STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU) — Voters in the Stevens Point School District will decide the fate of two referendums next Tuesday- one for operating expenses and one calling for bonds for building improvements.
Should one or both of them fail, it may not be the last time they are asked for more money, according to district leaders.
“We can’t continue to operate like this,” said Superintendent Craig Gerlach. “Right now we are focusing on getting this word out and urging people to go and vote and understand what’s in the questions. In another week we will know if it passes or fails,” he added.
Gerlach also noted the district is currently operating in the red, which can’t go on for much longer. “We know we have a deficit next year, so we have to make decisions. The only alternative to an operational referendum is to reduce programs.”
He says for a district that is “wealthy with programs,” as he put it, there may be room to make cuts. “I don’t believe that we are that district, I don’t know what we could reduce or eliminate or cut that wouldn’t have a negative impact on student learning.”
As for the building referendum, Gerlach said there’s a chance that they could re-prioritize projects and come back with a cheaper version should the current one fail, but even that’s a stretch. He says those improvements range from school safety upgrades to long-ignored things such as HVAC improvements to crumbling pipes. “We have an 80-year-old heating system in one of our Junior High Schools, failure is not an option here,” he said with a laugh.
“Typically in a facility referendum if it does fail you go through a process of prioritizing and then reduce the project,” but he says with the cost of construction going up you usually end up right back where you started at a later date. If that’s the case the district could wind up paying just as much for the work but getting less in return.
Gerlach adds if one or both of the current referendums fail, leaders could reorganize and bring a new proposal to voters as soon as next February in time for the spring primary but that would be a stretch. Instead, he expects it would be ready in time for the April 2nd, 2019 election.
