Under a referendum proposal, the Kaukauna Area School District would like to close River View Middle School and build a new building for middle school students. PC: Fox 11 Online
KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Kaukauna School District is exploring the possibility of putting a more than $200 million facilities referendum to the voters this November. But before the proposal reaches the ballot, the district is surveying the community, looking for feedback on the plan.
The Kaukauna Area School District has spent the past year examining its continuous improvement plan. Included in that work, was a long range facilities plan.
According to Superintendent Mike Slowinski, “One of the big things that was a priority for us, from the get go, was that we wanted to create a solution that really reflected the values and priorities of the community.”
Conversation revolved around four main points — addressing elementary space needs, meeting the community’s child care needs, evaluating the middle school facilities, and timing of the plans.
The end result is a $220 million proposal that would include safety and security upgrades, transforming learning spaces to make them more flexible, and creating additional space for child care services.
“Trying to make sure that Kaukauna is a place that is accessible for families as well as a place that people want to come and work, raising their families and go to grade schools,” said Slowinski.
The biggest ticket item in the proposal is the construction of a new middle school to replace the aging River View building. The district has the land to build on, it’s just hoping voters will see the value of this community backed proposal.
“As we were trying to work through what does the community really want to see? Rather than looking at renovating we are looking at building a space that is intentionally designed to meet the needs of middle school students today and into the future,” added Slowinski.
Residents, while admittedly not well versed in the district’s proposal, say they understand the need for some improvements, but they don’t know if they’re on board with the $220 million dollar price tag.
“I right away think, how much is it going to cost me. We don’t have children in the school so I might have a different opinion on it than somebody else,” said Jeff Lodes.
Dave Munes said, “I don’t think they’re going to get their full money, what they want, but you negotiate. They should at least get 3/4 of it or half of it.”
District officials are cognizant of the cost of the project, which would cost residents about $95 per $100,000 of property value. But they also want the community to be aware that timing is everything and waiting to move forward with these ideas will only cost more as time goes on.
Strategically, the district, as that debt service drops off we have this window of opportunity where we can accomplish a project that has a high price tag to it, but do it in a way that uses the debt service drop off to mitigate how much that tax rate spike,” said Slowinski.
The district will be sending out surveys to residents this month, giving them until June 7 to respond.
After that, the data will be analyzed and the district will decided how best to move forward, if at all.
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