Voters in the Weyauwega-Fremont School District approved spending up to $21 million on a building and improvement program for the high school and Fremont Elementary.
It was a close vote, but approval of the referendum gained 260 more of the nearly 3,500 votes cast. Heading into Election Night, District Administrator Scott Bleck was optimistic of the referendum’s chances.
“We knew that turnout would be relatively good and one thing that most people have in common, they have a school experience from their younger years and as people go on, the value of education hopefully remains within their focus, but we know that opinions vary from individual to individual,” said Bleck. “It was relatively close. The majority paved the way for the direction that we go and we will follow that lead.”
The next step for the district is planning, which will begin immediately says Bleck. The school board will meet tonight to discuss a more definitive timeline, but the planning and designing phase could take anywhere from 6 to 8 months.
“The district has already recognized an architect and engineer firm to work with us to design the school. They were on board through our study phase and ultimately will design a facility to meet the needs of today, tomorrow, and 20 years down the road.”
Bleck says that the district has set an aggressive timeline, but the construction process could start as early as next fall. The district has been informed that a project of this size could take anywhere from 2 and 2 ½ years to finish.
Voters in the Weyauwega-Fremont School District weren’t alone in passing a referendum. Many referendums state-wide had voter support.
State Superintendent Tony Evers released a statement following the elections, stating that “[Tuesday] People in communities across Wisconsin voted to increase funding to educate kids. Their support for schools spanned areas that voted for both political parties. Put simply, people have come to expect that kids have access to a quality education and they are willing to pay for it – that’s a good thing.”
Since the start of 2012, more than half of public school districts have passed referendums to exceed state imposed revenue controls. So far in 2016, 154 referendum questions have been posed by 111 districts at a success rate of 79 percent. This year, a record high in operating referendum questions have already passed at a record rate of 81 percent.
Iola-Scandinavia also passed referendum questions seeking $2 million in debt, as well as approval to exceed revenue caps for the next five years totaling $4.6 million.
