School board green-lights spring referendum

TOMAHAWK – A School District of Tomahawk funding referendum will appear on ballots in Feb. 2025.

During its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12, the district’s Board of Education unanimously approved a pair of resolutions authorizing the district to ask taxpayers for $3.25 million per year for four years.

The current referendum, which has accounted for $3.25 million for each of the past three years, expires at the end of the school year.

Voters approved the current funding request by a roughly 56% to 44% margin in April 2022 after two previous attempts to pass a referendum were unsuccessful. A four-year, $3.5 million referendum failed by 51 votes in Nov. 2020. In April 2021, voters rejected a four-year, $3.25 million spending request by 33 votes.

Numerous area school districts approved referendums in this month’s General Election, including Antigo, Colby, Marathon City, Marshfield, Medford and Mosinee. