Shall the Yorkville Joint No. 2 School District, Racine County, Wisconsin be authorized to issue pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $12,100,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of a school facility improvement project consisting of: renovations, building infrastructure, capital maintenance and site improvements at district facilities; and acquisition of furnishings, fixtures and equipment.

Shall the Yorkville Joint No. 2 School District, Racine County, Wisconsin be authorized to exceed the revenue limit specified in Section 121.91, Wisconsin Statutes, by $900,000 beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, for recurring purposes consisting of operational and maintenance expenses.

Since October 2022, the District has completed a detailed facilities study, met with, and surveyed staff on facilities inadequacies, and sought feedback from a randomized community-wide survey to determine priorities for needs and potential solutions.

The areas assessed included aging infrastructure, with a focus on defining a fiscally responsible solution to our needs.

In January 2023, the comprehensive effort helped the Board of Education finalize the details of the operational and capital referendums as part of a long-term plan.

An OPERATIONAL referendum question asks voters to approve additional funding above the annual revenue limit to maintain things like class sizes, programs, and student services. Funds secured are used within the year they are received.

A CAPITAL referendum question asks voters to approve the district issuing debt to pay for major building projects, such as maintenance, remodeling or additions to school buildings. Much like a home mortgage, a capital referendum is typically financed over an extended period of time, often 20 years.

Yorkville has made significant progress because of past community support, and the proposed solutions build upon those accomplishments

Due to State aid decreases, prioritized needs cannot be addressed within annual budgets

Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding was a one-time source of funds to address needs as a result of COVID impacts

Needs have been prioritized based on extensive feedback from the community and staff, resulting in a long-term plan to address our facility needs

Because of ongoing management of the District’s finances, the District has reduced tax rates by over 25% over the last five (5) years. The District is able to address key priorities funded by the proposed operational and capital referendums, while keeping the tax rate below 21-22 levels

Waiting one (1) year to complete the proposed maintenance and remodeling work could increase costs by an estimated $800,000.

Attract and retain needed staff

Optimize learning environments and maintain class sizes

Fund increasing costs for needs such as transportation, utilities, technology, curriculum, etc.

Address prioritized, ongoing maintenance needs not addressed via the capital referendum.

Energy & Maintenance

Retro-commissioning of existing HVAC systems and boiler plant

Flush valve replacements

Replacement of the 1965 sanitary sewer - frequent backups

Interior & exterior lighting upgrades

Flooring, ceiling, interior door, and classroom cabinet replacements

2007 gymnasium wood floor refurbishment

Single-pane window replacement to enhance efficiency and comfort

Brick and concrete maintenance to repair cracking, sealants, and rusting

Select exterior door and hardware replacement

ADA Accessibility upgrades to 1965 and 1991 toilet rooms

Receiving, maintenance and storage addition to eliminate deliveries on playground

Technology & Electrical

Main electrical service upgrades – replacement and upsizing for air-conditioning

Replace original 1959 and 1965 electrical panelboards to improve reliability

Replace older electrical outlets and install additional outlets for increased needs

Phone system replacement and public address system upgrades

Data and wireless system upgrades

Upgrades to card access system and CCTV camera system

2007 gymnasium sound system upgrades

Site Safety & Parking

Reconfiguration of car drop off and pick up loop revisions to improve traffic flow and safety

North, East, Courtyard, & Basketball pavement maintenance and reconstruction

ADA and life safety improvements to bus loop/North entrance and transformer

Drainage corrections

Healthy Learning Environments

Installation of a Molybdenum Filtration System for safe drinking water

Special education classroom(s) remodeling to accommodate changing needs

Classroom unit ventilator replacement and the addition of air conditioning

Conversion of Furnace Installed in 1959 for efficiency and air conditioning

Asbestos Abatement

ADA ramp installation to replace undersized lift

Outdoor STEM Classroom opportunities

Outdoor club related opportunities

Approval of the both the Capital + Operational referendum would result in an annual estimated tax increase of $52 (OR $4.33 per month) for every $100,000 of property value over the current tax rate. The two referendum questions break out as follows:

Approval of the capital referendum would result in an annual estimated tax increase of $22 (OR $1.83 per month) for every $100,000 of property value over the current tax rate.

