Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a referendum?
- Why do school districts propose referendums?
- Why do we need a referendum?
- Why do we need to address staff compensation?
- Will this referendum include school closures?
- What is the financial impact of the referendum for taxpayers?
- How does the referendum impact the mill rate?
- What are the district's current financial needs?
- What has already been done to address the district's current financial needs?
- Why can't we use our fund balance to meet the district's current financial needs?
- What are each school's facilities needs?
- What will the ballot questions look like?
- What will happen if the operating referendum passes?
- What will happen if the capital maintenance referendum passes?
What is a referendum?
A referendum is when voters are asked to make a “Yes” or “No” decision on a proposal, question or idea. When it comes to funding, school districts may initiate two types of referendums:
• Capital referendum: Referendums for capital projects are similar to homeowners asking for a loan for a mortgage. The money is typically used for the construction of new buildings, additions and renovations or maintenance of existing ones. A capital referendum provides the authority to issue a certain amount of bonds/notes to pay for a specific purpose such as construction, repair, or upgrading facilities.
• Operational referendum: An operational referendum provides authority for a school district to exceed the revenue limit without issuing new debt. An operating referendum can be used to pay for things such as salaries and benefits of all staff, insurance, supplies, and utilities etc. There are two types of operational referendums:
• A non-recurring operational referendum provides for a temporary increase in the revenue limit
• A recurring operational referendum provides for an ongoing or permanent increase in the revenue limit
Why do school districts propose referendums?
Beginning in 1994, Wisconsin school districts have been primarily funded by a combination of state aid and local property taxes.
Each school district has a revenue limit created by the state budget. This limit caps the amount of money a district can receive through state aid and local property taxes. A district’s revenue limit is directly linked to two things: enrollment and state-approved adjustments. In most cases across the state, the revenue limits have not kept pace with inflation.
A lack of education funding from the state Legislature that keeps up with inflation, as well as an economy complicated by the pandemic, is causing school districts across Wisconsin to navigate serious funding issues. Due to the “disconnect” between rising costs and frozen state funding, more districts are turning to voters to maintain capital and operational needs. It is estimated that a quarter of Wisconsin school districts across the state will put a referendum on the ballot in 2024.
To learn more about how schools are funded, watch this video.
Why do we need a referendum?
Why do we need to address staff compensation?
Retention of highly qualified staff is a top priority but currently, more than 50% of our employees have 0-5 years of experience and compensation is the #1 reason why staff leave our district.
Since 2014-2015, staff salaries (as compared to area averages) began to fall behind area school districts. While a new compensation structure was implemented in 2018-2019, we remain behind 5-7%. In addition, the value of median compensation has dropped when adjusted for inflation. This significantly impacts our ability to attract and retain teachers and staff.
Currently, our district lags behind the area teacher salary by approximately 6%. Click here to view slide 8 from Workshop #2 for a further breakdown.
Retention of highly qualified staff ensures continuity, stability, and the consistent delivery of high-quality education to students.
Will this referendum include school closures?
What is the financial impact of the referendum for taxpayers?
Based on current projections, the property tax impact of the referendum is estimated to be $21.59 per month per $240,000 of assessed property value ($10.42 for the capital question and $11.17 for the operating question). This would begin in the 2025-26 tax year. For a $100,000 property, the property tax impact of the referendum is estimated to be $9 per month ($4.67 for the capital question and $4.33 for the operating question). For a $200,000 property, the property tax impact of the referendum is estimated to be $18 per month ($9.33 for the capital question and $8.67 for the operating question). For a $300,000 property, the property tax impact of the referendum is estimated to be $27 per month ($14 for the capital question and $13 for the operating question).
How does the referendum impact the mill rate?
The mill rate is the amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property. The mill rate is based on "mills." It is a figure that represents the amount per $1,000 of the assessed value of the property, which is used to calculate the amount of property tax. Mill rates are determined by multiple factors: the total value of property in the school district compared to the rest of the state, the state funding that is driven by this property value comparison, school district enrollment, levy amounts for debt service and community recreation, district spending compared to the rest of the state, and state-approved changes to the per pupil revenue limit. If both questions are approved, this would represent a mill rate increase of $1.08, based on the 2023-24 mill rate. To the average taxpayer, this would mean a monthly tax increase of $21.59 ($10.42 for the capital question and $11.17 for the operation question). This would begin in the 2025-26 tax year.
