If voters say no, district may have to close or consolidate

PLUM CITY – Voters in the Plum City School District have a critical referendum question to consider on the April 5 ballot. If it doesn’t pass, the school district may have to drastically reduce services, close, or be consolidated with another district.

The school district is asking voters to approve an operational referendum that would allow the district to exceed its revenue limit by $1 million for the 2022-23 school year, by $1.1 million for the 2023-24 school year, and by $1.2 million for the 2024-school year.

“The funds are required to stabilize the district’s financial condition during these three years,” states the district’s referendum handout.

Superintendent Brian Nadeau said for the 2021-22 school year, the district is operating at a deficit due to a number of factors. The fiveyear operational referendum expired at the end of the 2020-21 school year, so the ability to levy for those dollars went away. The district saw a failed referendum last year and the cost of things continues to increase.

“When you’re in that mode and the state doesn’t put any new dollars in education, you have things happening in your facilities that need attention and they don’t always get it,” Nadeau said of deferred maintenance due to budget constraints.

The referendum is non-re-

See PLUM CITY, Page 3

If the three-year non-recurring operational referendum doesn’t pass in the Plum City School District April 5, the district may have to close or consolidate with another district. Submitted photo curring and does not automatically renew. It would replace the five-year operational referendum that expired at the end of the 2020-21 school year, approved by voters in 2016. The referendum is not to incur debt, but to provide ongoing educational programming, technology, transportation and facilities maintenance that has been deferred.

How did we get here?

Since 2016, more than 70% of Wisconsin’s 421 school districts have gone to referendum, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum. Many school officials have said the frequency with which districts in Wisconsin must ask voters for permission to exceed state-imposed revenue limits in order to provide the quality education parents expect is because the 1993 state funding formula is broken.

Before 1993, local school districts could raise the school district portion of taxes as much as they deemed necessary. Because of rising property tax bills, the Wisconsin Legislature imposed revenue limits, which are based on a complicated formula that’s difficult to explain to taxpayers. It considers the value of assessed property in a district, the number of students enrolled and past revenue. State aid can decrease if property values increase or if student enrollment numbers decline.

The amount districts receive per student has increased over time since 1993, but it hasn’t kept up with inflation. According to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, from 2009-10 to 2018-19, inflation rose 17%, while the state average funding provided per student increased 6%.

Another challenge for districts with declining enrollments is that although the number of students might decrease, staff and expenses can’t necessarily be cut if the decline is spread across multiple grade levels. Transportation and facility maintenance costs don’t decrease either.

“Most districts in the state are declining enrollments,” Nadeau said. “Plum City has been for quite a few years now and many are, unless you’re in St. Croix County or Dane County or other pockets of growth.”

Declining enrollment numbers affects a district’s ability to levy taxes, which impacts the revenue.

While Plum City School District continues to cut costs, it is difficult to maintain the services and programming students currently receive. The district’s revenue limit three years ago in 2018-19 was $3,237,000 and in 2021-22 it was $2,716,000. That $521,000 reduction in the district’s revenue is a 16% decrease in authority to raise revenue to pay for expenses. And according to Nadeau, even though the school board has tried to trim expenses, the district’s operating costs have actually increased by $357,000. Combine those two numbers and the budget deficit is $878,000.

“Without additional revenue raising authority from the community, this funding gap will continue to widen in future years based on the current state budget,” the website states.

What if the referendum doesn’t pass?

If the referendum doesn’t pass, Plum City will be operational for 2022-23 regardless, Nadeau said. However, all of the options need to be on the table for the longevity of the district.

“We’re essentially trying to right the ship right now, then it’s about determining a longterm plan for the district,” Nadeau said. “A three-year Band-aid will be here and gone before you know it.

If the referendum does not pass, we have a variety of options, none of which are desirable.”

The district could go back to referendum in November, but if approved then, none of those funds could be levied in the 2022-23 school year, which would only increase the current deficit.

“We are only asking one question (in April) because you can only ask two per calendar year,” Nadeau said. “If it doesn’t’ pass, we can’t risk not being able to ask in November.”

If all else fails, the district could begin talking dissolution and Plum City students would be portioned off to surrounding districts.

“I don’t a lot about that process because not many people go through it,” Nadeau said. “The other option is to merge with another district. The bottom line I’d like taxpayers to know, there’s a significant amount of people who think that school taxes will go away if you don’t have a school. That is 100% false. Regardless of the outcome of this effort, people will be paying taxes somewhere. Could they be a little higher? A little lower? Sure, property taxes change all the time. But they don’t usually decrease over time.

If voters don’t approve the referendum April 5, residents may see: 1. Consolidation or closure of the Plum City School District after the 2022-2023 school year 2. Loss of teacher and staff jobs (60 local jobs) 3. Previous multi-milliondollar investments will be for nothing 4. Taxpayers will continue to pay taxes at the same or likely at a higher rate to another district. School district taxes do not just disappear.

5. Reduction of high school academic electives (such as tech ed or art) 6. Elimination of emotional support services 7. Decrease co-curricular activities (such as sports or arts) Plum City’s mill rate, which is the amount of taxes paid per dollar of a property’s assessed value, is lower than surrounding districts of similar size. Plum City’s current mill rate is 8.55, which means the school district taxes on a $100,000 property are $855 per year. Elmwood’s and Pepin’s current mill rates are 11.57, while Gilmanton is 12.78. If the referendum passes, Plum City’s mill rate will be 10.95 each year until the end of the 2025-26 school year, which is lower than in previous years: 12.34 in 2016-17, 12.89 in 2017-18, 12.48 in 2018-19, 11.18 in 2019-20, and 11.06 in 2020-21.

As for per pupil spending in Plum City vs. other similarly sized districts, Plum City spends $15,012 per student, Elmwood spends $16,876, Pepin spends $17,154 and Gilmanton spends $18,135.

Plum City schools also actively look for grants for which to apply and discounts in order to save as much money as possible. Here’s a list of grants and discounts the district has received or are waiting to hear on:

•An $88,354.30 grant for student and staff laptops and hotspots, instrumental in providing student instruction

•$15,925.02 in discounts for SMART Board purchases throughout the district

•A $10,471.56 grant from the federal government for updating internet connectivity in the school district. There is $27,118.56 left to spend over the next three years.

•A $4,276 grant awarded by the state for student laptop cases.

•$3,460 in discounts received for buying audio technology equipment before the pandemic started.

•A $10,000 grant from Monsanto for microscopes and a cart for science classes.

•An application has been submitted for a $10,000 grant to put toward new hot/cold food service lines in the high school kitchen

•A $1,000 grant for new meal trays in the elementary school

•A $9,000 allocation from the state to compensate for supply chain issues regarding

•A non-competitive grant from DPI in the amount of $13,364 for mental health initiatives for students and staff To learn more about the referendum, voters have several opportunities yet to gather information.

•Coffee & Conversation at 8:15 a.m. Friday, March 25 at Molly’s on Main.

•Community forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 31 at Plum City High School gym. The event will be livestreamed as well.

•Referendum information at school website The first Coffee & Conversation was lightly attended, but the second one at Beav’s was “very well attended,” Nadeau said.

“The common theme for me is people asking really good, impressively good questions. We have some well-educated folks who have done their homework,” he said. “They’re trying to be informed and involved and the general response has been extremely positive. It’s very evident that the community cares about their schools and people don’t want to see their schools go away, or lose that rich history that they have.”