Approval of the operational referendum would result in an annual estimated tax increase of $30 (OR $2.50 per month) for every $100,000 of property value over the current tax rate.

Interest rates are still near historic lows for the time being, yet construction costs are increasing and interest rates are rising. Waiting even one year to complete this prioritized work could increase costs by an estimated $800,000.

If a referendum is not approved, our Board of Education will have to review options to meet these needs, as they cannot be addressed within current annual budgets. This would include expenditures for staffing, classroom programming and materials, transportation, and co-curricular needs.

Thanks to the generous support from our community, the most recent operational referendum, approved in 2018, gave the District permission to exceed revenue caps (imposed by the State of Wisconsin) $670,000 annually to address District needs, such as programming, staffing and ongoing facility maintenance. This additional funding sunsets in June of 2023.

Seventeen years ago, in April of 2006 a Facilities Referendum was approved to build our library, cafeteria, gymnasium, stage, music rooms, art room and office space. This referendum will be paid off in March of 2023.

For both budgeting and spending, the District is required to manage facility and operating referendums completely separate. That means approval of the April 4, 2023 capital referendum can only be used for the larger building needs we are unable to fund within our annual budget. The capital referendum can not be used for operating costs such as programming, staffing and ongoing facility maintenance normally addressed on an annual basis.

Many School Districts in Wisconsin are having, or have had, discussions regarding their ability to fund operational needs. In fact, in November 2022 alone, 59 Wisconsin School Districts asked voters to approve additional funding for operational needs. Even though in recent years Yorkville has demonstrated superb fiscal/financial responsibility, because of many factors that are beyond our control, we don’t feel comfortable saying yes or no to needing future referendums. But we do feel comfortable in pledging to continue with the same type of excellent fiscal/financial responsibility that our community has come to (and should) expect.

The cost of virtually everything has spiked over the last two years, and school districts are not immune to the effects. Fuel, utility, transportation, classroom and food costs are up while the cost to attract and retain full-time staff, substitute teachers and support staff has risen.

Farmland, or agricultural land, is assessed differently than the value of a typical home. For agricultural land, the value is determined by the use value instead of the market value. In a use value assessment system, the use of the land is the most important factor in determining its assessed value.

Register to vote at myvote.wi.gov

Learn More about voting absentee by mail

Election day voting is April 4, 2023, 7 am – 8 pm, all at the municipal buildings for each location (Yorkville, Dover & Raymond)

Absentee ballots get sent out 3 weeks prior to the election (March 14th)

Early in-person voting runs from March 21st – March 31st, and in all three locations it is during office hours, which are listed on the voting document. Friday, March 31st, voting runs from 8 am – 5 pm, as required by law.

Question #2 on the April 4th Ballot is an Operations Referendum in the amount of $900,000 recurring annually. It is known as an Operations Referendum. This is for ongoing annual costs that are no longer fully supported through state dollars.

During the summer of 2022, the District did a study of teacher compensation in comparison to other districts. When comparing our Yorkville teacher salaries to those of CESA2, we fall in the bottom 33% of these comparables. CESA2 includes schools in a large region from Middleton to Wilmot. It includes large and small districts, suburban and rural, high schools, and K-8’s.

The study we completed also looked at K-8 schools in the southeast corner of the state from Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties. This also placed the teachers in the Yorkville School District in the bottom 33% of our comparables.

To narrow down the pool of comparables only to the K-8 schools in our athletic conference, the results were still the same, placing us in the bottom 33%.

When considering that our students have ranked consistently in the top 10% of the State of WI on standardized tests, we have done quite well. However, this could soon change if we do not remain competitive. It was only a short 10 and 20 years ago we would benefit from a large number of teacher applicants for vacancies in Yorkville School.

