The Kiel School Board is coming to a consensus on what’s next after two referendums didn’t pass.
Board members, including James Bajczyk, were asked to give their opinion on what should happen next.
The board vice president told the board, “I think we throw it back to both finance and then to buildings and grounds, and I hate to say blow it up, but start all over again.”
The first referendum in November last year asked Kiel School District residents to allow the district to borrow $67 million for multiple upgrades and attach a new middle school to the high school.
After there weren’t enough votes, the district re-tried a second referendum in April to borrow $24 million for multiple fixes at Kiel Middle School.
That referendum didn’t pass either.
Board Member Tony Johannes remembered some community feedback.
“I think about the gentlemen who emailed and said there was a lot of wants in there, not needs,” he explained. “And they talked about the parking lot for the middle school, and it’s like, well, first it’s in poor condition. But, to address the water issues, we’re going to have to rip half of that off anyway. And I think the words were all saying fix what you have, but the underlying message, even at the 127 or whatever it was, it was just too expensive.”
Johannes and Board Member Karin Wille also speculated on waiting for Governor Evers’ 2025-27 state budget, which adds more per-pupil funding.
Kiel School Board President Dan Meyer says he wants to see the district do enough to help benefit students while also having a respectful conversation of the community wants to do next.
District Administrator Brad Ebert said the board could also create an ad-hoc committee of leaders around the area to help decide what to do next.
But the drawback is, who do you bring in?
“Speaking freely, we know that if there aren’t some ground rules to this, to a committee like that, we know what it can turn into,” he said. “A very negative situation in different ways.”
Although no vote was taken, the board seemed to be looking at a new committee.
Ebert says the district isn’t allowed to do another referendum until next year.
