McFarland school referendum appears to cruise to victory
It appears McFarland School District residents will approve a $5.2 million operating referendum after district officials realized a request earlier this year was too much for taxpayers to bear.
Late Tuesday night, with all precincts reporting by 9:45 p.m., nearly 57% of voters agreed to raise the the tax levy by $1.7 million annually over three years. Two precincts, one in the city of Madison and one in the town of Blooming Grove, had yet to report by 9:30 p.m.
McFarland had been using federal pandemic relief funds to close budget gaps and pay for 31 teaching positions in recent years, which have since run dry. That's left the district with a $3.7 million budget gap to fill. The district has already cut $1.2 million for this year.
In the spring, a $10.6 million referendum failed, with 60% of voters rejecting it.
District officials were hoping a new referendum of $5.2 million, less than half the size of the one this spring, could woo voters after a survey found nearly half of voters would support a referendum of $6.4 million. Support for a referendum dropped as the price tag increased: About 45% of respondents said they'd vote for a $7 million referendum, and 40% said they'd vote for one totaling $7.6 million.
This spring's failed referendum prompted $700,000 in staff reductions at the elementary schools, in special education and with educational assistants and library staff; 10% budget cuts across all departments, and limits on administrative raises. The cuts have already raised the workloads of current staff and increased class sizes, District Administrator Aaron Tarnutzer said Monday.
"We were able to come up with what we felt was a solution that could both address our financial needs, in terms of being able to retain and recruit quality staff, while also being something that the community could support with their limited financial resources," Tarnutzer said.
The new referendum won't restore the $1.2 million in cuts already made, but it will prevent further cuts from being made, Tarnutzer said.
The referendum will go toward staff salaries and benefits and help the McFarland school district stay competitive with its Dane County peers, many of whom have had successful operating referendums.
Had it failed, however, the district would have been forced to make "drastic" cuts, Tarnutzer said. The projected budget shortfall of about $2.5 million would have required a reduction of 36 staff, about 17% of its overall employment; the district doesn't have many options for cuts outside of that, Tarnutzer added.
"We are not alone in facing this challenge, with a record number of school districts having a referendum in the year 2024," he said. "However, we're fairly alone in the area for districts that have a failed referendum. So the stakes are high, because our neighbors in Dane County have had been successful in in their operational referendums. Another failure would be even more difficult."
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