An operational referendum asks voters for permission to exceed the state-imposed revenue limit authority for the purpose of increasing revenue to fund school operations. The Board of Education must approve going to referendum, along with the question that would appear on an election ballot for taxpayers to vote on.
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Shall the Evansville Community School District, Dane, Green and Rock Counties, Wisconsin be authorized to exceed the revenue limit specified in Section 121.91, Wisconsin Statutes, by $2,700,000 in the 2024-2025 school year, $3,900,000 in the 2025-2026 school year, $4,600,000 in the 2026-2027 school year, $5,200,000 in the 2027-2028 school year and $5,900,000 in the 2028-2029 school year for non-recurring purposes consisting of maintaining small class sizes, resources for struggling students, offering courses to prepare students for college and careers, salaries and benefits to recruit and retain high quality staff, and address building maintenance and district operating costs.
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- If the referendum is not approved, the Evansville Board of Education will have to reduce the District budget by $2.4 million.
- Multiple employee positions may be eliminated
- Class sizes may increase 5-6 students per room where teacher reductions are made.
- Investment in curriculum may be reduced by $400,000-$500,000.
- Many advanced courses that prepare students for college and career may not be sustainable.
- Quality employees may leave as salaries and benefits for school employees may be frozen at current levels.
- Reductions in bus routes, resulting in increased ride time to and from school
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As shown in the chart below, the Wisconsin Legislature has underfunded the Evansville Community School District, along with all other Wisconsin school districts.
- The blue line represents inflation since 2010 while the red line represents the level of state funding for ECSD.
- If the Wisconsin Legislature had aligned funding for school districts with inflation, which they had done prior to 2010, ECSD would not need to go to referendum.
- In 2023-24, the cumulative gap between ECSD state funding and inflation is $3,840 per student. Based on ECSD's enrollment of 1680 students, this represents $6,451,200 in revenue, far more than the amount being requested in the April 2 Operational Referendum.
- The Wisconsin Legislature did not provide any additional revenue to ECSD or any school district in 2021-22 or 2022-23 ($0.00 increase in both years) which limited the District's ability to cover expenses.
- The Federal ESSER funds provided to help address COVID-19 related expenses expire on June 30, creating a larger District deficit.
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- Maintain current class sizes
- Provide high quality resources to support all students thriving, contributing and belonging.
- Continue offering courses to prepare students for college and careers
- Maintain salaries and benefits to recruit and retain high quality staff
- Address building maintenance and rising operating costs such as utilities, transportation and insurance.
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- The chart below shows the proposed tax increase each year based on the assessed value of your property. The amount for each year is in addition to the previous year.
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Year |
2024-25 |
2025-26 |
2026-27 |
2027-28 |
2028-29 |
Amount |
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$2,700,000 |
$3,900,000 |
$4,600,000 |
$5,200,000 |
$5,900,000 |
Property Value |
$100,000 |
$147 |
+$81 |
+$67 |
+$58 |
+$55 |
Property Value |
$200,000 |
$294 |
+$162 |
+$134 |
+$116 |
+$110 |
Property Value |
$300,000 |
$441 |
+$243 |
+$201 |
+$174 |
+$165 |
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- In both 2021-22 and 2022-23 the State of Wisconsin froze funding for ECSD and all public schools and provided $0.00 increase
- The Wisconsin Legislature has set the annual budget increase for 2024 and beyond at $325 per student which does not allow the District to keep up with inflationary increases, amounting to only $530,000 additional revenue per year
- State funding for education was the 11th highest in the country (11% above the national average) in 2002 and is now 29th (8% below the national average) in 2023.
- In July 2023 the State of Wisconsin raised the low revenue limit ceiling which provided ECSD, a one time revenue increase of $1.6 million which allowed the District to balance its 2023-24 budget.
- The estimated budget deficit for 2024-25 is $2.4 million
- In 2023-24, the cumulative gap between ECSD state funding and inflation is $3,840 per student. Based on ECSD’s enrollment of 1680 students, this represents $6,451,200 in revenue, far more than the amount being requested in the April 2 operational referendum.
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- Over 50% of ECSD’s revenue comes from the State of Wisconsin or Federal government. The chart below shows the level of revenue ECSD received from the State of Wisconsin since 2005-06.
- State funding has been unpredictable and has not kept up with the level of inflation, creating an annual budget deficit
- In July 2023 the State of Wisconsin raised the low revenue limit ceiling which provided ECSD, a one time revenue increase of $1.6 million which allowed the District to balance its 2023-24 budget.
- The estimated budget deficit for 2024-25 is $2.4 million
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Since 2014-15, ECSD’s school district mill rate has trended downward. The proposed April 2 operational referendum will increase the mill rate, but even in the 5th year it will be below the 2014-2021 mill rate.
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The graph below highlights the gap between ECSD’s anticipated revenue and expenses. Without the support of the operational referendum, significant cuts will need to be made which will negatively impact student learning.
As it is difficult to guarantee future budget figures, this graph is based on an estimated inflationary increase on all current expenses as well as the following assumptions.
- Flat growth in student enrollment - student enrollment is a key factor in ECSD’s budget
- 5% salary increase each year - approximately 65-70% of ECSD’s budget is allocated to employees
- 6.5% health insurance cost increase each year
- In 2024-25, a reduction in Federal ESSER III funds of $536,000
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The chart below shows a comparison of the average tax levy per student. ECSD is near the bottom in our area as it relates to the amount of tax levy collected per student.
