Appleton superintendent details 2022 referendum projects as district prepares April operational vote

Superintendent Greg Hartes said the Appleton Area School District went to referendum in 2022 on two questions — an operational question and a capital question — and that both measures passed with just under 70% approval.

“The first is to reduce class sizes in kindergarten, first and second grade. The second was to add STEM classes in all of our elementary schools and then additional STEM at the middle level,” Hartes said, summarizing the operational question’s stated purposes. He said the operational question sought authority to exceed the district’s revenue limit by $5 million per year.

The capital question funded construction and renovation projects across the district. Hartes said the combined tax impact of both questions was about $4 on $100,000 of property and that much of the increase was offset by older referendum debt falling off the tax rolls.

Why it mattered: Hartes said enrollment growth and aging buildings drove the capital request. “When we looked at the fact that Huntley Elementary School was significantly over capacity…and it’s where our growth areas were located,” he said, the district decided to build a new school. The district opened Sandy Slope Elementary on Edgewood Drive this fall; Hartes said it opened on time, on budget and with about 330 students.

Hartes described several completed projects financed by the 2022 capital question: additions and renovations at four middle schools to accommodate sixth graders; STEM learning spaces at every elementary school; security upgrades that reconfigured entrances at two elementary schools; and classroom, science-room and fitness-center additions at all three high schools. He said the security projects at Ferber and Houdini were roughly $1.5 million each and that the district’s regular annual capital project budget — about $2.5 million — is intended for maintenance rather than larger construction or academic improvements.

On district finances, Hartes said the district entered the referendum with nine consecutive balanced budgets, a reserve of about $18 million and early payoff of prior debt. He said the district did not anticipate the subsequent years of high inflation and frozen state funding that have strained operating budgets.

Because the 2022 capital funds were legally restricted to the projects described to voters, Hartes said the district cannot repurpose that money to cover ongoing operating costs created by the new facilities. “We had to use those dollars there,” he said, adding that the district has therefore placed a new operational referendum on the April ballot to address ongoing costs such as utilities, maintenance, cleaning and added staff tied to the new spaces.

What’s next: Hartes said the operational referendum will ask voters for authority similar to the 2022 operational request to exceed the revenue limit to cover ongoing operating costs; he framed the vote as a response to inflation and funding constraints but did not provide a final timetable for implementation if approved.

The video concluded with Hartes thanking viewers.