Operations Referendum Dollars Breakdown

Comparing 2018 to 2023

Please listen to this short video explaining why Wisconsin schools have so many referendums.

The purpose of this last newsletter article regarding the upcoming referendum helps voters better understand what the dollars for question #2 on the ballot will be used for. This question asks for $900,000 annually for ongoing expenses.

In order to explain this thoroughly, we must look at what the 2018 Operations Referendum paid for. The 2018 Operations Referendum was for $670,000 per year, for five years. This ends on June 30, 2023 and will then no longer be on property taxes.

This past 2018 referendum paid for the following:

Curriculum Category

• $45,000 to update English Language Arts Curriculum
• $110,000 to update Math, Science, Social Studies and Writing Curriculum

As promised to the public, these updates have been completed and fully implemented. Planning ahead, in order to better manage these upgrades we have created a 7-year curriculum cycle. This cycle provides updates for each content area (e.g. math, science, technology, art, reading, etc.) once every seven years. We have a plan to budget each area once every seven years.

On average, each curriculum cycle costs about $70,000 per year. This includes for example, purchases of books, equipment, and staff training.  

If the April 4, 2023 Operations Referendum fails, we will have to consider delaying or eliminating these annually recurring updates.

Staffing Category (2018)

• We adjusted our school counseling position from 2 days per week to full time. 
• We added a full time reading/math interventionist who is also our gifted and talented coordinator.
• The dollars from the past referendum (2018) also allowed us to increase our Spanish teaching position from half time to full time. This provides Spanish language instruction for all students in K-8. 
• We have also added a 6th grade teaching position allowing us to support smaller class sizes.

A passed April 4, 2023 referendum for question #2 allows us to continue to support these above positions, totaling $296,000 annually.

Compensation Category

The 2018 Operations Referendum allowed for some compensation increases for our staff. Although helpful, these increases did not come near to a level that allows us to be competitive with other school districts. There are three key points here:

1. For the past decade, the state has either kept school aid flat or had very minor increases. For example, a proposal for this next year could increase aid by about $200 per student. Although appreciated, this one year aid is about a 1.88% increase to our budget. When considering inflation, this does not come close to keeping competitive in recruiting and retaining high quality teachers. In fact, this 1.88% increase does not cover increased costs in gas for our buses.  Consumer Price Index was 11% in 2022 and estimated at 8% in 2023. When comparing this 17% over two years with the 6% our staff received over the past two years, this puts us further behind in this highly competitive market.
2. The 2018 Operations Referendum provided for $104,600 per year for five years, to assist in staff compensation increases. This $104,600 per year was spread out amongst all staff. Although appreciated, this did not bring our compensation to the point where we are competitive with our neighbors while recruiting and retaining staff. Similar to many lines of work today, it is routine to get 0-3 applicants per vacancy. Compounding this, employees are more willing to shop around than they did in past years.
3. A summer of 2022 compensation study placed our teachers at the bottom third of schools in Southern WI and in our Racine County area.  

Annually, a significant portion of the $900,000 Operations Referendum on the April 4, 2023 ballot will assist in keeping our staff compensated at a rate that is competitive with our neighboring school districts.

With an approved referendum on April 4th, an entry level teaching position salary will increase to about $42,000 per year.

Maintenance Category

The 2018 Operations Referendum (sunsetting June-2023) paid for these three maintenance items:

1. $420,000 replacement of one section of the roof
2. $600,000 renovation and ADA compliance for some (not all) bathrooms
3. $15,000 furnace replacement

Once you consider all of the categories listed above, the aforementioned 2023 Operations Referendum of $900,000 allows for approximately $300,000 annually for maintenance. Maintenance includes but is not limited to:

• Increasing costs of utilities (gas, water, electricity, technology)
• Projects including annual maintenance such as filter changes, painting rotations, carpet replacement rotation, grounds maintenance, student and staff desk/chair/table replacement, and student Chromebook replacement cycle.

I am hopeful this helps answer any remaining questions regarding question #2 on the ballot for April 4th.