$110 million amount discussed for possible West Bend School District referendum in November 2024

June 26, 2024 – West Bend, Wi – The West Bend School Board met for a work session Tuesday afternoon, June 25, 2024, to discuss the dollar amount for a possible November 2024 referendum.

Some bullet points from the meeting:

• Referendum totals fluctuated between $100 million to $110 million to $125 million. This would be Phase 1 of a facilities plan.
• The board referenced the community facilities survey, which was completed by 1,609 people. That covers the voting public in Village of Jackson, City of West Bend, Village of Newburg and area towns including West Bend, Trenton, Farmington, Polk and Barton which equals roughly 42,000 people.
• The board went back-and-forth on making the “new Jackson” a K-5 or K-8. Board members appeared to settle on K-5. As a result, all grades 6-8 students in the district would attend Badger, which can be accommodated without additional facility costs due anticipated declining enrollment.

• The board and administration have acknowledged declining enrollment district wide. Wimmer said with their projections of a K-5 in Jackson they tested possibilities with 100 extra in enrollment. (mentioned were possibilities of 100 families moving into Jackson and/or the discontinuation of the voucher program) The proposal for Jackson ($80m) to be a K-5 would save about $20 million in costs.  (23:50) With $20 million then available, superintendent Jen Wimmer presented options.  “Alright… let me show you how to spend that money,” she said.
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• “We would take the approximately $20 million and complete the right-sizing plan,” said Wimmer. That includes closing Fair Park and Decorah and the Rolf’s Early Education Center. “Then step into renovations at the high school. That would round us back out to $100 million.”
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– Estimated interest rate was noted at 4.75%  – A man attending the meeting via Zoom indicated that rate could fluctuate.

– After charging the board with deciding what price point they would determine for the referendum, the board offered comments. “My general thought is it will be tough to go back to the community after a year and say we need more,” said board member Chris Zwygart. “I’m thinking $115 million to $120 million.”

– “The small amount of people surveyed is a big concern to me,” said board member John Donaldson. “How accurate was it polling 1600 people when we potentially have 10 times that for voting. You don’t know where people who didn’t take the survey are going to go.”

– “Since we’re getting rid of some buildings and closing them down that would free up some money in the budget and more could go towards capital maintenance because of the buildings you would close,” said board member Melanie Ehrgott.

– After discussion on maintenance needs, the board returned to the discussion of the referendum total. “We kinda need that price point so we can combobulate that accordingly,” said Wimmer.

– An initial total of $110 million was proposed as a starting point.

– “Typically, the minimum would be $80 million to get a new Jackson K-5 built,” said Donaldson. “Asking for extra money to do something that has to be done anyway; if we’re going to ask for the money just to make it easier to balance the budget…I think that’s wrong.  We do have a capital maintenance budget if we have to shift stuff around or using the money we already get, using it the right way then… $100 million gets us $20 more million anyway.”

• “So you’re telling me if we don’t get $80 million, we’re leaving all the schools open,” said Donaldson.
• “No, you can still close schools,” said Wimmer.
• “That’s what I’m talking about,” said Donaldson. “Those things have to happen anyway … just to be utilizing the district the way it should be. We are way under capacity at schools. Silverbrook has half the school closed down in sections because they don’t have enough students to fill them.”
• “Once we know what Phase 1 is … and if it fails – I’m still going to close some things, voting ‘No’ doesn’t mean I will keep your school open,” said Wimmer.
• “The purpose of this work session is to pick a number, whatever it is and then you’re coming back to us with (a list) of this is what you will get for it,” said Zwygart.

The next meetings are July 8, 2024 and July 22; the board will decide in August to adopt the required ballot resolutions for the November 5, 2024 election.

UPDATE: The agenda/graphics were made public after requesting the info at 11:24 a.m. on June 26, 2024.

This is a working story, and more information will be posted when details are available.