W-K Elementary School Photo: Winona Area Public Schools
(KWNO)- The Winona Area Public School District set an April 2023 referendum date for the public to vote on funding for potential new projects for the school district.
WAPS Board already has a plan in place to invest in its school buildings and improve learning and activity spaces, now it’s up to the public to support the plan and the small tax increase that comes with it.
The community will vote in April of next year on a two-question referendum and if the community supports both of the questions, the district can immediately begin work on their new projects.
The exact wording has yet to be finalized but a press release from the district gives an idea of the contents of the questions.
The first question asks voters to invest $71 million into improvements that include creating flexible learning spaces and addressing accessibility issues at the elementary school, updating career and technical education spaces at the high school, and other deferred maintenance needs in all buildings.
The second question asks for an investment of $15 million in order to improve extracurricular spaces, including the remodeling of the auditorium at the high school, renovations to the Paul Giel Field bathrooms, and the addition of a “Sorely needed gym” at the high school.
If both are approved, the tax spike for residents would be minimal. According to the press release, the owner of a $200,000 home will see a property tax increase of less than $17 a month.
School board chair Nancy Denzer said, “There is a lot of excitement in my mind about the academic piece of what we can do in the elementary schools with improving deferred maintenance. The industrial tech wing is really important to me because it is a direct connection to our business community and the people that our students are eventually going to be serving when they move into the workforce or start their career choice.”
School board vice chair, Tina Lehnertz, continued, “There are so many (educational) options in our district. Those people have been continuing to move forward for a long time, and they still are moving forward. I think some of our spaces need to have these renovations in order to put programming in place that we want to have…I think the time is now.”
From now until the referendum date, school board members will work with the community to further explain the benefits of their projects.
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