TOMAHAWK – The School District of Tomahawk will hold three public meetings to provide information about its upcoming referendum.
The meetings will be held in the district auditorium on Monday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 6 p.m.; and Thursday, Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m.
The referendum will appear on Tuesday, Feb. 18 ballots.
Last November, the district’s Board of Education voted to place the spending request on next month’s ballots. The referendum will ask voters to authorize the district to continue to exceed its revenue limit by $3.25 million each year for four years, starting with the 2025-2026 school year and ending in 2028-2029.
The district is currently operating under a three-year, $3.25 million referendum that was approved by voters in April 2022 and will expire at the end of the school year.
Since the board’s approval of the proposed spending request, the district has shifted its focus to community outreach. The trio of meetings will give the public the opportunity to learn more about why the district is requesting the funds.
The district in Nov. 2024 said the proposed referendum would replace the 2022 spending request and “enable the district to maintain its current programming levels through 2029 while making strategic investments to bolster learning and student opportunities.”
With the same yearly funding amount being sought, the district said it doesn’t anticipate its portion of the property tax rate to increase.
According to the district, an average of a $5.59 levy rate per $1,000.00 of estimated fair market value is anticipated if the referendum were to pass.
The district pointed to financial challenges it is facing, noting that state aid to public schools has failed to keep up with inflation in recent years and adding that it does not qualify for poverty aid, which aids districts where at least half of its students are economically disadvantaged; or sparsity aid, which is allocated to rural school districts with relatively small economies of scale.
To learn more about the School District of Tomahawk’s proposed referendum, visit www.tomahawkreferendum2025.org.
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