MONROE — Things haven’t been easy going for the School District of Monroe since enjoying a banner November. Just three months ago, an $88 million referendum passed and the football team won the state championship. The honeymoon didn’t last long, though, as residents saw their new tax burden just weeks before Christmas. 

Then in early February, news came down that the district and police department were investigating misconduct by an athletic trainer, who has since been put on administrative leave by SSM. On Feb. 14, the entire district had to briefly go into lockdown because of an altercation between two students in a bathroom involving a male and female student, with school staff being threatened by one of the students. A day later, a fire alarm was pulled at Northside Elementary. 

The school board, in a special meeting Feb. 16, voted to approve a land contract for the new location of the high school, located on County DR just north of the city by the industrial park. The 70-acre property is owned by Fran and Sandy Donny, and would not need a lift station built. The offer to the Donnys was placed around noon on Feb. 14, and signed hours later. Based on the terms of the contract, the board needed to approve the site to get moved on to the meeting of the electors by Feb. 17, or else the deal was void. 

It was approved by a 6-1 vote just before 5 p.m. at the meeting Feb. 16, with Cheryl McGuire as the lone no vote. The meeting of the electors is a state law and requires school districts to hold an in-person public vote to approve land acquisitions. The meeting of the elections will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8 in the Monroe High School Performing Arts Center.

This is the second attempt at a land acquisition. The first was on a 77-acre location adjacent to the city on the far east side off of 31st Avenue. In a meeting of the electors vote in December, just days after the new tax numbers came out, the location was turned down by the public attendees at the meeting. 

“This was our top piece of property through both searches which occurred this summer and winter” based on the size and layout of the property by the board and administration, Superintendent of Monroe Schools Rodney Figueroa said. The initial cost of the land was the deterrent initially. “Negotiations rendered a lower price. The price per acre is $38,675. An informational meeting will be scheduled prior to the meeting of electors, as soon as the date is confirmed with the board.”

Outrage from several members of the public arose in December, just a month after the referendum passed and updated property tax values became known. The district had touted a rise in taxes of just 13 cents per $1,000 based on data from previous years, but the increase was much higher after equalization and the state Department of Revenue’s increase in home values. A group of taxpayers have since banded together to lead a grassroots movement to overturn the election, which passed by about 8 points at 54% to 46%. 

Dale Howarth created a Facebook page dedicated to finding transparency from the district that now has nearly 900 members. Howarth began contacting various law firms throughout the state, as well as the State Bar Association and other legal entities. Most declined either because the case against the district is either not their field of expertise or there was not enough time available to the firm to currently address the issue. 

Howarth did find two attorneys available, and decided to begin working with The Law Offices of Anthony Coletti of Elkhorn, Wis. They are crowdfunding the law firms’ estimated $10,000 retainer price in order file a lawsuit against the school district. Because of a likely appeals process, an additional $25,000 in private donations is also sought.

Once the retainer is reached, the attorney can start the case and file suit, Howarth said. As of Thursday morning, more than $7,000 had been raised, just over 24 hours after announcing the plan to the Facebook group. Howarth was optimistic the $10,000 mark would be hit by the weekend.

“If people are at all interested in having what’s right and just prevail, they should be donating to our cause,” Howarth said. “Give the community the chance to have and honest and informed vote on this with all the true facts and numbers, and we will then be able to go forward as a community knowing the true will of the informed people.”

Howarth wasn’t the only member of the group working to find an attorney to take on the case. Others reached out as well. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) sent a letter to the school board and administrators on Feb. 13, suggesting the board do the right thing and run a second referendum, now that district residents see exactly what the costs will be on their tax bill. 

“We did receive it late this morning, and we sent it off to our attorney,” Figueroa said on Feb. 13. 

At this time, WILL does not appear to be ready to file suit against the district, instead just giving their own legal advice.

“With WILL still following the issue but not stepping into the fray at this time … after considering that we do not have the time to allow this to get to the point of no return, have decided to file our own lawsuit on this issue,” Howarth wrote in a post to in his Facebook group.

The board was to meet Feb. 16 in closed session with the district’s legal counsel to discuss both the letter and potential lawsuit(s) that may arise. 

Bonds, interest information from Baird Financial

Lisa Voisin of the investment firm RW Baird Financial has been working as a financial advisor for 35 years. Baird services about 80% of school districts across the state, and Voisin even spent time as a school board member of the Muskego-Norway district years ago.

