After failed referendums, Mauston school district considers dissolving

A Juneau County school board is considering dissolving its district after voters failed a referendum needed to continue operations.

The School District of Mauston’s Board of Education approved a resolution to consider dissolution at their meeting on Monday.

Superintendent Joel Heesch said there is no immediate action being taken to dissolve. But the resolution allows the board to consider the district’s next steps.

“It’s just a matter of us being able to lay out this timeline,” Heesch said. “We have two more years with the current status that we have financially, that we will be able to operate. Beyond that point, we will be out of money.”

Mauston leaders had tried to address the district’s projected budget shortfall through an operational referendum. The first proposal in April would have given the district $2.25 million in each of the next four years. But Heesch said voters overwhelmingly rejected the referendum, forcing the school board to reconsider their ask.

The board put another operating referendum on the November ballot for $1.75 million in each of the next four years, which Heesch said would have led to some budget cuts by the district.

Voters failed the referendum again, this time by 69 votes — or less than 2 percentage points. It was one of 30 school referendums that voters failed statewide this month, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

“What we continue to tell people is that $1.75 (million) gave us a future, something that we could see years down the road,” Heesch said. “Zero did not. We just could not see a future with zero.”

Heesch said the board plans to put forward another operational referendum on either the February or April ballot. But the district, which has 250 employees and 1,400 students, is also preparing for the possibility that the measure will not be successful.

The school board approved a myriad of budget cuts for the 2025-26 school year that include closing an elementary school and cutting all sports, clubs and field trips.

Mike Zilisch, vice president of Mauston’s school board, said he worries that these budget cuts will push students and families to start leaving the district, which would further hurt their budget because of the state’s enrollment-based funding formula.

“We’re going to lose that (state) revenue from those kids,” Zilisch said. “It really is kind of a death spiral, if you will. As more of these things come to fruition, the more and more tough decisions we’re really going to have to make.”

He said the district already chose not to fill more than 20 vacant staff positions for the current school year, which he said has hurt student learning and put more stress on remaining staff.

Both Zilisch and Heesch pointed to the state’s school funding formula as part of why the district is facing financial challenges.

“It’s so enrollment driven, which is a challenge in rural areas,” Heesch said. “You’re seeing declining enrollments, your revenues are either flat or decreasing based on those enrollments, while your expenditures, especially through an inflationary period, have increased dramatically.”

Based on public comment given at Monday’s meeting, Zilisch said he also believes some community members voted down the referendum this month because of misinformation about whether the district was really facing a budget deficit.

“We need to push out the message that we really do need this money,” he said. “We’re not asking for $1.75 (million) because we want to. We’re asking for $1.75 (million) because we need it. We need it for our kids. We need it for the community.”

He said the board will hold a special meeting in early December to decide how to approach their next operating referendum.