Building Project

The referendum will be held on Tuesday, April 6, 2021. You will be able to vote at your local municipality polling location or by absentee ballot. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday April 6. Visit myvote.wi.gov for more voting information.

The District last went to referendum in 2009 and was successful. The referendum was for $7,890,000. The scope of the project focused primarily on upgrading outdoor facilities/fields and constructing Falcon Way, which is the road connecting Highway 83 to the building parking lots.

The proposed solution focuses on four key areas:

• Enhance Safety & Security

  • Modify the main entrance to better monitor and control visitor access; upgrade/add security cameras and exterior locks; and revise drop-off/pick-up traffic flow.

• Upgrade Building Infrastructure

  • Replace lighting, flooring, ceilings, and walls; remove asbestos; replace sections of roof; and update plumbing, heating/ventilation, and electrical systems that have exceeded their useful life.

• Modernize Educational Spaces

  • Create and renovate spaces to provide better access to technology, flexible furniture, small-group instruction spaces, and modern art, choir, and Family & Consumer Science areas.

• Expand Activities & Performing Arts Areas

  • Add a new gymnasium and cafeteria/commons and renovate the existing cafeteria to become an auditorium to support physical education, performing arts programs, and community events.

Having only one gym creates two challenges for our students and community. First, we do not have adequate space during the day for physical education classes. Three to four classes share one space, making it difficult to offer new and innovative curricular choices for our students. Secondly, having one gym greatly impacts our athletic and activity offerings. Currently, teams are forced to practice at 5:30 a.m. and from 6-8:30 p.m. on a daily basis. Also, if there is a home basketball or volleyball game, the opposite sex team either is restricted to only practicing for 45 minutes before the first game starts or must start practice at 8:30 p.m. after the game has been completed. Lastly, we have student and community interest to offer new activities and intramural sports for students or community members, but Central does not have the space to promote these activities.

Based on a conservative forecasting model created by Robert W. Baird’s public finance division, the tax impact will be $ .59 per $1,000 of property value. The chart below illustrates the impact of the referendum on local property owners.

Scroll up to use the Tax Impact Calculator to calculate the impact on your property.

A comprehensive facility study began 18 months ago, and the District has worked hard to prioritize needs identified and evaluate the plans to ensure they support the future teaching and learning needs of our students and staff. Most parts of the building have not been updated in over 20 years; taking care of these needs today will lower future operational and maintenance costs so that these dollars can be used for educational programming and staffing for our students.

Other reasons why the District is proposing a referendum now:

• Interest rates are at/near historic lows
• Construction costs continue to increase
• No major building renovations or upgrades have been done in 25 years
• The needs will not go away and cannot be funded within the operating budget.
• 64-percent of all resident respondents stated ‘definitely yes’ or ‘probably yes’ when asked if they would support a $39.6 million referendum to fund the projects.

State and federal funding continues to decrease for Central High School (and all Wisconsin schools). The District continues to work hard to maintain and add new programs for students, attract and retain our tremendous Falcon staff, and maintain the high standards that our community expects and deserves. The State of Wisconsin funding formula has made it difficult to keep up with the rising costs needed to operate the school. Case in point: Central High School has seen a reduction in general state aid of over $1,350,000 in the last six years; this represents an aid reduction of over 20 percent. The District’s operational budget is used to fund the educational needs of our students; money is not available for large projects, repairs, or upgrades.

The District has worked extremely hard over the past 18 months to create a balanced and sustainable budget. Reductions in administrative staffing, the creation of a sustainable and fair salary structure for staff, cooperative agreements to share resources with neighboring school districts, and a conscious effort to evaluate all purchases and program enhancements have been implemented within the budget. Even with the unknown state budget and changes to school funding, Central High School has created a budget that is balanced and sustainable for the foreseeable future. Although the District is extremely proud of the work to balance our operational budget, these budget reductions have provided no relief to the building infrastructure or facility needs.

In 2019, the District unanimously voted to conduct a comprehensive facility study. After a comprehensive interview process, Bray Architects was selected to lead this process. As the facility study was nearing completion, the District interviewed three construction manager firms and Scherrer Construction was selected to partner in the completion of the study and provide the costing work that led to the April 2021 referendum question. If the referendum passes, all components of the project (for example, plumbing, electrical, masonry, roofing, etc.) will be bid out and awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.

The District’s mill rate, or tax rate, continues to decrease; in fact, the mill rate has dropped $1.44 per $1,000 of equalized property value in the last eight (8) years. The District’s Mill Rate is below the state average and significantly below other area union high schools.

See below for a comparison chart.