Marshfield Citizens Group Encouraging Marshfield Residents to Vote Yes on School Referendum
Thursday, October 29th, 2020 -- 12:02 PM
(WDLB) -A Marshfield citizens group is hoping voters will support a school referendum on Tuesday's ballot.Voters in the Marshfield School District are being asked to decide the fate of a three-a-half million dollar budget override referendum. Carmen Lawler is a member of the "YES" Committee which is urging support for the additional spending. Lawler says the spending would be an increase of a half-million dollars over a referendum which expires at the end of the current school year and this one would be recurring, essentially making the referendum permanent. School officials have identified a list of cuts that would have to be made if next week's referendum is not approved. Lawler says all of the items on the list have a direct impact on students and some more than others. The district has identified 37 budgetary line items that amount to three-and-a-half million dollars. Most of the cuts come in the form of staff reductions and a freeze on the salaries of those who remain.
The cuts include the Gifted-and-Talented Coordinator, one full-time social worker, a full-time school counselor, drivers education, the foreign language with the lowest enrollment (in this case, French), plus reductions to the "Family and Consumer Education" and "Career and Technical Education" Departments. A failed referendum would also mean the consolidation of the Advanced Placement and Honors programs. If the Marshfield referendum is successful, property owners would see the school district portion of their tax bill go up by 21-cents per thousand of assessed value.
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