By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien School District rode a wave of approvals by Wisconsin voters to increase their own property taxes to better fund their local education on Nov. 6 by passing a $2.8 million non-recurring referendum to exceed the state revenue caps for operating costs.
According to Department of Public Instruction data, a state record 82 referenda were on the ballot Nov. 6 and only five of them failed. There were 66 referenda in April and the Delavan-Darien referendum was one of only 11 to fail. Both elections showed taxpayers were more agreeable to non-recurring referenda with 23 non-recurring referenda passing in April against only four recurring. On Nov. 6, 21 non-recurring referenda passed while 14 recurring referenda were successful.
“The passing of the referendum means to me that the community understands our needs,” District Administrator Jill Sorbie said.
“I have a lot more faith in our community now,” School Board President Jeff Scherer said. “I think they saw we were in a financial bind and the closing of Darien (Elementary School) and laying off 39 teachers really proved we didn’t have the necessary resources.”
Scherer said hiring Sorbie to replace former Superintendent Robert Crist and Anthony Klein to replace former Business Administrator Mark Powell helped move the district in a new direction.
Sorbie and Scherer said the future of the district was at stake with this referendum. While the district has a balanced budget and would not have been forced to lay off more staff or cut programs if the referendum failed, those figures are based on current enrollment numbers. If the referendum failed as the one in April did, more families might have chosen to leave the district, making those numbers inadequate.
“Everything would have been dependent on open enrollment as we currently have a balanced budget,” Sorbie said. “I believe families, kids and teachers would have considered if they should stay a Comet (if the referendum failed).”
Read more in the Nov. 15 Delavan Enterprise.
