The School District of Crandon will ask taxpayers for some extra money to run the district.
An operational referendum will go before voters April 7th.
School District of Crandon Administrator Jason Bertrand says for nearly two decades, state and federal funding has not kept pace with the real cost of operating schools.
“In the current biennial budget, most school districts across Wisconsin will lose out on funding,” said Bertrand.
“We're going to lose out specifically five hundred thousand dollars this year and up to four hundred thousand dollars next year in state funding. We've also been told not to expect federal impact aid, which typically provides around a million dollars to our budget annually because of the large amount of federal and tribal lands within our boundaries.”
Bertrand says the Crandon district also loses $110-thousand annually to school voucher programs.
He says over the last two years, the district has made reductions totaling over $1-million.
He says if they continue to cut staff and programing, they risk losing educational opportunities for students, and becoming less competitive with neighboring districts.
Bertrand says the Crandon district will focus on sharing clear, factual information on the referendum over the coming months.
