Voters in the Oconomowoc, Shorewood and North Lake school districts will see referendums in April. Here’s what the districts are asking for.

With the Feb. 21 primary in the books, the focus now turns to the April 4 general elections for local municipalities and school boards, and for some areas in the Milwaukee suburbs, school district referendums.

Voters in the Oconomowoc Area, Shorewood and North Lake school districts will see referendums on their ballots that will either improve facilities or help with operational costs.

Here is a look at each of the referendums.

Oconomowoc

In January, the Oconomowoc School Board agreed to put a two-question facilities referendum on the ballot totaling $75.45 million.

The first question asks for $38.65 million for several projects, including: replacing Oconomowoc High School's 60-year-old steam-based heating and cooling systems, removing asbestos in the high school's HVAC systems and duct work, replacing roof sections at the high school and Ixonia Elementary School, building six new classrooms at Ixonia Elementary, removing two temporary modular classrooms and replacing the gym floor at Ixonia Elementary, according to a news release from the school district.

The second question asks for $36.8 million for projects at the high school, including: renovating music and art classrooms into new art classrooms, renovating the upper gym into music classrooms, creating new physical education spaces to replace the upper gym, creating additional locker rooms, an auxiliary gym for gymnastics and dance, a larger fitness and weight training room and a wrestling practice area, and adding new cafeteria space.

The estimated tax impact of both referendum questions would be an estimated 7 cents per $1,000 of equalized property value. For example, a homeowner with a property valued at $350,000 would see an annual increase of $24.50 per year in annual property taxes for schools, according to the school district.

Voters in the district approved a $54.9 million referendum in November 2016 for a new Meadow View Elementary School, additions and renovations to Ixonia Elementary School, security improvements and renovations at the high school's main campus, renovations to instructional spaces and district offices at the high school's east campus and capital replacements and improvements at Greenland Elementary School and Park Lawn Elementary School, according to the Wisconsin Department of Instructions' referendum history database.

More information on this year's referendum questions is available at www.oasd.k12.wi.us/district/facilities-planning.cfm.

Shorewood

The Shorewood School Board in January agreed to go to voters in April to seek additional funds for a nonrecurring operational referendum.

The referendum seeks an additional $5.5 million per year, starting in the 2023-24 school year and ending in the 2027-28 school year, for a total of $27.5 million.

The additional funds would allow the district to maintain student programming and services and provide the "ability to retain and attract high-quality staff," according to a news release.

Like other school districts statewide, Shorewood is facing no increases in state per-student funding, as well as increased costs and challenges with retaining and recruiting quality teachers, according to the district. The district said its per-student revenue caps have lagged behind inflation by about $3,200 per student since 2009, which equates to $5.5 million in lost revenue for the district this year alone, according to a news release from the district.

If the referendum fails, the district said it would have to make "significant cuts" to school programming, services and staffing. The district estimates $2.5 million of reductions would need to be made to balance its 2023-24 budget. The district also projects a $25 million shortfall over the next five years, according to information on the district's website.

In preparing its 2022-23 budget, the district reduced expenditures by more than $1 million, while at the same time accounting for raises, increases in medical benefits and other inflationary increases. The district saved money with "consolidated grade level or content-area sections, decreased administrative staffing, decreased spending on materials and supplies, reduced spending on outside vendor/service contracts, changed healthcare policy and added new open enrollment students," the district's website said.

If the referendum is approved, taxpayers could expect to see an increase of $1.23 per $1,000 in assessed fair market property value. For example, the owner of a home valued at $300,000 would pay an additional $369 in school taxes annually.

The district's last referendum was in April 2019, when voters passed a $65 million facilities referendum that covered districtwide safety and security improvements and Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility upgrades, renovations and updates to Shorewood High School's main academic building and targeted renovations at the district's elementary schools. The April 2019 referendum also approved $275,000 per year for districtwide facility maintenance costs, according to the DPI's referendum history database.

More information about the referendum is available at www.shorewood.k12.wi.us/apps/pages/referendum.

North Lake

Voters in the K-8 North Lake School District in northwestern Waukesha County will also have a nonrecurring operational referendum to decide upon.

If approved, the referendum would exceed the district's revenue limit by $1.1 million for the 2023-24 school year, $1.2 million for the 2024-25 school year and $1.3 million for the 2025-26 school year, for a total of $3.6 million.

The district said the funds will help it maintain educational programming and sustain annual operating costs.

The referendum's projected tax impact is $1.72 per $1,000 of property value. For example, a homeowner with a $200,000 property would pay $344 more annually in school taxes.

The district attributed the need for the additional operating costs to declining enrollment and state-imposed revenue limits.

While positive open-enrollment numbers have helped to delay the need for an operational referendum, there is a lack of population growth within its boundaries, according to the district, because of few young families moving in, a low turnover in the housing market and an aging community.

District officials hope a successful referendum could attract new students "by sustaining the fire star educational program at North Lake School," the district website says.

The district cited several ways it has tried to reduce expenses, including eliminating administrative positions, reducing specialty staff, eliminating retiree benefits and increasing contributions to the Wisconsin Retirement System and health insurance.

To increase revenue, the district has attracted open-enrollment students, established an education foundation, established a partnership with Lake Country Kindergarten Preschool for 4K and early childhood programming, applying for grants, seeking private donations and increasing student student fees.

If the referendum fails, the district said "it would be difficult to sustain the current educational experience at North Lake School." It would also lead to further staffing reductions.

The district also said if this referendum failed, another would follow in 2024.

The district's last referendum was in November 2014, when voters approved $2.26 million for capital maintenance building projects for the school building and grounds.

For more information, visit northlakeschool.org/referendum/.

Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Voters to decide referendums in Oconomowoc, Shorewood and North Lake