Although our buildings have been well-maintained over the years and benefitted by past operational referendum funding, the Oconto Falls School District continues to have pressing facility and deferred maintenance needs that we must address soon. These needs go beyond what the district is able to cover through its operational budget on a yearly basis.

• Most important is the current status of roofs across our school buildings.
• The safety of our students and staff is a top priority. As such, we believe that we need to immediately act to make our buildings’ entrances more secure.
• The facility challenges at Washington Middle School are negatively affecting the quality of education provided to students.

By acting now, we believe we can address these needs in a way that will ensure a bright future for our students. We aim to continue to provide excellent learning environments for students now and in the years to come.

Here is a list of some of the facility needs that have been recently addressed with increased operational funding from past successful referendums:

• Lawn Care and Snow Removal equipment
• Playground asphalt, paving, and new equipment
• Additional classroom air conditioning units and equipment replacement
• Replacement of boiler tubes
• Replacement of exterior entry doors and installation of electronic access systems
• Seal coating of high school parking lot
• Roof replacements (areas with shingles) at Abram Elementary School, Oconto Falls High School, and bus garage
• Concrete replacement
• Locker refurbishment
• Floor replacement of stage at the PAC and in multiple buildings throughout the district
• Floor resurfacing of Commons floor at the high school
• Installation of LED lighting (ongoing action throughout the district)
• Painting
• Addressing drainage issues in multiple areas (parking lots, playgrounds)
• Furnace installation at the District Office
• Steam pipe repair at Washington Middle School
• Initial steps to replace student furniture in classrooms (ongoing process)

Washington Middle School has served generations of students well. However, the building has numerous facility and capacity challenges that, if left unaddressed, threaten the level of quality education we can provide to our students. These challenges include:

• Parts of the building are now more than 100 years old and have significant structural needs.
• The roof is in need of considerable repairs.
• The building has inefficient HVAC systems and a boiler that dates back to 1953. In fact, the district must purchase replacement parts for the boilers on eBay.
• In November of 2021, a burst steam pipe underground caused the school to lose heating in parts of the building for several weeks.
• Due to uneven air conditioning in the building, there are makeshift “tech closets” in classrooms to ensure technology does not overheat in the warmer months. This takes away valuable space for student learning and interrupts student learning when timely technology work needs to be completed in those closets.

Additionally, Washington Middle School is built on a constricted, five-acre parcel near downtown Oconto Falls. The lack of green space limits opportunities for student learning around the building.

There are also significant safety concerns when it comes to student pickup and drop-off, along with traffic flow challenges around the building. While the school district has taken considerable steps to address school safety, including modifications to the building, there is still a significant need for a more secure front entrance.

We are proud that we have used Washington Middle School to its full potential over the course of many years. However, we believe it is time to make an investment in the future of our middle school.

To address the most critical needs of the middle school, we would need to invest more than 70% of the cost to build a new school. It is important to note that after those projects were finished, we would still have a building with structures ranging from 35 to 100 years old and located on a lot without any green space.

If the November 8 referendum is approved by voters, the Oconto Falls School District will build a new middle school on a 90+ acre parcel of district-owned land adjacent to both Oconto Falls Elementary School and Oconto Falls High School.
The referendum would also provide new secured entrances for all of the district’s schools, providing better controlled visitor access to each building.
Furthermore, an approved referendum would allow for needed roofing repairs at each of the school buildings.

The proposed site is located on a 90+ acre parcel of land adjacent to both Oconto Falls Elementary School and Oconto Falls High School.
It will provide our middle school with more space than is available with our current building, opening up greater learning opportunities for students.
The site features a field and wooded area with the potential to provide a wide variety of environmental and agricultural education opportunities.
The new school will be in close proximity to both the elementary and the high school which will create a campus feel for three of our community's schools.

Thank you for your question and we understand your concerns. There is no argument that having a blueprint or drawing would be fantastic, however there is a major cost associated with doing so. Assuming we used average architectural and engineering fees to produce a blueprint or detailed schematic design, the cost would be well over a million dollars to produce. As good stewards of taxpayers dollars, the District will not expend funds prior to a passed referendum to develop a design. Additionally, doing so now would not provide community members to engage in the design process. We do however, have a conceptual image we can share of an exterior view of the building and a house model layout from which to work. This will give residents an idea of what a building could look like.
Once the referendum passes and funds are available, there will be a 6-9 month timeframe for detailed design to take place before shovels are in the ground. This detailed design will allow the public to provide significant input. Furthermore, the District will convene an user group to conduct the heavy lift of design. This user group is composed of teachers, principals, building and grounds personnel, administrators, parents and community members. This approach has been very effective allowing the public to provide significant input into what gets built within a confined budget.

