MUKWONAGO, Wis. — The Mukwonago Area School District is seeking voter approval to fund construction of a new middle school.
It also wants to create space for 4-year-old kindergarten programs and reconfigure the parking lot at Big Bend Elementary.
The money to pay for the projects will come in the form of a $102.3 million facilities referendum that will be on the ballot on April 2.
Superintendent Joe Koch said the biggest part of the referendum is replacing Park View Middle School, which was built in 1954.
Koch said the district estimates it would cost $85 million to renovate and expand the school to meet current needs.
“We are at a point right now where we have to make a pretty substantial financial investment into the building,” said Koch. “We have about $7.3 million worth of capital work that needs to go in before we make an investment into the building. We want to make sure the community wants us to invest or build new.”
The new middle school would be built next to the current one. It would also have more classrooms dedicated to STEM courses and the performing arts.
“What we want to be able to do is to then get more kids prepared at the middle level through that exploration, but also through hands-on experience, so then they are ready to engage our high school curriculum,” said Koch.
He said the extra funding would also allow them to repurpose some of their elementary school classrooms and turn those into spaces for 4-year-old kindergarten.
“We opened up about two weeks ago, enrollment for 4-year-old kindergarten and the window opened up at 8 a.m. but by 8:12, all of our full-day spots were selected already so we have a high demand for 4K, and we want to be able to accommodate that at our schools,” said Koch.
If approved, homeowners would pay an additional $69 in property taxes annually for every $100,000 of what their property is worth for the next 20 years.
Koch said because of the limited funding they get from the state, there would be no other way to fund these projects.
“We don’t believe we will ever be able to save enough money to do so. We feel like it is our obligation to take care of our capital maintenance, to take care of our teachers, and to pay our bills, but again we believe we will never get to a point where we can build a new school by saving operational dollars to do it,” said Koch.
Before the referendum was put on the ballot, the school conducted a survey. It determined that 65% of respondents would support the facilities referendum.
Koch said he hopes the community will continue to put their trust in them to build these projects. He said that’s the best way to make sure their students get the best chance of academic success.
For more information on the referendum, click here.