A special meeting of the Shawano School District electorate April 14 paved the way for the Shawano School Board to purchase 33.58 acres of land near Shawano Community High School that could be used in a few years as the new home for Shawano Community Middle School.
The age of the existing school, built in the 1950s, is making it more expensive for the district to keep the building together and operating, and officials had briefly considered including it in the 2024 referendum that failed in April 2024 but passed in November. However, survey results showed more favoritism for Shawano Community High School expansion and upgrades at the other three schools. With results indicating a $70 million referendum was the highest voters would go for, and the expected price tag for a new middle school being around $55 million, that project was put on the back burner.
The board approved purchasing the Magee Family Farm, located at W4742 state Highway 22 in the Town of Belle Plaine, for $550,000 and using its fund balance to pay for the land. Superintendent Kurt Krizan told the board that the purchase would still leave about $11.5 million in its fund balance.
“We are really looking at this as an opportunity for investment of our fund balance,” Krizan said. “We are sitting at a place right now where our district fund balance, our savings account, is at a healthy place and looking at options to invest for future use.”
The school district had previously looked at buying 20 acres of land owned by Mike Zingler and his siblings for $531,000 in December, but members of the electorate voted 15-10 against the proposal. At the April 14 meeting regarding the Magee land, the electorate was unanimous in its approval.
Krizan said that home values in the area have doubled in the last 10 years, and if that trend holds, the land could be extremely valuable to the district if, for some reason, it decides to sell the land instead of using it for a new middle school. Comparatively, investing the district’s fund balance in CDs has only increased funding by an average of 0.5%, he said.
“We’re looking at using the land for a brand new building or to replace our existing middle school,” Krizan said. “Really, we’re at no opportunity right now to grow in the district, so having that growth opportunity is well.”
Krizan noted that any plans to build a new middle school won’t be finalized until 2031. He also said that the money in the fund balance to purchase the Magee land is coming from surpluses in budgets from the past two school years, and the fund balance will still hold the equivalent to 33% of the district’s annual budget.
Brian Magee, spokesman for the family, said that he and several siblings own the existing land and are interested in seeing it turned into a school in the future.
“I think our parents would be very happy,” Magee said. “When they left it to us, they hoped it would potentially have a school on it someday or be used by the school district.”
Magee noted the $550,000 selling price is similar to what farmland is currently being sold for, and the family wants the school district to be on the land.
“It’s a very solid thing for the future, for our kids and grandkids,” Magee said.
Marcia Yaeger, former school board member, praised the idea and noted that the district didn’t have such an opportunity available to it when the board made plans to build Hillcrest Primary School more than 15 years ago. The school is on Waukechon Street, away from the closer proximity of the three remaining schools on Union Street and County Road B.
“It’s a great move, because you never know what the future is with land,” Yaeger said. “We didn’t have the opportunity because we didn’t get the land we wanted to get. I think this is a great option for the school district right now. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
School board purchases 33 acres of land