Similar to nearly all lines of work today, this has changed. It is normal to receive 0-3 applicants per vacancy, and in many cases we are doing cold calls just to recruit people. Recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers is important.

The study was compelling to the Yorkville Board of Education to include this in the Operations Referendum on the ballot (Question #2) on April 4.

Yes. The roughly 20 year trend as explained above is here to stay. The costs we anticipate and explained above are also here to stay.

Additionally, the Operations Referendum is intended to take care of annual and ongoing maintenance needs, above and beyond that which is covered by the Maintenance Referendum (Question #1 on the ballot). Examples of these items are a rotation for painting, rotation for staff/student desks and chairs (some are over 35 years old), carpeting replacement rotation, changing of filters, and maintenance of fittings.

Yes. In fact, for many decades compensation and minor maintenance items were covered in annual budgets. Revenue limits were put into action in 1992, thereby reducing the ability of the district to simply raise the levy without asking the public. Frankly, this was a wise move to protect the onslaught of greater and greater taxes without checks and balances. Those checks and balances now come in the form of a referendum.

Further impacting school budgets is the decrease in state aid. Please reference the graph included in this communication showing the $3.9 Billion change in state aid to schools since 2011 (Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin Budget Project). By design, the dollars are not coming from the State of WI any longer, but rather placing the decision on local taxpayers instead.

An argument to support this notion is that rather than the State of WI deciding which school receives which amount of money, the question remains local. If a local referendum passes or fails, it is local dollars, impacting local programming, and for local children.

School Boards need to be held accountable. The Board of Education is not required to levy the full amount each year. There are many School Boards across WI that have made the wise and prudent decision to levy less than the full amount available.

It is the responsibility of the Board of Education to protect their taxpayers for such oversight. In a small tight knit community such as Yorkville, this transparency and accountability is evident and capable.

Our building and grounds are used nearly every day for non-school activities. In February/March 2022 the District formed a committee of staff, parents and community members in an effort to lay out a short-range strategic plan. During the course of the strategic plan meetings, committee members learned how often our school is used, during non-school hours.

Our findings included that the groups that use our facilities range from youth sports, high school sports, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, 4H, bridal showers, birthday parties, adult volleyball/basketball, and many more community activities. To detail the extent to which the school is used, during January 2023, the school was used by outside groups, during non-school hours, 30 of the 31 days (only non-use day was January 1st), and for the month of February it was used 28 of 28 days.

In his proposal there are two key items that could impact Yorkville. The first is a per pupil increase. The impact of this increase varies from school district to school district. Total enrollment, percentage of students open enrolled, and declining resident student enrollment are factors in the WI State Aid Formula.

If Governor Evers’ proposal to increase per pupil aid occurs, the projected impact on Yorkville is an increase of $1,650 on the annual budget. This $1,650 is not per student, but a grand total impact on the annual aid received from WI. This is an estimate.

The second item in Governor Evers’ proposal is to fully fund 4K students. In the past, these students were funded at 60%. About two-thirds of our 4K students are residents of Yorkville. When entering this into the WI State Aid Formula calculating student aid for next year, this is actually a negative impact on Yorkville. It results in a loss of $7,030 in total WI aid support for Yorkville for next year. This is also an estimate.

The WI State Aid Formula is very complicated and we are happy to sit down with anyone who wishes to see the numbers entered and calculated.

Since 2011, state aid to Wisconsin’s schools has continued to decrease, while tax cuts have increased, making it more difficult to fund prioritized needs for both facility maintenance and operations within the District’s annual budget. In fact, in November 2022 alone, 60 Wisconsin School Districts asked voters to approve additional funding for operational and/or facility needs.

The graphic below shows the comparison of tax cuts to state aid for Wisconsin School Districts, from 2012-21.

This is not anticipated. The decisions to place revenue limits AND to reduce state aid to schools were in large part designed to place the responsibility locally. Less money from the state implies either unsupported schools or increased local support via referendum.

Please reference the graph below, provided by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin Budget Project.