Frequently Asked Questions

A school referendum is a request from a school district for District electors to vote "yes" or "no" on the resolutions (questions) approved by the Board of Education.  It explains exactly what the district is requesting, the amount of money requested, and what it will be used for. The Washington-Caldwell School District has one question on the April 2, 2024 general election ballot.

Public school districts in Wisconsin operate under a state-imposed revenue limit that restricts the amount of funding they receive from state general aid and local property taxes.  State general aid and local property taxes are our school’s largest source of funding. This revenue limit has not kept pace with inflationary costs since 2009, making it difficult to meet rising costs. 

Due to the state’s inequitable and limiting school funding formula and overall lack of public school funding, Wisconsin schools are expected to turn to our local communities for support.  Approximately 85% of school districts in Wisconsin are operating with passed referendums.

Because of this, Washington-Caldwell has reduced overall expenses, reduced staffing, limited wages, decreased benefits, researched additional grant opportunities, and diligently monitored every expense.

This operational referendum will allow WCSD to receive additional funding from the tax levy to operate our school. This funding will allow the school to continue its current staffing, maintain current class sizes and caseloads, student support services, programming, and co-curricular activities.  It will allow us to afford the inflationary costs of educational supplies, materials, and services. The funding will also enable the district to meet the increasing operational expenses such as electricity, natural gas, general building and grounds maintenance, communication, and bus transportation for our students. 

The Board of Education has steadily controlled costs and reduced expenses, such as not replacing staff, adjusting benefits, and reducing budgets.  

However, this is a structural deficit. What does that mean? Using the best data available, the projected deficit is expected to grow each year into the foreseeable future, threatening the education we can provide. 

In 1993, revenue limits were established for all Wisconsin school districts.  After state aid is distributed each year, a school district can tax its property owners up to the district’s revenue limit amount. While many other school districts in Wisconsin, including districts in our area, have sought operational referendums to exceed the revenue limit because of ongoing deficits, the Washington-Caldwell School District has avoided an operational referendum for many years. 

Washington Caldwell has always operated on an exceedingly lean budget. Being such a small school, there are only so many ways to cut expenses without impacting student learning. We have reduced staffing and employee benefits, renegotiated the service contracts that we can and reduced or eliminated outside services where possible.  We have reduced transportation costs by consolidating bus routes and eliminating transportation to co-curricular activities and sports. And while we have been very careful not to impact student learning, some of these reductions do have an impact on families, with earlier pick up times and longer bus rides. Currently, parents are responsible  to transport students to team games for basketball and volleyball as it is no longer provided. 

In the last decade, the Board of Education and District administration have worked diligently to implement many cost-saving measures to address the constantly changing financial circumstances while still providing a comprehensive set of experiences and opportunities to our students.  The cost-saving measures include:

• Eliminating and restructuring staff positions

• Decreasing spending on materials, supplies, and outside vendor contracts

• Modifying health insurance plan options

• Requiring staff to pay a larger share of their benefits     

• Starting wage and wage increase limitations

• Reduced transportation costs

• Renegotiated service contracts

• Reduced outside services

With declining state funding, we have been able to expand learning opportunities by controlling spending.  However, with the increasing cost of providing a high-quality education, combined with years of funding falling short of inflation, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain our programs and staffing.

Revenue in schools statewide are declining due to lower state funding, which is based on many factors.  At the same time, expenses are rapidly outpacing revenues. The gap has been widening for several years and Washington-Caldwell has few options for reducing expenses while maintaining the same quality programming and services.

 With increasing costs and frozen state funding, 85% of districts in the state have used referendums to meet budget challenges and address needs.

The Board approved a resolution seeking the minimal amount needed to fill the operating gap for each of the next four years. The decision to ask for only what is minimally needed was made in consideration of the taxpayer, while seeking to maintain quality educational programming for students.

This operating referendum is non-recurring, meaning it expires in four years. If approved, it provides the Board with the authority to exceed the revenue cap each year by the amounts indicated below:

2024-25 $450,000*

2025-26 $450,000*

2026-27 $450,000*

2027-28 $450,000*

If needed, when the referendum expires, the district would need to ask voters again.

*Revenue authority requested to fill the funding gap.

An operating referendum will provide the District with the necessary funds to meet the needs of the day-to-day operational costs of running the school district into the future. Funds will be used to retain high-quality staff to maintain current programs and services; provide necessary and routine classroom, office, and maintenance supplies; complete routine maintenance; maintain technology software and hardware; transportation and utilities, etc.

Staff are critically important to providing a quality school program.

All students come to school with a variety of needs. We need people who have training and experience in many areas so that our staff is flexible in meeting the needs of all students.  For example, we are so fortunate to have many teachers who have diverse skills, a variety of licenses, and experiences.  As a result, teachers can be responsive to individual student needs.  If approved, the operating referendum will support the staff and programs for all our students.

The average tax impact* is estimated as follows:

Operational referendum passes: 

Year 1 Tax Impact -  $1.41 per $1,000 of property value or $141 a year per $100,000 of property value.

Year 2 Tax Impact -  $1.29 per $1,000 of property value or $129 a year per $100,000 of property value.

Year 3 Tax Impact -  $1.07 per $1,000 of property value or $107 a year per $100,000 of property value.

Year 4 Tax Impact -  $0.98 per $1,000 of property value or $ 98 a year per $100,000 of property value.

*The estimates are based on the assumption of 2% annual growth in equalized value of the Washington-Caldwell School District and 5.25% interest rates, which are both conservative estimates.

Schools are an asset to the communities they serve by attracting new residents, families, and businesses.  This helps to boost the local economy and increase property values.   An investment into the future of our students is an investment into the future of our community.

In the event the referendum does not pass, the Washington-Caldwell School District will eliminate resources that have a direct impact on student learning.  This includes but is not limited to, reductions in staff resulting in combined classes, limited access to resources, and the elimination of extracurricular activities for students.  This will also make it difficult to retain or attract quality staff. Ultimately, the Washington-Caldwell School District will be at risk of dissolving. 

Dissolution will not reduce your taxes.  Washington Caldwell students will have to be re-districted and we will have to pay to that district, most likely Waterford Graded School District, which already has a higher Mill Rate than WCSD. In addition, we still have the impact of the referendum that passed last year to pay off, whether the school is open or closed. It would be a shame to have to pay that debt for upgrades for an unoccupied building.  A closure can also decrease property values.