Cadott School Board Annual Meeting/Budget Hearing - Referendum needs to be revamped to help district grow

By Ginna Young

A referendum was passed last spring, where taxpayers approved exceeding the tax levy to pay for updates to the Cadott High School building, but the board of education took a longer look at that referendum and knew it didn’t meet the needs of the district. That’s why the district is going back to the drawing board and asking taxpayers to decide on guidelines for a new referendum.

The matter was talked about Oct. 23, during the annual school meeting and budget hearing.

In the current referendum, the updates did not address many of the needs, such as entrance security to the high school, installing a daycare center, community center and fitness gym. Right now, visitors to the school cannot identify what door is the main entrance, as there is no vestibule.

Currently, the tech ed center is about 3,000 square feet and if the current referendum stands, the biggest addition to it would have been 6,000 square feet.

With a new referendum, the tech ed department could see a 15,000 to 20,000 foot auto lab, allowing for other classes to be held there. It’s also on district administrator Josh Spaeth’s radar, about how Cadott would benefit from an in-house daycare in the school.

“I didn’t realize there is such a huge need for daycare in our community,” said Spaeth.

In doing some research on why more families are open enrolling out of Cadott, the main reasons given are that there is either a daycare nearby the school of choice or within it. Many districts are opening daycares within their schools and in Cadott’s case, it would be operated as a learning center.

“They are self-funding,” said Spaeth. Once constructed, parents pay to have their children in the learning center. Having such an offering helps with teacher retention and encourages open enrollment into Cadott.

Declining enrollment is something Cadott is facing, with more than 20 children less than last year, and only 35 students in the 4K class. That means a loss of about $1 million from students attending other districts, not counting students who are homeschooled or attending private voucher schools.

“That’s worrisome,” said Spaeth. However, some, such as resident Shari Gunderson, asked that the administration delve a little deeper about why families are leaving the district. She also questioned the board about why they are waiting to get the tech ed improvements going until a new referendum is passed.

“And because you’re not forward on that, it’s going to put another generation of students behind the tech ed eight-ball,” said Gunderson.

School board president Cory LaNou said the tech ed improvements were always going to start in 2024, regardless of which referendum that passes.

“We haven’t lost a day,” he said. “That was really critical for me.”

Gunderson asked if a much larger tech ed department would require more staff and Spaeth answered that they would look at hiring one additional staff member, to give more classroom opportunities. Gunderson also asked if there could be village involvement with daycare, to provide that service.

Spaeth said he can ask village officials if that’s something they’re interested in, but LaNou doesn’t feel that would be a good move, as having a fully-funded daycare center would take the burden off taxpayers and be a revenue maker.

School staff would have first priority to send their children to the learning center, with community members applying after that. Learning center staff would be fully certified and have extensive background checks conducted.

Having a community center is also a need that’s been expressed in the community and a fitness center, as it’s difficult to find space for a meeting or to hold practices, requiring early morning and late evening hours, or weekend practices.

“It kind of is keeping up with the Jones’ walking track gym, fitness center,” said Spaeth. “It gets folks into the schools.”

A survey will be mailed to each district household, asking what scope of projects they’d like to see in a new referendum. If that fails, the current referendum is still in place, but would not provide the daycare, community center and fitness area, which would charge fees to use.

“These are things we don’t have in our district to create revenue and that’s going to offset not only the cost of those, but going forward, it actually becomes money that the district can use,” said LaNou.

For the 2023-24 fiscal year, those present agreed to set the tax levy at $4,944,692, with a 8.30 mill rate, which was officially approved at a special meeting, following the annual meeting. As with many other small districts, state aid decreased, forcing Cadott to levy a little more, in order to compensate for that loss.

They also set the board salaries to mirror Stanley-Boyd’s rates. Spaeth pointed out that no one who serves on a board does it for the money, but if the members are missing work or having to pay for childcare for meetings, it can be a financial hardship.

It was also decided to eliminate Committee of the Whole meetings and focus on the main monthly one, with various committee meetings taking place, as needed.

“It wasn’t really accomplishing much,”said LaNou.

While not an action item, Spaeth reported on what the administration has worked on since the beginning of the school year, as staff is collaborating to make sure outcomes are in favor of every single student. The district also wants to be more transparent, with a goal to encourage and give purpose to each student, no matter where their interests lay.

“Even if they don’t go to college, they can be highly, highly successful, if they find their passion,” said Spaeth.