What are the district's current financial needs?
In Wisconsin, all school districts operate under a revenue limit created by the state budget. This limit caps the amount of money a district can receive through state aid and local property taxes. Wisconsin school districts are currently in the first year of the new Biennial Budget which passed in early July 2023 and covers the budget cycles from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025. This budget includes $325 increases in per-pupil funding from the state for 2023-24 and another $325 in 2024-25. This was a change from the prior Biennial Budget that provided $0 of per pupil aid in both years. The other large change in the approved budget was that the low revenue ceiling increased from $10,000 in 2021-23 to $11,000 in 2023-25. This allows school districts to increase the amount of revenue per pupil up to $11,000 without needing to go to referendum. While these increases in revenue are important and helpful, revenue still significantly lags far behind inflation. Even with established short-term and long-term budget balancing strategies in place, we project a shortfall of $2.5 million next year and a gap of $25 million over the next five years. Our District’s current operating budget cannot advance our mission and vision without the support of a voter-approved referendum. To learn more about how schools are funded, watch this video.
What has already been done to address the district's current financial needs?
In 2015, an in-depth review of revenues and expenditures revealed that in 2013-2014 the General Fund balance was reduced by $5,265,391.08 and depleted by an additional $8,780,048.33 in 2014-2015. The result was a deficit that depleted our fund reserves and added additional strain on our ability to operate and pay bills on a daily basis. In order to pay salaries, benefits, and invoices in a timely manner, we needed to increase borrowing for short-term cash flow. This borrowing resulted in an interest payment of $1,000,000 in 2016-2017, and $1,040,000 in 2017-2018.
Faced with these budget issues, we went to work to cut operating costs and address business practices to ensure greater oversight and fiscal responsibility. Many significant budget cuts were made to reduce the fund deficit:
- Closed and leased the Classroom Café at the administration building.
- Reduced school and district department budgets by 5% in 2015 and an additional 2% in 2016.
- Used grant dollars to support portions of salaries where positions include grant responsibilities.
- Froze travel and conference participation not associated with grant requirements.
- Provided monthly review and oversight of department and school expenditures.
- Limited the number of personal/professional leave to 20 per day district-wide (reducing substitute costs).
- Used stipends to reimburse for personal cell phone use in lieu of district paid cell phones.
- Set an early cut-off date for submission of purchase orders.
- Reduced teaching staff by changing from SAGE to AGR (increased class size in grades K-3).
- Reduced facility and maintenance costs by moving 4-year old Kindergarten into the elementary schools.
- Reduced administrative staff by consolidating district positions.
- Reduced the district instructional services budget by an additional $200,000.
- Completed the sale of Roosevelt School.
- Leased the Parkway Center.
- Approved the sale of 1135/1139/1205 South 70th Street, 7021 W. Washington Street.
- Discontinued long-term care insurance.
- Changed the design of our health plan to help keep costs flat (27% premium increase for some employees).
- Cut $2 million from staff compensation during the 2015-2016 school year.
- Reduced senior-level administrative positions from six to four.
- Reduced district office curriculum positions.
Although these efforts were aimed at returning the district to fiscal stability, we did not feel they were enough, so in February 2017, our District began work on an Operational Referendum asking taxpayers for $2.5 million for the next five years. When the referendum failed, we knew we were being directed by the community to do what was necessary, and the following steps were taken:
- Revised school bus transportation routes (e.g., consolidation and tiering in two schools).
- Moved intermediate athletics to the WAWM Recreation Department.
- Delayed the implementation of the Discovery Academy (NXGL High School).
- Reduced Dean of Students positions by 50%.
- Maintained Performance Compensation for all employees except at-will and administration.
- Increased student fees.
Increased athletic fees. In addition, we reconfigured job duties to remove the previously proposed Registrar position ($66,000) and we were able to reduce the classroom technology budget by $150,000. In 2021, we initiated a Facility Committee consisting of parents, teachers, and administrators. They worked to address declining enrollment and facility issues by creating a Long Range Facility Master Plan 2023. In April 2022, a referendum question for $149,000,000 Debt Issue for a comprehensive high school at Nathan Hale site failed. Since then, three schools have been closed in the district as part of the facility plan to reduce costs.
