Nov. 5 was a good day for local school referenda as both Shawano and Bonduel’s measures passed voter scrutiny.
The Shawano School District’s capital referendum passed on its second go-around, with 5,538 voters saying yes to $51.2 million in bonds, comprising 59.7% of the 9,277 votes cast in the district. The first referendum vote in April failed by 75 votes.
Shawano County did not provide results broken down by precinct as it has done in the past.
Shawano’s referendum will allow all of the schools to receive needed maintenance and upgrades, but most of the funding will improve Shawano Community High School. Among the projects, the district office is expected to be moved to Olga Brener Intermediate School so that the area can be renovated into a better weight room and fitness area, and improvements and additions will be coming to outdoor athletic facilities, performing arts facilities, technical education areas and a relocated family and consumer sciences area.
The district estimates that the passage of the referendum will drop the tax rate by 16 cents for the coming year.
Superintendent Kurt Krizan was pleased with the results the morning after the election.
“I’m really excited for out students, for our staff, for our community,” Krizan said. “This is going to bring a lot of great things to Shawano.”
He added that the district didn’t have an alternative plan if the referendum had failed once again, but he noted that the $59 million estimated for the needed maintenance that had been deferred for years was not going to go away.
Now that it has passed, though, the district plans to immediately sit down with its partners at Hoffman Planning and Design to get final drawings figured out, according to Krizan. Some projects are expected to start in spring 2025.
Both of Bonduel School District’s referenda also passed. The first question, which passed on a vote of 1,911-1,626, will allow the district to exceed its revenue limits by $450,000 per year for the next six years for technology purposes. This money not only goes toward the one-to-one computer program the district has with its students but also for security and cybersecurity measures in the schools and other technological needs.
The second question, which would allow the district to exceed revenue limits by an additional $300,000 per year to provide funding for support staff salary and benefits, passed on a vote of 1,904-1,618.
With both questions passing, the tax rate is expected to drop 19 cents for this coming year for the district.
Superintendent Joe Dawidziak finds the support for both questions humbling. Prior to the election, he expressed hope that the technology question would pass but was unsure how the support staff question would hold up.
“From a technology standpoint, it’ll help us to be successful with the things that we have had in place and to make some advancements in other areas over the course of the next six years,” Dawidziak said. “For the second question, we’re hopeful that it’s going to go a long way to attract and retain paraprofessional staff.”
Dawidziak noted that, even though both questions passed, they both had a margin of under 300 votes. He believes this sends a message to the Bonduel School Board and administrators that public relations needs improvement.
“We’re maybe not doing as good a job as we thought we were,” Dawidziak said.
Jill Underly, Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction, sent out a press release noting that families in the state value public education while understanding that local taxpayers shouldn’t disproportionately bear the burden.
“Our state legislature has severely underfunded public schools for well over a decade, and it has led to a record number of districts going to referendum to try and fix severe financial constraints on their own,” Underly said. “Too many communities were forced to vote Tuesday whether to increase property taxes just so their local schools can pay staff, heat and cool their buildings, and provide a quality education.”
Underly said there is a way for the state to “reinvest” in its public schools.
“The upcoming biennial budget provides yet another opportunity for the legislature to uphold its responsibility to appropriately fund public schools, and to stop forcing Wisconsin communities to make impossible choices,” Underly said.
Election results are unofficial until the districts canvass the results in the coming days.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
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