Superintendent’s Message

It is exciting times at the School District of Luck. Our state report cards continue to rise as we work as a district to provide the best quality education possible. The increase in scores is nice, but we cannot be satisfied and must strive for continuous improvement. The district has added Spanish for all students of the district this school year. So from elementary to high school, students have the opportunity to work with Ms. Greer to hone their foreign language skills. The Tech Ed and Art departments have a new laser engraver that they are just starting to learn about the array of projects that can be done. These things, along with all of the other great things that occur such as our school plays, music performances and athletics, continue to provide a great experience for our students. As a district, we want to make sure this is a place that your child can succeed and community members can be proud of.

With that being said, the district is currently at the end of its 5 year operational referendum that was for $300,000 per year. The district will once again ask the taxpayers for this operational referendum at the same rate - 5 years at $300,000 per year. This will have limited impact on your current tax bill as it is just a continuation of the current operational referendum. Without this operational referendum the board would have tough choices of where to cut or whether to use fund balance. Either option is not good for the district as it will impact the students. The district will have more information available regarding the operational referendum as we move closer to the April election. This should not be confused with the building referendum, as it is needed to maintain the instruction for the students.

A survey was sent out this Fall regarding a possible building/maintenance referendum. Also community walk-throughs were done to show the needs of the district. The feedback from those meetings were clear that all of the maintenance projects need to be done. From the survey results, it showed there was interest in an auditorium and gym space as well. But it was also heard that we need to take care of the building that we have first. For this reason, the Board worked to create a new option for the district. The first thing was it must include all maintenance items discussed by the facility study. This was priority number one. Second priority was looking at the addition of an auditorium and gym space so as a district we can provide the appropriate space to host events and not disrupt the learning environment. With our current setup, physical education classes are disrupted nearly 50 days for events in the gym. This does not include disruptions to athletic teams or after school organizations that utilize the gyms on a regular basis. The addition of an auditorium allows for these events, along with our curricular and community events, to occur while not disrupting existing classes. The Board worked hard to scale back the plans to include all maintenance and include additional space for our students to learn in, while keeping the tax impact to a minimum. The Board will be asking taxpayers to consider a $9.5 million dollar referendum. The school tax impact would be approximately $77 per $100,000 of property value.

The district will be presenting more information on both referendum questions in the near future. Watch for informational mailers, and community meetings will be held to get all questions answered. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to call me directly at 715-472-2151 ext. 106. My job is to get the taxpayers the information they need to make an informed decision regarding the upcoming referendums. Please do not hesitate to call.

Yours in education,

Cory Hinkel

Superintendent

Yours in Education,

Cory Hinkel