Work Included in the Referendum Would Advance Long-Range Facilities Plan
The Wautoma Area School District’s (WASD) Board unanimously approved the district’s long-range facilities plan and voted to place two capital referendum questions on the April 1, 2025 ballot during their monthly meeting on January 13. Each question, if approved, would support the district's ability to begin implementation of the phased long-range facilities plan.
Why Again?
November 2024’s unsuccessful referendum saw 49.6% support from voters, signaling that the plans to address deferred and upcoming maintenance needs in excess of $20.9M over the next 10 years, reconfigure grade levels, add secure entries at schools, and take Riverview offline made sense to many in the community. Residents expressed that the referendum failed because it was too expensive. In response, the Board pared back maintenance to be addressed from years 1-10 to years 1-5 in the long-range plan to reduce costs and created two separate questions to place on the April ballot. Following the November 2024 election cycle, WASD is the only 4K-12 district in Wisconsin that has not passed a referendum in over 30 years.
Why Now?
Following the failed April 2023 ($41.3M) and November 2024 ($39.8M) referendums, WASD administrators and the Board have continued to look at the maintenance needs at Redgranite Elementary School, Riverview Elementary School, Parkside School, and Wautoma High School. Given the state funding formula does not provide districts with adequate funding to cover maintenance needs in addition to core educational programming, it remains necessary to ask district taxpayers to raise additional revenue to do so.
Costs have risen since April 2023 when the first referendum was on the ballot and will only continue to increase. Given the extensive needs and priorities to ensure WASD has safe, dry, warm, and appropriate facilities for all students at each school, the Board wants to begin addressing identified needs as soon as possible.
What is the Long-Range Facilities Plan?
In consultation with representatives from Plunkett Raysich Architects and Findorff, a construction firm, the Board approved a long-range facilities plan that provides necessary maintenance and secure entries at Redgranite, Parkside and Wautoma High School. The plan reconfigures grade levels to align grades at Parkside and Redgranite Schools to allow for better developmentally appropriate age groupings, access to similar programming between schools, reduction in building transitions for students, and better allocation of district resources. Having a 6-12 site enhances middle school student opportunities, maximizes site space and efficiency, and better allocates district resources.
By reconfiguring grades, the district is able to close Riverview Elementary which has $6.3M in maintenance needs over 10 years, excess capacity due to slow declining enrollment, site constraints due to limited acreage and floodplain, and functional deficiencies making large portions no longer feasible to operate. All three remaining schools will receive renovations to meet programmatic needs for students along with identified maintenance repairs and upgrades.
What is on the Ballot?
School districts may place two questions on the ballot per calendar year. In response to taxpayer concerns with cost, the WASD Board made the choice to split the April 2025 referendum into two independent, yet related questions. The questions each represent two steps in phase one of the long-range plan; the passing of both questions gets the district further ahead in the long-range facilities plan.
Question one is for $16.4 million and is for a school facility improvement project which consists of district-wide school renovations, including the construction of secure entrances at Parkside, Wautoma High School, and Redgranite Elementary; capital maintenance improvements and repairs; and the purchase of furnishings, fixtures and equipment too.
Question two is for $19.4 million and will issue general obligation bonds in order to pay for the cost of construction of a middle school addition to Wautoma High School which includes renovations, capital maintenance, site improvements, furnishings, fixtures and equipment for the new addition. This question would allow the district to reconfigure in a manner that is best for kids because spaces would be appropriately sized and be able to accommodate the entering student population rather than the outgoing population.
Voters can therefore vote for each of the two first steps in the long-range facilities plan separately.
How Much Will it Cost?
The mill rate for WASD residents continues to decline, with the 2024-25 rate at $5.05 per $1,000 of assessed property value. A successful question one ($16.4M) referendum would increase the school district mill rate by $0.67 per $1,000 of fair market property value. Passage of question two ($19.4M) would increase the mill rate $0.80 per $1,000 of assessed value. If both questions pass for a total of $35.8 million, taxpayers would see a tax increase of $12.25 per month, or $147 per year, on a property with a fair market value of $100,000. If your property is $200,000, you just need to double the impact for the $100,000 of property value and so forth.
When and Where Can I Learn More?
Information about the referendums will be distributed throughout the community, as well as regularly updated on the district website. Visit https://www.wautomasd.org/page/wasd-referendum to learn more.