The Oconto Falls School District has engaged in a robust process to assess and prioritize its needs, consider various solutions, and find a solution that meets the current and future needs of our students and community members.
• In 2016, the district began working with Baird Financial to conduct thorough budget forecasting for the district. In addition to examining our financial needs, we conducted an internal audit of our facilities.
• Prior to the 2017 operational referendum, the district balanced its budget by reducing costs as much as possible, while minimizing the impact of those reductions on student learning. As a result, some maintenance needs in our buildings were deferred.
• Through our budget forecasting six years ago, we determined that we would be able to pay off debt from previous referendums and potentially place a capital referendum on the ballot in a way that would minimize the impact on our property taxpayers. In fact, we have been able to pay down that debt more quickly than anticipated. This was due to sound fiscal management and the community’s support of an operational referendum.
• Over the past seven years, OFSD has grown its long-term capital improvement fund (known as Fund 46) to $2.98 million. This will allow us to address unexpected facility needs that could arise in the future. Our general fund now has $2.83 million in it, as well.

In 2022, OFSD reconvened a larger, more diverse group of stakeholders representative of the communities we serve to continue as a facilities-focused planning team and evaluate the district’s needs to develop solutions.
Ultimately, planning team members agreed that it was most cost-effective to create a new middle school. Some additional targeted facility solutions were also developed.
Over the course of several months, planning team members examined our facility needs and explored numerous potential solutions. At the end of this process, the planning team presented a recommendation to the Board of Education.
The planning team listened to community survey feedback in proposing a new recommendation. Community feedback indicated that another and less costly proposal was needed to focus on the middle school and the district’s most critical facility needs.

Yes. In addition to the work of the planning team, the district and board sought community feedback through listening sessions and two community-wide surveys. Hundreds of community members have had the opportunity to weigh in with their input and feedback on how we can best move forward to address our needs.
There will be more opportunities for our community members and staff to participate in the process in the weeks ahead—right up to election day.

In April 2021, residents approved an operational referendum for the Oconto Falls School District. That referendum was targeted toward maintaining programs and services and general operating needs. It did not address long-term district facility needs.
In April 2022, a capital referendum question to address the district’s facility needs was not approved by voters.
It is important to note that the two referendums passed by the community in 2017 and 2021 were operational referendums. While they allowed the district to address urgent issues, big-ticket items such as major construction can only be done through a capital referendum.

If approved, the referendum would result in a reduced property tax impact from the previous year of $0.37 per every $1,000 of assessed property value. This would translate to a reduction from the previous year of about $37 on a home worth $100,000 in our community.
If the referendum does not pass, taxpayers will realize a reduction of approximately $2.62 per every $1,000 of assessed property value, or a $262 reduction on a home worth $100,000 in our community.
The school district has been a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars and has looked for ways to reduce the impact on taxpayers as we maintain our facilities. However, we are at a point at which we cannot delay addressing the middle school's facility needs any longer. Failure to do so at this time jeopardizes the quality of educational services provided to our students and families.

If the referendum is approved, it would provide the district with $37,630,000 to address our facility needs.
These funds would go toward the following:
• $35,547,000 - New middle school and demolition/clearing of Washington Middle School
• $1,459,000 - Oconto Falls Elementary roof replacement
• $298,500 - Oconto Falls High School roof repairs
• $190,500 - Abrams Elementary gym roof replacement
• $60,000 - Abrams Elementary secure entrance
• $45,000 - Oconto Falls High School secure entrance
• $30,000 - Oconto Falls Elementary secure entrance

The board believes that, as a group of elected officials, it must protect the district’s assets—including our buildings.
Moving forward now would also enable the district to leverage historically low interest rates, reducing the total costs of construction and renovations. Additionally, construction costs are expected to continue to rise in the future, making the need to move forward now even more important.

This has been a key consideration of our community task force, the Board of Education, and district leaders. Just like we have used a community-driven process to develop the solution on the ballot, we would use a sound process to determine what to do with the current middle school building once it is no longer in use.
Specifically, we would engage our community to explore the best possible solutions to the current middle school building, including potentially selling it. We are committed to ensuring the building remains useful to the community and does not become an eyesore. It is important to note that referendum dollars have been budgeted to raze this building if needed.

If the referendum is not approved, district staff will continue to work hard to provide a top-quality educational experience to our students in our current facilities. However, the district’s facility and deferred maintenance needs would not go away.
If the community does not support the proposal on the ballot in November, work would begin immediately to find an alternative solution to our facility needs.

