Edgerton School District discusses referendum
EDGERTON — If a spending referendum for the Edgerton School District makes the ballot in November, it will have a maximum $9.2 million dollar price tag, the school board decided Monday.
The board has not voted on whether to approve the referendum for the ballot this fall, and it still has not crafted how the referendum question would be phrased.
On Monday, however, it ironed out costs for the three major projects that would steer the possible referendum.
The board reached a consensus to seek:
-- $4.8 million for repair projects—mainly roofing, window replacement and exterior work to district buildings.
-- A $2.9 million plan to refinance the district's pension debt.
-- $1.5 million in technology upgrades, including new district computers, new wireless equipment, and infrastructure and ventilation upgrades.
Those figures are in the spectrum of earlier district estimates for the referendum, which ranged from $9.2 million to $9.7 million.
The board established a maximum price tag for technology costs linked to the referendum. It spent almost a year weighing costs for projects in the plan, but it had been undecided on how much it would pursue for technology upgrades.
As recently as early June, the board wrestled with whether to seek $1.5 million or $2 million for technology improvements.
Some district plans for tech spending could hinge on the option to seek $2 million, including a project-based learning model, and a proposal for public-private partnerships between the district's technology department and local industry. The latter would require at least $200,000 in computerized production equipment.
Board member Derek Ninmer pushed unsuccessfully for the board to seek the full $2 million.
"It would put us a half-step ahead in the tech department," he said. "It puts us as a district of choice."
Other board members, such as Amy Horn-Delzer, were concerned the extra amount might turn off taxpayers and possibly threaten the rest of the referendum if it went on the ballot.
Board member Matt Towns said that with a $1.5 million technology referendum, the district would be able to reach its original objectives of replacing its aging technology infrastructure and computers.
The board is reviewing whether it could instead fund tech plans with savings from the referendum's pension debt refinancing plan or by lumping technology and building repair parts of the referendum together to leverage lower project costs.
Costs for the referendum would roll out over 15 to 20 years and would range from a $25 to $75 tax increase on the school portion of a tax bill for a $100,000 property.
To get the referendum on the November ballot, the board must formally approve an amount and ballot question by Aug. 13.
The board likely will decide in July whether it would structure the referendum as a three-part question or lump some projects together in questions.
Jun 29, 2012 at 10 a.m.
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What ever happened to the insight of saving for a rainy day? Any homeowner knows that you must put away a set amount of money, so that in 20 years +/- you will probably need general maintenance done on wear items....such as roofs, etc. These referendums should be a ONE TIME cost, because after that, people should know how much should be saved to cover that cost in 20 more years. Unfortunately, these referendums seem to be occurring more often, which leads me to believe that our schools are not saving anything for a rainy day. If the heads of these schools do not follow this philosophy then it is most definitely not being taught to our youth either. This cycle of spending everything you make needs to stop. But how will it stop when the very people that are supposed to be the educators need to be taught that principle themselves?
Jun 27, 2012 at 10:06 p.m.
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bill, does that mean you'll not be eating or drinking at all then?
Jun 27, 2012 at 8:31 p.m.
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When there's a drought, most people realize that they need to use less water. When there's a famine, people understand that there will be less food. There's a 4 year long recession going on, home values are down a third, wages have been stagnant for years and unemployment has been high for years, too. Why can't school boards such as Edgerton's recognize that the well is running dry and they can't keep demanding more for themselves year after year? I guess they'll need another referendum loss to force them to deal with the economic realities.
Jun 27, 2012 at 9:57 a.m.
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That would be correct dtb.
Jun 27, 2012 at 9:03 a.m.
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er, you were being sarcastic, right JCK?
Jun 27, 2012 at 9:02 a.m.
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One would think that when you slash funding more than the "tools" save we're going to see a lot more of this in the near future. And school buildings will fall apart because no one wants to spend the money to cover basic maintenance costs. You can only put those things off so long.
Jun 27, 2012 at 8:45 a.m.
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One would think that with the "tools" available to school districts these types of referendums would be unnecessary.
Jun 26, 2012 at 8:49 p.m.
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In other words "it still has not crafted how the referendum question would be phrased", means what can we say so that we fool them this time to let us spend more of their money.
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