Superior School District Asks For Operational Referendum On November 5 Ballot

The Superior School District is going to be asking for more money on November, 5th ballot. The school district says that they haven't been able to generate enough revenue to keep up with inflation for the last decade.

In 1993, the state of Wisconsin put a cap on the amount of revenue a school district can receive from the state and from local property taxpayers. They say that limit has put them in a tough spot with school expenses rising higher than the money coming in.

Revenue woes at Superior School District

On their website, they point out that 85% of Wisconsin schools have already asked for an operation referendum. Superior is part of the 15% that hasn't until this point.

The school district says they have had to close a school and lay off 50 staff members to get a balanced budget for this school year. They say more significant impacts will happen in future years if the referendum doesn't pass.

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What's in the operational referendum?

The district has a five-year referendum plan that aims to generate money to maintain the current services that are provided to the students.

What will be the tax impact?

The tax impact will be an increase of $7 per $100,000 of property value for the first two years. After that, in the next three years, we will see an increase of $24.

According to the school district, the current mill rate is $6.24, which has dropped 42% since 2016-2017.

You can read more about the proposed referendum on the school district's website.