We anticipate that the type of roof will be determined during the design process. As you can imagine, different types of roofs have strengths and drawbacks, including their initial price and longevity. The standard for new schools in the Midwest and across the country are flat roofs.
There is no correlation between sloped vs. flat roof life. The materials are the important factor. An ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) flat roof will typically last longer than shingles on a sloped roof. An EPDM roof can be specified to have anywhere from 15 years to 30 years anticipated life span. Metal is another option for roofing material, but it is approximately 2-3 times more expensive than an EPDM roof.
Another factor is the structural material and insulation required for a sloped roof compared to a flat roof. This is why most buildings are designed flat. Also, flat roofs are safer for maintenance staff when doing repairs. Again, it is important to note that this decision has not been made yet. It will be part of the design process and include industrial professionals to guide the discussion and reasoning for the roof and other building systems.

Yes, air conditioning is included in the $35.5 million budget for the new middle school building. The referendum will not address air conditioning in buildings other than the middle school. However, the district could use Fund 46 dollars to continue upgrading the most pressing air conditioning needs throughout our school district

Yes. Through sound financial planning, the district and board are able to present a solution that minimizes the impact on our local property taxpayers as much as possible. Even with an approved referendum, residents would realize a decrease in their property tax bills of approximately $37 on a home worth $100,000 in our community.
In recent years, the district worked hard to position the district in a way that allowed it to address its facility issues. This included paying down debt and cutting operating expenditures.
Additionally, the district established Fund 46, a facilities maintenance fund to help ensure long-term facility maintenance efforts can continue in a sustainable manner.

The Board of Education has approved the following question for the community’s consideration on November 8, 2022:
BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of the Oconto Falls Public School District, Oconto County, Wisconsin, that there shall be issued, pursuant to Chapter 67, Wisconsin Statutes, General Obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $37,630,000 for the purpose of paying the cost of constructing a new middle school; removal of the existing middle school; improvements to the elementary and high school buildings and grounds including secure entrances and roof replacements/repairs; and equipment acquisition related to said projects.

District residents can cast their ballots at their usual Polling Location.
For more information on requesting a mail-in ballot, visit Vote Absentee.

Residents and families of the Oconto Falls School District agree that there is a need to address Washington Middle School, along with safety concerns and failing roofs across our school buildings. These needs will continue to worsen until we can address them. While it’s true that we are in uncertain economic times, the impact of inflation, labor shortages, and other factors will likely make these projects even more expensive as time goes on.
The concern that “timing is key” has been voiced by some in our community.
The projected cost to build a middle school in May 2022 was approximately $29.5 million. The projected cost to build a middle school in December 2022 is approximately $34 million. These increased costs are due to the rising prices of materials and the construction process.
This issue of anticipated rising costs was brought forward consistently during the April 2022 referendum informational sessions and through our social media communications.
At this time, we have no evidence to support that interest rates are going to stabilize or come back down anytime in the near future. We also have no evidence to support that the cost of building supplies will come down.
When the April referendum did not pass, the district communicated that the costs of a future project at WMS would likely increase.

This is technically true, but misleading. The district has increased school psychologist support and mental health support for students. Given tight budget constraints, OFSD was required to be frugal with taxpayer dollars and determined that these other services have a greater positive impact on students. Therefore, the part-time social work position was eliminated.

The role of an elected Board of Education is to govern the district through policies set and monitored by board members. The role of the superintendent is to manage and lead the operations of the school district within the parameters set by board policy.
In 2016, the board worked together with administration to make substantial and difficult operational budget cuts to balance the budget, including the reduction of 9.5 FTEs. For multiple years prior to 2016, the board had made cuts in areas like transportation, buildings and grounds, and curriculum to have the least negative impact on students and still address the financial shortfalls that were the result of reduced state funding for public education.
The board created a Fund 46 in 2016 to begin saving fiscal resources for future capital improvement needs. Over the past six years, this fund has grown and now has approximately $2.9 million, which will be used for future capital improvement work.
In 2017, the board worked with administration, staff, and the community to pass an operational referendum to avoid catastrophic fiscal cuts that would have had substantial negative impacts on students and their education.
This referendum provided the necessary fiscal support to address the technology infrastructure to support one-to-one learning, the implementation of a transportation replacement plan to address an aging bus fleet, deferred maintenance in our buildings, and updating curriculum for students.
Following the 2017 referendum, the board continued to collaborate with administration to scrutinize fiscal planning and personnel decisions that best addressed the needs of our students with the resources available. Even after passing the operational referendum, the district still needed to make difficult decisions to remain fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.
Since 2016, the board has worked tirelessly to grow the fund balance to reduce the amount of annual short-term borrowing, resulting in significantly reduced interest costs for the school district. In 2015, the fund balance was approximately $660,000. In 2022, the fund balance is approximately $2.8 million.
Taxpayers have benefitted from the fiscally thoughtful actions of administration and the board.
The board has been willing to make difficult decisions that are driven by data and made with what they feel is in the best interests of our students.
Since 2017, the board has worked with administration to begin creating and sustaining a greater level of academic support for students and staff.
Examples included wide-spread professional development for staff, a literacy coach, technology coach, math and literacy interventionists, after-school support for students, summer school offerings, and intervention strategies that focused on helping learners who were struggling.