Today, we have a healthy fund balance (required by the Wisconsin Department of Instruction) that is used to make payroll. Like a savings account, it is used to make payroll and pay bills in between the times state funds are issued. Yet needs exceed available funds as we are faced with aging facilities and employees that are paid less than area districts. Our proposed referendum is a decision in support of long-term financial stability and a shared vision for excellence in educational programming.
Why can't we use our fund balance to meet the district's current financial needs?
A “fund balance” is the amount of money in the district’s budget between assets and liabilities. Often there is a misunderstanding that a fund balance is a district's bank account. In fact, it is a general fund that covers the average cash flow (typically two months' worth) of the district.
Community members may recall that 10 years ago, our District’s fund balance had been depleted. This caused a need for short-term borrowing and negatively impacted our credit rating and fiscal stability.
Our operating fund balance percentage at the end of the 2022-23 school year was 33.5% and our projected operating fund balance for the 2023-24 school year is 32.9%. This is well above the recommended 10% fund balance and well above what is sufficient to minimize or avoid short term borrowing for cash flow purposes.
Even though our District maintains a healthy fund balance, funding operations with this money is financially shortsighted. The fund balance cannot be depleted to cover significant, ongoing, and recurring expenses. Using that strategy would undoubtedly undermine the positive trajectory of our District's financial status.
To learn more about how schools are funded, watch this video.
What are each school's facilities needs?
The district overview for the $70 million plan includes 60 total bathroom ADA updates across all schools, 52 sections of roofing across 11 schools, HVAC updates (boilers, AHUs) across 12 schools, air conditioning window units at seven elementary schools and Dottke, air filtration in the woods classroom at Hale, and tuckpointing to address a portion of districtwide needs.
These plans include the following budgets for each school's projects:
- Franklin: $4,250,764
- General Mitchell: $2,745,000
- Hoover: $4,514,864
- Horace Mann: $4,116,141
- Irving: $4,234,389
- Jefferson: $4,419,288
- Pershing: $3,025,000
- Walker: $4,177,909
- Wilson: $4,446,642
- Frank Lloyd Wright: $4,339,750
- West Milwaukee: $6,810,250
- Dottke: $3,819,514
- Nathan Hale: $5,481,000
- West Allis Central: $10,392,000
- Districtwide: $3,227,491
Total = $70,000,000
For a full breakdown of each school's proposed facilities projects and district capital maintenance plans, please visit the facility projects by building site.
What will the ballot questions look like?
On Monday, July 22, 2024, the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District Board of Education formally approved two referendum questions for the Nov. 5, 2024 election:
Operational question: Shall the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties, Wisconsin, be authorized to exceed the revenue limit specified in Section 121.91, Wisconsin Statutes, by $5,800,000 beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, for recurring purposes consisting of only teacher and staff compensation?
Capital question: Shall the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties, Wisconsin, be authorized to issue pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $70,000,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of a district-wide school facility improvement project consisting of: safety, security, and accessibility updates; roofing, HVAC, boiler, technical education, building infrastructure and site repairs; capital maintenance; and acquisition of furnishings, fixtures and equipment.
What will happen if the operating referendum passes?
All teachers and staff will receive a 6% salary increase.
Salaries will be more competitive with neighboring districts.
Opportunities to attract and retain qualified and talented teachers and staff will increase.
Staff consistency will provide opportunity for improved student performance and outcomes.
Staff turnover and associated costs will reduce.
Fair compensation will contribute to positive school culture and community stability.
What will happen if the capital maintenance referendum passes?
A total of 60 bathroom ADA updates will be completed district-wide.
A total of 52 sections of roofing will be repaired or replaced across 11 schools.
HVAC updates (Boilers, Air Handling Units) across 12 schools will be completed.
Seven elementary schools and Dottke will receive air conditioning window units.
An air-filtration system will be installed in the Hale woods classroom.
Tuckpointing projects will address a portion of district-wide needs.
Additional school-specific projects will be addressed.
For a full list of facility projects by building, click here.