MONROE — The School District of Monroe will not try for another operational referendum in the near-future, after feedback from a survey and series of listening sessions seemed to determine that the community has no appetite for additional taxes to run schools.
The news came during a Dec. 8 meeting from Board President Rich Deprez, after an outside consultant told board members that “most of your non-parent, non-staff did say ‘no’ to the district pursuing (another) operational referendum.”
In August, the board agreed to advance a four-year, non-recurring operational referendum worth $1.5 million per year to voters to avoid more cuts. But in November, with some voters weary from passage of the $88 million referendum for the new high school in 2022, it was defeated at the ballot box.
The high school is now under construction.
Faced with declining enrollment, some school districts across the state are being forced to close and consolidate schools to reduce costs, especially operational expenses. For others — including 137 districts in Wisconsin in the November election — an operating referendum is viewed as the only way to avoid that fate.
In Monroe, there is going to be more cuts to weigh, which officials say will be identified and discussed at future meetings. Indeed, for School District of Monroe taxpayers, the 2024-25 operational budget deficit has continued to grow despite nearly $1 million in cuts made earlier in 2024. The district previously passed an operational referendum in 2016, extended it in 2018, and most recently in 2022 passed an $88 million capital referendum to build the new high school and update Abraham Lincoln Elementary.
“The simple fact again is that the public schools are not funded properly by the legislatures,” said Deprez, forcing districts to rely more on local taxpayers. “Our community, while happy with the outcomes (of the district), are not supportive of funding them.”
An excerpt from a district-produced, online Q&A on the proposed referendum summarized the ramifications of its failure: “Should the November referendum fail; it would result in a significant reduction in services and staffing and/or the utilization of the district fund balance.”
The necessary reductions would be implemented at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. This would be in addition to the more than $900,000 of budget reductions that were made in the winter/spring of 2024 prior to the 2024-25 budget.
That did not appear to sit well with exasperated board members, who say they are trying to make ends meet while providing quality schools. According to the survey results, based on a sample of 1,738 respondents, the majority of them said that if cuts were to be made it should be to athletics and extracurriculars.
“What do we need to do?” wondered board member Nikki Austin — alluding to grass-roots opposition to the high school referendum. “Is it just, ‘People are going to be upset about facilities so we’re going to cut teachers and programs until their not upset anymore…?’”
One of the issues evident from the surveys and feedback, officials said, was declining trust in the community with the education leadership around financing the schools.