2023 OPERATIONAL REFERENDUM

• LACK OF STATE FUNDING - there has been a 0% increase in ongoing per pupil funding authorization by the State of Wisconsin for two consecutive years.
• INFLATION - inflation has increased at unprecedented rates.
• A COMPETITIVE MARKET - to maintain our ability to retain and attract the best educators and staff in an increasingly competitive job market, we must offer competitive salaries.

Shall the School Board of the School District of Arcadia be authorized to exceed the revenue limit under Section 121.91 of the Wisconsin Statutes beginning with the 2023-24 school year through the 2025-26 school year on a non-recurring basis by an amount of $750,000 each year for the purpose of paying District operating costs for staff salaries and benefits, facility maintenance and equipment purchases as provided in the foregoing resolution?

A “YES” vote allows the district to ask taxpayers for additional dollars to be used for operating expenses. A “NO” vote means the district may have to make reductions in a number of areas because of lack of funding to cover operating expenses. This could affect co-curricular and other non-academic opportunities and programs.

Non-recurring will buy time to see how the state decides to fund schools in the next biennium budget. After two years of no additional per pupil funding from the state, it is unclear how the state is going to fund schools moving forward. Three years allows funding to stabilize so the district knows how to plan in the future.

Currently, we are already planning to reduce budgets at the building levels by 20% for the 23-24 school year. If the district were to receive additional funding from the state and a successful referendum to exceed the revenue cap we would be able to restore some, if not all, of those funds. Additionally, we may have to look at academic and athletic programs, clubs and organizations, etc. for possible reductions.

Due to state law, the District won’t be able to go to referendum again until a year from now so cuts will need to be made or Fund Balance would need to be used. Using Fund Balance would require the district to short-term borrow because of the timing of when revenue comes into the district. At the current interest rates, short-term borrowing is not advisable, and using Fund Balance is also only a one-time solution. It doesn’t help with recurring expenses, such as salaries and benefits.

In 2002 Wisconsin was ranked 11th in the nation for school funding. By 2020, our state had fallen to 25th. This is the largest drop in the national ranking of any state over this time period. In fact, Wisconsin public school funding in 2020 was 6% below the national average, and there has been no increase in state per-pupil funding for the two years since then. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has estimated that for the state to meet the CPI (index for inflation) for the past two years and in the next budget cycle, the state would need to increase per-pupil funding for school districts by $1,510 per pupil in the coming biennium.

Non-recurring simply means that it does not go infinitely. A non-recurring referendum goes on for the time frame that is listed in the referendum resolution. In our case, the non-recurring referendum would start in 2023-2024 and have its last year in 2025-2026. A recurring referendum is one, if passed, never has an end date.

Since 2019, the district has paid down principal of $3,565,000. This equated to savings of approximately $852,000.

Yes, almost 100 districts in the state went to referendum in November and many more are anticipated in April. Over the years, more of the responsibility for funding schools has moved from the state to local property taxpayers, via referendums. In fact, since revenue limits were put into place in 1992, 82% of the Districts in the State have gone to an operational referendum.

On the community mailing the verbiage was used of shifting funds. This was an editing error on the districts part. The district is unable to shift money from one fund to another. For example, the district is unable to shift money from Fund 80 (community fund) to Fund 10 (operating fund). 

A “YES” vote allows the district to ask taxpayers for additional dollars to be used for operating expenses. A “NO” vote means the district may have to make reductions in a number of areas because of lack of funding to cover operating expenses. This could affect co-curricular and other non-academic opportunities and programs.

When we levy tax dollars, we cannot transfer dollars from that referendum debt fund (Fund 39) to the operational fund (Fund 10) because of the legal stipulations around levying dollars for certain expenses.

When we levy tax dollars, we cannot transfer dollars from that community fund (Fund 80) to the operational fund (Fund 10) because of the legal stipulations around levying dollars for certain expenses.