Yes, the Referendum will be held on April 2, 2019 during a statewide election, so absentee voting will be available. We will post polling places, voting times, and absentee rules for each municipality on our website.
No, this is not a threat. Our board members and district employees respect each community member far too much to play games when it comes to the education of our children or the finances behind running a school. If we could find a way to continue operating without a referendum, we would do so. We do not have any cut large enough to fill the projected deficit. Additionally, each cut we have left to make has the potential to increase expenses for the district by increasing open enrollment.
At our elementary levels, most of our grade levels have only one teacher. There simply are not more kids in the district to teach. For instance, our second grade class in Eagle currently has 14 students. We could add at least 10 students to this class without having to increase our teaching staff, which would result in more than $90,000 in revenue without adding any significant expense. The problem is that those children do not exist.
Another option would be to make split classes, such as combining grades 1 and 2. This process would decrease our costs by reducing a teacher, but is decreased by almost $7,500 per student who would open enroll out because they do not want to be in such a class. This expense would also be increased as siblings are taken out of the district as well.
An operational referendum asks voters for permission to exceed the state imposed revenue limit for the purpose of funding annual school operations. Costs associated for school operations include, but are not limited to: teacher and support staff salary and benefits, curriculum and student programming, utility and transportation costs, and general maintenance and custodial expenses.
No. School districts throughout the state are all faced with budget shortfalls. Many have become increasingly reliant on operational referendums to offset the difference between revenues and expenditures created by extremely minimal increases to public school funding. Approximately 61 percent of Wisconsin School districts have passed referendums to exceed the revenue limit, including our neighbors—Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Johnson Creek, Kettle Moraine, Mukwonago and Whitewater.
The tax impact of the proposed referendum for a given year is as follows:
For every $100,000 your home is ASSESSED at:
2019-20: Add $125 to your tax bill ($10.42 per month total)
2020-21: Add $84 more, or $209 total ($17.42 per month total)
2021-22: Add $46 more, or $255 total ($21.25 per month total)
2022-23: Add $50 more, or $305 total ($25.42 per month total)
*The referendum dollar amounts stated are added to a 2018 tax bill, not to each new bill year after year.
To calculate the exact impact for a particular home value, please utilize our online tax calculator.
Yes. According to information from the Department of Public Instruction 260 of the 422 or approximately 62% of public school districts in Wisconsin are experiencing a decline in resident enrollment.
The total impact for taxpayers is unknown due to the uncertainty to which district each residence will be reassigned. Current Palmyra-Eagle Area School District taxpayers will be responsible for:
- Remaining long term debt on PEASD
- Taxes of their new (assigned) district
- Any passed referenda in new (assigned) district
- Potential unknown costs of the dissolution process (building maintenance, etc.)
The amount set in the referendum question is a maximum dollar amount. The Board is under no obligation to levy the maximum amount if it is not needed. If state-level funding increases, the revenue (income) side of the budget will change, and the Board will adjust accordingly.
Yes, it is possible. The cost to taxpayers can and will change based on a number of factors, including student count and state aid. The district does not know the exact enrollment numbers until October of each year when the official resident student count is taken (this is a state rule that affects every district in the same fashion).
No, an operational referendum will not increase the district’s debt. An operational referendum asks permission from the voters to increase taxes for a fiscal year to be spent that same year. For instance, a YES vote will allow the district to collect an additional $1.75 million during the 2019-2020 fiscal year to be spent during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. There is also no interest paid on an operational referendum.
Our debt is from a previously passed building referendum to remodel the Middle School/ High School and from the Act 32 Energy Services Agreement. Our debt is scheduled out until 2029. It is a known cost that has already been refinanced to take advantage of a lower interest rate - it is not growing, nor is the district taking on more debt.
Many districts have taken on debt via referendum to remodel, build, or otherwise fit the needs of the district, including many districts surrounding Palmyra-Eagle. Referendum debt for a school would be similar to a homeowner having a mortgage. The proposed operational referendum will not add any additional debt to the district.
No, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the Palmyra-Eagle Area School District (PEASD) “Exceeds DPI Expectations”. On the most recent District Report Card, Palmyra-Eagle earned 4 out of 5 possible stars which is an equal or better rating than most of our neighboring districts: Kettle Moraine-4 stars, East Troy-4 stars, Fort Atkinson-3 stars, Jefferson-3 stars, Johnson Creek-3 stars and Whitewater-3 stars. PEASD has recently made other significant achievements. Please refer to our "Did You Know" fact sheet for a detailed listing of the great things happening in the district.
The dissolution process is completed following legislative rules. If the paperwork is filed before June 30 of a year and is approved by the School District Boundary Appeals Board, it becomes effective July 1 of the next year. Therefore, paperwork filed before June 30, 2019 would make dissolution effective July 1, 2020. This timeline has been confirmed by district legal counsel, and corrects the statements made by local media sources.
