You may have another item on your ballot this spring if you live in the Southern Door School District. For months, district officials have been discussing details surrounding a possible operational referendum to be voted on during the spring election.

The district last went to voters in 2022, when it asked to exceed the revenue limit by $975,000 for three years, ending with the current school year, and to borrow up to $14.9 million for facility improvements. As officials consider another referendum, the district has hosted listening sessions and surveyed residents to gather input on what a possible operational referendum — which would fund the district’s day-to-day expenses — could look like.

Superintendent Kevin Krutzik was not employed by the district during the 2022 double referendum, but says he appreciates everyone who was willing to take part in what he calls difficult conversations. In October 2024, the School Board lowered the mill rate to $7.53. When the idea of renewing the referendum at its previous rate of about $8.53 per $1,000 of taxable property was discussed, it was not well received by the community. Krutzik acknowledges that trust-building was necessary in the wake of the 2022 referendum.

Krutzik reiterated that if an operational referendum is put before voters, the district must involve the community early rather than presenting numbers and gauging reaction afterward. He hopes ongoing conversations will help identify resident priorities and shape a potential referendum question. Krutzik adds that having some debt fall off the books could make it easier to justify a referendum that could actually lower the mill rate.

Preliminarily, district officials are considering a $3.15 million operational referendum over a three-year period that would have no impact on the current mill rate of $6.99. The Southern Door School Board still has time before it must approve referendum language for inclusion on the spring ballot.