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Resident, state representative urge transparency and question reading‑fund claims in KUSD referendum pitch
Summary
A Pleasant Prairie resident and state representative told the Village Board the district needs to be clearer about ESSER spending and whether state funding already covers literacy initiatives; both urged more transparency on tax impacts before voters decide.
During the citizens‑comment period, resident and school‑board candidate Valerie Kretchmer criticized the referendum materials as lacking transparency and called for a detailed accounting of prior ESSER spending and operating costs. She said special‑education services are underresourced and that closed school space might offer alternatives for housing programming without a tax increase.
“There is no clear communication from the district,” Kretchmer said, questioning where roughly $45,000,000 in ESSER funds were allocated and asking for more live opportunities for questions. She said she will run for school board and urged Pleasant Prairie residents to vote no on the referendum.
State Rep. Amanda Nedweski also addressed the board, telling trustees she is the chair of the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability and Transparency and criticized district mailings as misleading. Nedweski asserted that Act 20 and the Right to Read funding already allocate money for reading improvements and asked why the district is requesting additional local dollars for literacy initiatives. She asked the district to provide sample property‑tax bills showing exact increases attributable to the referendum before voting begins.
Nedweski told the board that less than 40 percent of KUSD students read at grade level and questioned whether additional local funding, as requested in the referendum, is the appropriate solution without demonstrable evidence of improved outcomes from prior spending.
