MONROE — The School District of Monroe Board of Education finalized details of painful cuts to programs, including student-facing staff, totaling $1 about million to plug major budget whole previously filled by eight consecutive years of a non-recurring, $1.5 million operating referendum.
That referendum failed in the spring election.
Eliminating the German language program, bus transportation for summer school students, and cutting a special education teacher and two special education aides are some of the cuts outlined on Jan 27. Approximately 300 of the 1,000 children who attend summer school take the bus.
All of those, and perhaps a few more, are still likely.
The decision was made by voters with the district investing $88 million in upgrades to Abraham Lincoln Elementary and a new high school that is being built on the northeast side of town. But some have even attributed the operational referendum’s defeat to taxpayer fatigue from the protracted battle in 2023-24 to secure approval for the high school project.
To prevent even further layoffs, the board decided in August to put a four-year, one-time operational referendum worth $1.5 million annually to voters. However, it was a resounding failure in November. An operational referendum was previously approved by the district in 2016 and was extended in 2018. Among the 137 districts in the state that were compelled to look for additional funding from the local tax base, theirs was on the ballot once more last November.
At the Feb. 10 meeting, board members also were given perspective on the cuts in the form of comparisons to staffing and programs at other school districts in the state, with Monroe still stacking up as a quality district.
Officials haven’t ruled out seeking an operational referendum again — perhaps as early as in spring, of the 2025-2026 school year — when that new high school finally opens.
Editor's note:
A prior version of this story contained inaccurate quotes that were attributed to Interim Superintendent Joe Monroe. The Times regrets the errors.
Fully quoted, he opened the budget reduction discussion by saying, “We’ve got a situation with Wisconsin public school funding that has really put us in a position where, with revenue limits, it really does limit the amount of operating property tax and general aid that we can collect. Those limits don’t always keep pace with inflation and, as a result of the revenue limits, along with some declining enrollment penalties, we end up being in a situation where we truly do lag behind our needs relative to inflation. As a result, we have to depend on operating referendum. As Rich (Deprez) mentioned, and everyone is already very familiar with, in November we did not pass the referendum — the community said ‘no,’ and that basically constituted an end of eight years of funding to the tune of $1.5 million annually. It puts us in a position where we need to make some reductions.”