Shiocton school district considers next steps after capital referendum failure

Rebecca Loroff, Appleton Post-Crescent
·2 min read

Voters in the Shiocton School District approved a $7.4 million operational referendum last month — but rejected a measure seeking $35.8 million for school building upgrades, leaving district officials considering their next steps.

The capital referendum, which failed on a 789-601 vote, would have upgraded the building infrastructure, especially the plumbing and electrical systems, and added new facilities like a second gym, new centers for technical education, fine arts and childcare and replace the playground equipment.

District administrator Nichole Schweitzer said before the vote that much of the school building needs significant upgrades — for example, she noted that the plumbing dates to the 1960s.

District administrator: referendum may have failed due to property reassessments, revenue limit increase

Before putting the referendums on the ballot, Schweitzer said she had found 600 community members in favor of the capital upgrades.

However, two of the district's communities, Bovina and Ellington, recently had their properties reassessed, which drove up both home property values and property taxes in those two municipalities, Schweitzer said. And, while the district didn't received increases to its state revenue limits in either the 2021-22 or 2022-23 school years, it did receive a thousand-dollar boost in per-pupil aid in 2023-24.

Schweitzer believes the reassessment and the revenue limit increase meant voters "weren't sure what their taxes were going to do" and may have caused them to hesitate to vote for the capital referendum.

"There's strong support (for the capital referendum projects)," Schweitzer said, but voters "weren't ready (to support them) yet."

A screenshot of a video showing renderings of the proposed varsity gym at Shiocton School, captured Feb. 5, 2024. Voters decided not to fund the building by rejecting a proposed capital referendum Feb. 20, 2024.
A screenshot of a video showing renderings of the proposed varsity gym at Shiocton School, captured Feb. 5, 2024. Voters decided not to fund the building by rejecting a proposed capital referendum Feb. 20, 2024.

'The needs don't go away'; district considers next steps

Schweitzer stressed that the district was thankful to voters for passing the operational referendum, which will allow the district to increase funding over the revenue limit by $7.4 million over the next three years. "That was critical," she said.

She plans to gather community feedback about the capital referendum failure and determine the district's next steps in the coming months.

In the meantime, Schweitzer said, the capital referendum failure means the school building will continue to have physical, electrical and mechanical limitations that will "impact student learning and teacher instruction."

"The needs don't go away after the polls close," she added.

Rebecca Loroff is an education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Contact her with story tips and feedback at 920-907-7801 or rloroff@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @RebeccaLoroff.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Shiocton referendum 2024: district considers next steps after referendum failure