still be coming down the path eventually if the Shawano School District continues to tumble in its student count.

The Shawano School Board held a work session March 31 for an update on what has been discussed in the district’s stakeholder group regarding future needs in the schools. According to Sue Peterson, a consult with La Crosse-based ISG, the four existing schools can house just over 3,000 students comfortably with a max capacity of 3,560. The current student count in Shawano’s public schools is 2,278, and that number is expected to drop by 2,119 in 2026 and dip below 2,000 in under 10 years.

ISG is planning to craft a survey in April and then later send it out to the community to gauge what people are willing to pay for. There were already plans for a capital referendum to help pay for aging infrastructure and expand some facilities, including fine arts and athletic accommodations, but there is also talk of possibly asking for an operational referendum in lieu of closing one of the schools.

Currently, the district estimates there are about $25.3 million in deferred maintenance in the next 10 years that will need to be taken care of. Along with plans to upgrade athletic facilities and fine arts areas, as well as improve libraries and other projects, the cost for capital work swells to over $51 million.

Josh Swanson, district finance director, told the board that doing just the needed upgrades would result in keeping the property taxes even or dropping them, as the district is about to pay off all its debt for building Hillcrest Primary School in 2010 and all the work it put into upgrading Shawano Community Middle School in 2015.

“The variable piece is, what does the athletic side look like? What do the fine arts, what are the other building improvements and things we could add from the want list to get to a flat mill (tax) rate?” Swanson said.

There are plans to potentially ask voters in November for a capital referendum and an operational referendum, depending on what the survey results reveal. Peterson noted that the board can apply the brakes on plans at any time if it looks like there could be trouble on the horizon.

Superintendent Randi Anderson noted that the operating referendum would not keep taxes low, and it would only be a temporary solution to the district’s budget woes. Over the last few years, the tax rate has stayed steady around $9.58 per $1,000 of equalized valuation, which means someone with a property valued at $100,000 pays $958 in school property taxes.

“If you go for an operating (referendum), you don’t have that flexibility,” Anderson said. “Operating is for five years, and then you’ll have to go out again. Remember that the $2 million is about right-sizing the organization, based off of the student population that we currently have.”

Board member Chuck Dallas recommended that the district avoid asking for the capital referendum if it was still planning on cutting programs or staff or closing one of the schools in the future. Dallas compared it to people losing their job, “but stopping by CoVantage to ask to build a half-a-million dollar house.”

“The dynamic we have right now is awfully hard for people to understand,” Dallas said. “When you’re down $2 million, cutting teachers and talking about taking out a building, and then asking for a large capital referendum, we’d better sharpen our skills at communicating, because otherwise, there will be a lot of effort for nothing.”

Board president Michael Sleeper acknowledged that the optics didn’t look good currently, but the students that still are going to Shawano public schools still need the best education possible.

“We’re looking at about 2,000 students by the end of this decade,” Sleeper said. “That’s still 2,000 students that deserve the very best education we can provide, so that’s another side of the equation.”

Board member Diane Hoffman told her colleague she is not a fan of asking for an operational referendum. Such referenda have been asked by Bonduel and Lena, and Gillett and Tigerton are asking permission to exceed their budget limits through an operational referendum in April.

“It has to be specific to an area, and they have to understand that that’s what it’s going to be every year,” Hoffman said. “It won’t affect other things because that money can’t just move. It’s staying in the avenue that you chose. We have to be very clear about it. You don’t know what the next two years are going to bring, and it’s not like we’re doing this to put (funds) where you want.”

Anderson noted that nothing has been set in stone as far as where to go on taking care of the schools.

“It’s important to remember that we’re looking at every option, and we want the board to see every option,” Anderson said. “There has been no decision. I want to be clear that there has been no decision that has been made other than what is the best way to set the district up for the future.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com