No. If dissolution occurs, no assumptions should be made by any taxpayer or homeowner about what district they will be assigned to. The resident district of each property will be determined by the School District Boundary Appeals Board (SDBAB) through the dissolution process. Per written confirmation from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), "It is not possible to predict how the district would be divided. The options include attaching all the territory to one neighboring district, or dividing it up between or among the neighboring districts. Before issuing an order, the SDBAB would hear from officials and citizens in all the districts. It is possible that one or more of the neighboring districts would indicate it did not wish to have any of the Palmyra-Eagle territory and students."
Open enrollment rules would still apply for all residents regardless of the district they are assigned to.
If the referendum fails, no assumptions should be made about what will happen to the current PEASD buildings. There is no rule that the buildings must remain as operating schools. The dissolution process will assign all assets and liabilities to other districts, so the buildings and property will no longer be owned by the PEASD. The new owner(s) of the buildings and property will have discretion to do with them as they wish.
No, there is no reserve fund or additional source of revenue from the state available for school districts. School districts are responsible for their own finances using a combination of revenue sources, including local tax and state aid.
No. While the district recognizes that open enrollment remains a significant issue, over the past 3 years, our net loss of students (open enroll out minus open enroll in) has decreased. Unfortunately, our resident enrollment, or those students who reside in our district boundaries but may or may not be educated in our schools, has decreased continuously. Since 2015-16 alone, the district resident count has decreased by 119 pupils, and it has lost 216 resident pupils since 2008-2009.
Non-recurring referendum questions provide funding for a defined amount of time - this proposed question is for 4 years
- Financial projections show continued decrease of revenue and increase of expenses
- Long term debt exists until 2029
- MS/HS remodel/addition from 2005
- Act 32 Energy Service agreement
- Accounts for over $1 million in total payments each year
- Retiring debt allows taxes to go down
- The amount is a “not to exceed” amount - unneeded amounts do not have to be used.
A: Our Board and administration has always worked hard to live within its budget. We understand the importance of controlling expenses, and believe we have done so. We have cut hundreds of thousands of dollars of spending in response to our declining enrollment. The cuts that we have made to date were chosen to minimize negative effects on our students, and were mostly made by not replacing or refilling a position rather than large sweeping program changes. However, we have now reached a point where we have no other option but to ask for an operational referendum to remain open as a district.
Please understand that our enrollment has decreased beyond previous projections enough over the last few years that even if an operational referendum would have passed in the last few years, it likely would not be enough to fill the projected deficits now. The projections used to develop this referendum question were developed using Baird Financial's Budget Model Program, and accounts for the resident student count reduction that has occurred. Baird Financial is recognized as a leader in public school finance and has been used by many districts for budget forecasting.
No. PEASD is subject to annual audits by outside accounting firms. Our audits have all been clean to date. Additionally, representatives from Baird Finance have stated that our fund balance amount “is the sign of a well managed district”.
The referendum question asks whether or not the District should be allowed to exceed the state-imposed revenue limits for fiscal years 2019-20 through 2022-23 for the following operational purposes:
- Maintaining existing staff levels
- Maintaining student intervention support services
- Maintaining comprehensive instructional and co-curricular programs
- Maintain existing attendance centers (school locations)
- Maintaining technology, safety, and facilities infrastructure
From the passage of the original question in November until now, Board Members have received feedback from school district voters. Much of the feedback revolved around the “recurring” function of the original question, which allowed the referendum dollars to be collected until the referendum would be retired by the Board. Because a new question could be developed in time for the April election, the Board took action to create and approve a “non-recurring” operational referendum question. The new non-recurring question will be for 4 years, and will expire at the end of Year 4.
Because the new question has been approved, the election will be held on April 2, 2019. There will NOT be a referendum vote in February 2019.
The referendum dollars are put into the state funding calculator, which has slightly different outcomes for state aid depending on the type of referendum. In particular, a subcategory of state aid called “Hold Harmless Aid” is what creates the difference for our situation. The district does not have control of the state aid calculation, nor how the state calculates differently depending on the type of referendum.
In comparing the two referendum types for our district, the total amounts for Year 1 and 3 remain the same for both types, Year 2 is $7 less with non-recurring, and Year 4 is $10 more with non recurring, leaving a net change of $3 more total per $100,000 of property value over the whole 4 year term of the non-recurring referendum. The $3 change increases the total overall 4 year cost of the referendum by 0.34%.
Education is a constantly changing profession, and our administrative team works to make sure the District maintains proper legal and professional standards to ensure the safe education of each of our students. Currently the District employs a District Administrator, Comptroller, Special Education Director/ Pupil Services Coordinator, 3 Principals (one at each building), 1 Assistant Principal (PEHS/MS), and 2 half-time Curriculum Directors. Our Curriculum Directors also serve as the English Language Learners Director and the Media Specialist, respectively. Much like the teaching staff question above, we could add many students to our district without adding any additional administration, but each position comes with tasks that must be completed for even small numbers of students. The Board will continue to assess each administrative position on a year by year basis to minimize District expenses. Similar to our other potential cuts, cutting every administrator we have would not be enough to account for the upcoming deficits.
Closing an elementary building has been a longstanding discussion of the board. We have to weigh out the pros and cons of closing either of our buildings.
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