Unfortunately, we are not alone in facing this challenge, as most school districts in our area, across our state, and nationwide are dealing with teacher and staff shortages. We continue to focus on retaining and recruiting high-quality educators. It’s important to note that our rate of staff turnover has been similar, and in some cases lower, than other school districts.

The 90+ acre property owned by the Oconto Falls School District is located in the Town of Stiles. If the referendum is approved, we anticipate collaborating with the City of Oconto Falls and the Town of Stiles to request that the city annex a portion of the property. This annexation process has already been discussed with both municipalities.
For example, we would look at which municipality is best equipped to provide sewer and water and would be best served to do so, along with if a long-term annexation would fall within the city’s long-term plan.
Following an approved referendum, the school district would work with the City of Oconto Falls to request the annexation of property needed to support a middle school building. It is understood that the district would be responsible for costs related to bringing city sewer and water to the site.

Yes. If the referendum is approved, the Oconto Falls School District, the City of Oconto Falls, and the County of Oconto will develop a planning team to address how best to address modifications to County Highway I relative to pedestrian, bus, and other vehicle traffic. We anticipate that, through this collaboration, changes will be made to slow traffic and create a safe traffic flow for all daily and after-hours school operations.

No.
As part of our community conversations to share information regarding the upcoming capital referendum, a concern was voiced regarding district employee compensation, more specifically recent salary increases, credit reimbursements/loan repayments, vacations, and other benefits related to staff members employed in our school district. It is important to note that this topic is operational in nature and any funds gained through a capital referendum can only be used on specific capital facility projects, not toward recent or future employee compensation.
In 2016, the District collaborated with parents, students, community members, business owners, and staff to develop our district's key interests. One of those interests is Key Interest #4 Recruit, Develop, and Retain High Quality Staff.
In our efforts to support the above key interest, the District worked collaboratively with the public to pass an operational referendum in 2017. The outcome was the availability of the fiscal resources needed to address several areas, one of which was operational challenges such as staff compensation. Passing the referendum enabled us to reduce the number of staff layoffs and begin the important work of analyzing and modifying staff compensation to maintain our competitiveness with other area districts.
In addressing Key Interest #4 Recruit, Develop, and Retain High Quality Staff, our school district has made fiscal adjustments within all school district employee groups. In short, OFSD is committed to consistently reviewing staff compensation in an effort to remain competitive so that we can recruit and retain quality staff at all levels of our organization.
Additional Considerations:
• Compensation of staff members is vetted by a publicly elected Board of Education. The Board reviews and approves staff increases, credit reimbursement, loan repayment, and other compensation-related information. The intent of board members’ action is to make decisions they believe are in the best interest of our student’s education. They are mindful of the trust that has been earned over the years between the school district and the communities we serve.

• Actions have been taken by the Board of Education to increase and make market adjustments for members of all employee groups of our school district team. This action was taken to remain competitive in the labor market.

• The concern brought forward questions if staff or employee groups other than administration received compensation adjustments beyond the annual increase of 2.5%.

• It is worth noting that there were more than 20 support and certified staff members who received an increase in the range of 4.4 to 12% due to market adjustments that were carried out during a one-year period.

• As is the case with all our employees, staff members’ monetary compensation is annually reviewed and, in some situations, adjustments are proposed to the Board of Education. Reasons for these adjustments often include an increase in responsibilities, an increase in days to their contract, or a needed market adjustment to remain competitive. In some cases, the staff member may have completed professional development, such as an advanced degree or other training that is part of an alternative compensation model.

The funding for secure entrances in the November 8, 2022 Capital Referendum is specific to the cost of the materials and construction needed to modify physical building entrances that will require a visitor to enter the main office prior to gaining access to our school buildings.
In 2018-19 the District received School Safety Grant dollars from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. These funds were used for security window film, and to begin the process of implementing electronic door access and security cameras. Funding from the Operational Referendums helped us to finish installing the electronic door accesses at specific locations throughout the school district as well as co-locating security cameras at those entrances.
From the above information you can see that fiscal resources from the Operational Referendums were focused on, “additional security improvements”.

No.