Plans Move Forward for April Referendum

Plans for a $114.9 million referendum to build a new high school, convert the existing high school into an intermediate and middle school and update safety and security at all levels moved forward at a Dec. 10 Neenah Joint School District Board of Education meeting.

The Board also reviewed referendum resolution language that will be voted upon at its next regular meeting on Dec. 17. If approved, the language will appear on the April 7, 2020 ballot.

The Board examined comments from the recent community survey. Themes were developed from the most frequent comments in the survey. Themes included support for a referendum, preference for a new high school and a desire to replace Shattuck Middle School.

There were several questions from survey respondents about the tax mill rate and why the District has kept it so low. The Board and administration emphasized that state revenue limits control how much a District can spend. Neenah has been spending its maximum amount annually and can only increase spending and its mill rate through a referendum. The mill rate has continued to decrease primarily because of the District maximizing the state funding formula, having no referendum debt and rising property values.

Preliminary funding numbers were provided and the total for the first phase of projects is estimated at $181.7 million over the next four years. Of that total, $114.9 million would be funded through a referendum and another $47 million through non-referendum borrowing. The remaining amount would be funded through the District operating budget and includes $2.8 million per year in capital improvements that is already budgeted.

A preliminary timeline was presented and showed that safety and security upgrades are planned to begin during the summer of 2020 whether the referendum is approved or not with the remainder of the upgrades being completed in the summer of 2021. The new high school construction and existing high school renovation would be completed in the summer of 2023.

Scope assumptions and site renderings for the new high school were presented by Matt Wolfert and Steve Kuhnen from Bray Architects. They emphasized that the plans were in the preliminary stages and cautioned Board members not to get too consumed in the plans until a referendum is passed. The purpose of the designs was to give an idea of what a new building and site plan could look like and how the $157 million price tag was determined. The detailed design work would not begin until a referendum is passed. They also noted that the involvement of staff members and coaches will be a critical part of the design process.