Voters reject Fort School District’s request for an $8 million operational referendum

By Kim McDarison 

A second attempt made by the School District of Fort Atkinson to garner voter approval for an operational referendum failed Tuesday.

A two-part $8 million operational referendum question was placed on Tuesday’s ballot after a two-part operational referendum question placed on the ballot last November was rejected by voters by a margin of 518 votes. 

Tuesday’s question asked voters to allow the district to operate on a recurring bases with a budget increase over the state-allowed tax levy by $3 million beginning next school year into perpetuity and by an additional $5 million on a non-recurring basis for four years, ending in the 2026-27 school year. 

The measure failed by a margin of 950 votes, with 3,463 voters across the district casting ‘no’ votes and 2,513 voters deciding in favor of the question, according to unofficial vote tallies posted by clerks in both Jefferson and Rock counties.  

School District of Fort Atkinson Director of Business Services Jason Demerath told board of education members in January that asking the district’s taxpayers to again consider an operational referendum would allow the district to achieve the necessary funds to meet the district’s strategic goals and service the community. 

Addressing board members in January, he asking: “Why does the district need to consider an operational referendum?” 

He responded by saying that the answer to the question revolved around the district’ previously approved $3 million operational referendum which sunsets this school year. That, coupled with the district’s unsuccessful ask of the voters for an operational referendum last November, the district’s declining enrollment, the “lack of any state allowable revenue increases, and the upcoming loss of one-time federal funding” achieved through COVID relief programs, while the district simultaneously faces inflationary impacts and an increasingly competitive labor market, creates a condition which Demerath described as a “looming fiscal cliff.”   

Also in January, Demerath told school board members that even if the operational referendum was approved by voters on Tuesday, it would not result in a “permanent fix” to the district’s operational budgetary deficits. 

He added: “Unless funding mechanisms change at the state level, and get to a place where annual allowable revenue increases are aligned with annual inflationary expense increases, the district will continue to have to come back to the electorate with an operational referendum.”

Demerath said that the April ballot provided a final opportunity to bring an operational referendum question before voters to fund the 2023-24 school year. 

“Our next opportunity for an operational referendum will not be until next spring. Without this proposed referendum, it’s estimated that next year’s deficit will be approximately $6.8 million,” he said.  

The School District of Fort Atkinson has nine municipalities within its boundary, including, within Jefferson County, the city of Fort Atkinson (wards 1-10) and the towns of Cold Spring (ward 1), Hebron (wards 1 and 2), Jefferson (wards 1-4), Koshkonong (wards 1-6), Oakland (wards 1-4), Palmyra (wards 1 and 2) and Sumner (ward 1), and in Rock County, a portion of the town of Lima.