October 3, 2022 at 2:36 p.m.
District hosts informational meeting on referendum
District hosts informational meeting on referendum
The question voters will see when they go to the polls on Nov. 8 is: "Shall the School District of Rhinelander, Oneida, Lincoln and Langlade Counties, Wisconsin be authorized to exceed the revenue limit specified in Section 121.91, Wisconsin Statutes, by $4,000,000 per year beginning with the 2023-2024 school year and ending with the 2026-2027 school year for non-recurring purposes?"
As it has in the past, the district is hosting a series of informational meetings to explain why another referendum is necessary.
The first meeting was held at the Hodag Dome Sept. 27. District superintendent Eric Burke took the crowd through a Powerpoint presentation outlining the challenges districts like Rhinelander face due to the state funding formula.
"Wisconsin schools operate under a state-imposed revenue limit that restricts the amount of money a district can receive," according to a handout summarizing Burke's presentation. "Our district does not receive enough revenue to adequately fund programs and services."
Because Rhinelander is considered to be a "property-rich" district, due to high property values, most of the responsibility for funding schools rests on local property taxpayers, he explained.
Burke, who was a principal at Port Washington High School before taking the Rhinelander superintendent position, noted he has seen firsthand the difference in funding received by districts in southern and northern Wisconsin.
"Schools in the south, where I came from in Port Washington, we were funded about 50-50 state and local property taxes," he noted.
In contrast, state funding for Rhinelander was 17 percent in 2022, according to the handout.
Burke also stressed that the district's newest facility, the Hodag Dome, was not built using operational funds.
That project was made possible primarily due to a $500,000 donation from the Swank family, as well as nearly $3 million raised through the Hodag Schools Foundation, and the school district's contribution came from savings.
"The school district put in savings, the fund balance, not their operational costs in order to make this possible," he said. "The funding to build this was not out of the operational budget."
At the same time, Burke noted that costs and expenses continue to rise.
"Student needs have increased, especially in the area of special education and mental health," according to the handout. "Costs for things like running our buses and heating our schools continue to increase, as do other expenses out of the district's control."
As attempts to lobby for changes to the school funding formula have been unsuccessful, many northern communities have been left with no option but to go to referendum, he noted.
Elcho, Tomahawk, Three Lakes, Northland Pines, Minocqua, Phelps and Merrill have all either recently gone to referendum or about to do so, he noted.
"Coming from an area where operational referendums were not a part of how a district operated, and seeing the need for it here, has been a learning experience for me," he added.
The "good news" for local taxpayers is that this referendum request is for a smaller figure than in years past, Burke noted.
"It's for a little bit less than the last one, it's for actually a million dollars less over the course of four years," he said. "It's for $4 million each year for four years."
"We're going for this at the same time as the district is going to have an increase in state aid," he continued. "How that's going to impact our taxpayers is we can pass a referendum and still see our property tax (go down). The school tax rate this last year was at $9.97 per $1,000 and it's estimated to be at $7.57 (when it's set in October) even if we pass the referendum. If (a taxpayer owns) a $100,000 house that's $200 savings while still passing this referendum to support our schools."
"We have some great things happening right now and the bottom line is we just want to continue that work that were doing supporting our kids, supporting our programs," he concluded.
The second informational meeting was scheduled for Monday evening at Rhinelander High School. The final two sessions are scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 25 at the Hodag Dome and 6 p.m. Oct. 31 at Crescent Elementary.
More information on the referendum is also available on the district website, https:/
/www.rhinelander.k12.wi.us/referendum/.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
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