Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, March 16, 2008
School district sees April referendum as a crossroads
 Emerson first-grade teacher Jackie Goetsch helps some of her students with their class work. Dick Riniker photo |
Voters will decide two referendum questions April 1 that La Crosse school officials say will shape the future of education in the district.
Superintendent Jerry Kember said the additional funds are needed to keep schools running at current levels and fix urgent facility needs at 14 aging buildings.
“The district is at a crossroads,” Kember said. “If the referendums fail, all school district needs … will be competing with one another for district dollars.”
The La Crosse School Board on Feb. 11 approved putting two measures — a $4.175 million annual operating referendum for five years and a $35 million building referendum — before voters April 1.
If both are approved, the owner of a $100,000 house would pay an average of $55 in new taxes, said Janet Rosseter, executive director of business services.
If neither passes, school taxes on a $100,000 house would go down an average of $99, she said, as the current operating referendum also is set to expire.
“This is going to continue until the state laws change or the way we fund schools changes,” Kember said. “It’s the predicament school districts are faced with across the state of Wisconsin.”
District officials said state law has hindered school finances since 1993 by limiting school revenue increases to an average of 2.3 percent annually, while at the same time, another state law requires school boards provide a minimum 3.8 percent salary and benefit package for staff members. This, combined with other rising costs, have districts such as La Crosse turning to voters to help bridge the gap.
“I think it’s clear that a majority of districts have had to go to referendum to make ends meet,” Kember said.
Another 48 school districts across the state will have referendums on the ballot April 1, he added.
Two organized groups
Organized groups have formed locally on both sides of the referendum.
“If those were the circumstances of anyone’s personal finances, they could probably manage for a time by cutting back and putting things off, but after a while it would catch up to them and be only a matter of time before they began falling behind,” said Terry Brenner, treasurer of the La Crosse Vote Yes Group.
Citizens for Responsible Government of La Crosse County understands that state funding isn’t the way it should be in Wisconsin and “consequently” it is coming back to La Crosse School District taxpayers, said Dick Petersen, Chairman of the Vote No Committee.
“We are not against quality education, but we want it at an affordable cost to the taxpayer,” he said.
Question One
The $4.17 million operating referendum would allow the district to spend $2.9 million on student programs, plus another $775,000 for routine building maintenance and $500,000 for technology replacement beginning in the 2009-10 school year.
The measure would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an average of $91 a year in property taxes over five years. But the current $3.52 million operating referendum that expires in the 2008-09 school year added an average of $99 on a $100,000 house, so the net result would be an $8 average drop in taxes.
A “no vote” on Question One, the operating referendum, likely would mean closing at least one school and redrawing of boundaries, Kember said.
And if the district is forced to make $4 million in cuts during the 2009-10 school year, students would see fewer class choices at the high school level, larger class sizes in the middle and high school, fewer co-curricular offerings, possible activity fees and the loss of Student Achievement Guarantee in Education, he said.
La Crosse has been able to offer SAGE, which keeps a ratio of one teacher to 15 students, in kindergarten through third grade, said Doug Happel, associate superintendent of human resources.
The district receives $2,250 from the state for each student enrolled in the program who receives free and reduced-price lunch. Title II dollars also are used to reduce class sizes, and the district absorbs the rest of the cost, about $300,000, he said.
And while there is expense involved with SAGE, district officials and teachers say it’s worth keeping.
“It would be a sad day for students if the La Crosse School District lost SAGE,” said Jackie Goetsch, a first-grade teacher at Emerson Elementary School. “It was designed to help at-risk kids and along the way helped everyone else.”
Goetsch said small class sizes allow all kids — ranging from at-risk to high-performance learners — to get additional time with a teacher.
But Petersen said the operating referendum is “out of line” by CRG standards.
“In the economics of business, you have to reduce expenses or you don’t stay in business,” he said. “But in the public sector, you just add taxes and get away with it.”
Question Two
A $35 million building referendum would provide $20 million for safety and “urgent facility” needs, plus heating and air conditioning, at 14 district buildings. It also covers a new $15 million energy-efficient elementary school that would combine Franklin Elementary School and Roosevelt/Coulee Montessori Schools at the current Franklin site.
If the public approves, the building referendum would add $63 to school property taxes on a $100,000 house.
CRG opposes the building referendum because of its language. Petersen said the group would have preferred three questions that addressed building improvements, safety and the new school.
But School Board President Christine Clair said the building referendum items are “things that need to get done.
“If the public says ‘No,’ we are going to have to do something about it,” she said. “I believe this is something we have to get done and if we have to get it done without the referendum, it will be at the expense of programs.”
Autumn Grooms can be reached at (608) 791-8424 or agrooms@lacrossetribune.com.
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