By Damakant Jayshi
Residents of the Wausau School District will get a survey next month seeking their input on a potential referendum to exceed revenue limits to balance the budget and to pay for teacher and staff salary hikes and other related costs.
Earlier this week, the Wausau School Board approved sending survey questions to the community to hold an operating referendum in November. In March, the board discussed getting community input for that purpose.
The district has hired Donovan Group, a communications organization working with public schools, to conduct the survey. The group made a presentation on the modalities of the survey at the board’s regular meeting on Monday.
An operating referendum is usually proposed to exceed a district’s existing revenue limit, as opposed to issuing new debt, which typically involves a capital referendum. The operating referendum pays for salaries and benefits of staff and insurance, among other expenses, and is levied each year. In 2022, the community approved a nearly $120 million bond referendum to pay for district-wide facility needs.
President James Bouche stressed that that board members were not voting on a referendum but approving a survey on the possibility of a potential operational referendum.
Perry Hibner, the lead survey strategist for the Donovan Group, said that given the tight timeline, it would be ideal to send the survey in mid-May to maximize the response from the community. The more people participate, the more accurate the results would be, he said.
According to the timeline presented by the Donovan Group, the first draft of the survey questions will be ready for the board’s review on April 11, with community members receiving a post card in the first week of May. They will have until May 19 to complete the survey.