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No. Funds from the operational referendum will not be used for new construction or facilities upgrades. However, a portion of funds from the referendum will be used to maintain the existing facilities and address deferred maintenance that the current budget can’t support.
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The referendum provided $1,200,000 per year for five years (Total of $6 million).
- $468,000 for Technology; laptops, Smart display devices, wifi, servers, switches, etc.
- $432,000 for Staffing; addition of instructional coaches, educational assistants, maintain small class sizes
- $200,000 for Staff compensation; to recruit and retain high quality staff
- $100,000 for curriculum; to update one 4K-12th gr. content area per year
- The above items are recurring expenses and the annual costs continue to rise.
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Since 1993, 356 of 434 districts (82%) have used the referendum. Below are some examples in Rock, Green & Dane Counties that recently went to referendum. You can search all referendum history at the following link here.
- Operational Referendum is used to fund on-going District expenses
- Capital Referendum is used to fund construction and renovation expenses
District |
Date |
Amount |
Operational/Capital |
Pass/Fail |
Albany |
4/2/19 |
$2,750,000 |
Capital |
Pass |
Beloit |
4/4/23 |
$23,000,000 |
Operational |
Fail |
Beloit |
4/4/23 |
$19,500,000 |
Capital |
Fail |
Brodhead |
4/5/22 |
$5,250,000 |
Operational |
Pass |
Clinton |
11/3/20 |
$2,000,000 |
Operational |
Pass |
Clinton |
11/3/20 |
$32,000,000 |
Capital |
Pass |
Clinton |
4/2/19 |
$41,995,000 |
Capital |
Fail |
Delavan |
11/8/22 |
$15,200,000 |
Operational |
Pass |
Edgerton |
11/6/18 |
$1,250,000 |
Operational |
Pass |
Edgerton |
11/6/18 |
$40,600,000 |
Capital |
Pass |
Janesville |
11/3/20 |
$37,000,000 |
Operational |
Pass |
Madison |
11/3/20 |
$33,000,000 |
Operational |
Pass |
Oregon |
11/8/22 |
$11,400,000 |
Operational |
Pass |
Stoughton |
11/8/22 |
$48,000,000 |
Capital |
Pass |
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District Administrators and School Board Members will need to consider whether or not the District requires a future operating referendum. If state funding for schools continues as it has, a future operational referendum will be needed.
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- Changes in property value among residents within each municipality has no impact on the amount of revenue the school district receives to pay for operations.
- The total amount of revenue received by the school district is controlled by a revenue limit funding formula, which is based on annual student counts and a per-pupil dollar amount set by the State Legislature. This was made permanent in 1995, and was increased for the first time in 2023.
- This revenue amount can only be exceeded by local voters via a referendum.
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The cost of virtually everything has spiked over the last eighteen months, and school districts are not immune to the effects. Fuel, utility, transportation, classroom and food costs are up; likewise, the cost to attract and retain full-time staff, substitute teachers and support staff has risen sharply.
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- With so many districts attempting to hire from a tight labor pool, the list of unfilled positions is adding even more pressure on our teachers and administration to bridge the gap until positions can be filled.
- As of Nov. 2023, the District still has a high school science teacher vacancy, currently filled by a substitute, a middle school physical education teacher vacancy and two open educational assistant positions.
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Farmland, or agricultural land, is assessed differently than the value of a typical home. Generally, farmland is taxed at a substantially lower rate than residential property.
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The school property tax credit is a refund applied to the school portion of your property tax bill. The amount of the school levy tax credit is listed in a separate box in the upper right hand corner on each property tax bill. The school levy tax credit is applied to every taxable property. Even though this credit is found in a separate box on your tax bill, this is a rebate or reduction of your school property tax. For 2023-24 the school property tax levy refund to ECSD taxpayers increased 26% ($449,160) which results in a reduction in the tax shown on the tax bill.
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One of the District’s priorities is to recruit and retain the highest quality instructional staff. Providing a competitive salary is one factor in meeting this goal. The graph below shows the low, average and high salary for the ECSD teaching staff compared to surrounding districts. As with the administrative staff, ECSD is right about average with teacher compensation.
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ECSD works hard to ensure that the salary provided to school administrators reflects the expectations placed on the administrator. The graph below shows that the average salary for the ECSD administrative team is a little below average when compared to surrounding districts.
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ESSER funds were allocated in 3 rounds, totalling $1,921,360 for ECSD. Over 95% of the funds were utilized for personnel. The final $536,553 of remaining funds will be used in the 2023-24 school year.
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- For 2024-25, the referendum is requesting $2,700,000. Of this amount, $2.4 million would be used to balance the budget based on current expenditures and projected increases. The remaining $300,000 would be used to provide funds to:
- Restore positions lost due to recent budget cuts (such as elementary and special education teachers),
- Recruit and retain high-quality staff
- Pay for increasing costs in areas such as utilities, transportation, and insurance.
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This graph shows how funds in the ECSD are allocated. As you can see, 68% is spent on employee salaries and benefits. Purchased services covers any contracted costs, such as HVAC repair. Fund Transfer is the money ECSD has to transfer to Fund 27 (Special Education) to balance the Special Education budget. The State of WI only covers 33% of the special education expenditures.
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