Ashland, Bayfield Voters Approve School District Referendums

Ashland and Bayfield County residents each voted in favor of a referendum proposed by the school districts during Tuesday’s election.

The Ashland School District asked voters to approve an additional $2 million each year for the next five years. The referendum question was a slightly tweaked version of one that failed by just 89 votes on the November ballot. The updated version dropped the first year property tax bump from $188 on a $200,000 home to about $122 for the same home.

District officials say they’re facing a budget deficit of over $1.5 million. If voters struck down the measure again on Tuesday, Superintendent Rob Prater says they would have needed to cut about 15 staff members next year with more cuts likely in the future.

The approved funding will go towards staff wages, operational expenses, curriculum, and maintenance programs. The measure passed by 306 votes.

District officials asked Bayfield residents to approve a non-recurring $7.7 million referendum, which passed by 179 votes. The funding will go towards a facilities improvement project seeking to bolster safety, accessibility, and infrastructure needs.

A vast majority of Wisconsin school districts have asked voters to approve a school referendum in recent years. Tuesday’s election features a total of 89 school referendums across the state. Voters approved 51 of those ballot questions.

Additionally, the November election saw over a quarter of Wisconsin’s school districts propose a ballot referendum. Voters approved 92 of the 120 school referendum questions in that election. In total, those referendum questions resulted in a combined property tax increase of over $3.4 billion across the state.