WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) — The Wausau School District will now be laying out their groundwork for new school expansions after a funding referendum passed during the spring elections.
Chief finance and business services officer Bob Tess says the district had been holding back on any major planning of the project until they were sure of the outcome of the elections. “Now we can dedicate some of our resources in that regard. We’ll start the first phase of our design work with our architect, Brey Architects, and we’ll come up with a solid schematic design.” District staff will begin that planning today.
The referendum will be paying for a wide scale project to expand elementary capacity in the district, as well as building new automotive and tech ed labs for both Wausau East and West. “Those are some of the careers we’re trying to prepare students for. And of course, we talk about college ready all the time, but we’re also talking about career ready.” Tess says they’re going to be working with local groups like the Central Wisconsin Metal Manufacturers Alliance in planning out those new tech shops. “And some of these students will leave our classrooms, and go right into some of these industries represented by CWIMMA. And we want to make sure we want to build facilities consistent with the needs of the community.”
The total cost of the bonding on the restructuring referendum is $29,565,000 which will cost taxpayers around $12 a year on a $100,000 home over the next 20 years.