“I kind know what it’s like to be on your side of the table,” she assured the board members in front of a public crowd of more than 120 people. She’s met with the board multiple times over the past few months, and joined the meeting to give a high-level overview of how the project would be financed. “I’ve worked on 262 Wisconsin referendums, and almost all of them kind of followed this path.”

She said November referendums get tricky because they have to follow the interest rate and bond market. Monroe issued a Bond of Anticipation Note (BAN).

“Much like a construction loan if you were to build a house, it’s a bridge loan to get the funds invested until we’re ready to actually issue the long-term bonds. It takes a little bit of time to issue long-term bonds, and December is a terrible time to be selling municipal bonds,” she said.

Getting funding early can lead toward earning interest on the bonds, which can add overall funds to a project, which could help go toward hiccups like higher inflation or unforeseen costs that arise during construction.

Voisin said that through the reinvestment firm, those funds could add another $6.2 million to the $88 million project. The district has a very good bond rating, which means lower interest rates when borrowing, with a current amount under 4%, down from about 4.5% from around the time the referendum was held. On Feb. 13, the less-than-4% mark could save the district another $10 million in interest over the 20-year stretch of the loan. 

However, the market can change quickly, and if the district waited a month to approve, that number could potentially go back up. Voisin said she is one of four at Baird that works on school referendums, and right now all of her other districts have locked in already because of risk. “We don’t know what the future holds for interest rates,” she said. “Even four weeks down, there’s a volatility factor that could change.

“[We’re] trying to allow you to borrow at the lowest interest rate, trying to maximize earnings so you have as much funds as possible for the project, and to mitigate risk. We’re in a very volatile interest rate environment, and day over day, interest rates can move five basis points, 10 basis points.” A basis point is a financial unit of measure that equals one-hundredth of 1%. 

Lessening the interest burden would help the district maximize its ability to spend on the project, without burdening the tax payers any more. Thanks to months of rising inflation rates — which have begun slowing down now — getting optimal finances for a big project is key, and is not just for the taxpayers of the Monroe school district.

“You and almost every other district in the state — at least the ones that I work with, which is 120 districts — have seen that unprecedented growth in property value. Right now, with the financial plan that we have now, you would come in at over $10 million less in interest costs,” she said. 

On Nov. 28, 2022, the board approved locking in bond note, which closed and went into effect with the funds wired on Dec. 14, and were reinvested in a premarket approval (PMA). June 14, 2023 is the maturity date to pay off the note, though it can be paid off as early as March 14.

“And then you’re lock in at a fixed-rate 20-year loan or loans,” Voisin said, “again, we’d watch the market and maybe split the borrowing. That’s details for later.”

The finalizing of the bond and getting the bond rating is basically waiting on the land purchase, she said. 

Updated pupil count

The district gave an update on the number of students in the district. Every school year in September and January, they do a head count of all students. Generally, the December count is lower due to seniors that graduate early. Under the trimester format, students with enough credits can graduate early after both the first and second terms.

Monroe High School principal Jeriamy Jackson said there are typically quite a few more that tend to graduate after the second trimester because they’ve then reached the credit threshold.

The overall district count in September was 2,237 students, and the count for the second Friday in January was 2,223 — a difference of 14 fewer students. However, 19 graduated already, which means the district added at least five new students.

“If you look at … the grade 12 number, you can see that it was 191 in September, and then in January we were at 175,” said Ron Olson, Monroe’s Business Administrator. The Class of 2023 is the largest class in the district currently, and some of the those in the middle and elementary schools are significantly smaller. The Class of 2022 had 199 students in the September count a year ago.

“That’s not something we need to solve tonight, but moving forward we’ll need to discuss,” Olson said.

In September 2020, the district was at 2,243 students, which Olson alluded to fewer students enrolled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and families homeschooling. In September 2021, the number was back up to 2,284, an increase of 41 students.

“The driving factor we’re seeing is that we have three or four larger classes left, and then we get into a long string of classes that are smaller in our middle schools and elementary,” Olson said. From the 199 in last year’s graduating class to this year’s 4-year-old kindergarten (146), that’s a 53-student difference, Olson said. “We were projecting kind of flat, but then COVID came and it kind of changed everyone’s world.” He said the district has engaged with the state to do an updated enrollment study on trends and forecasts.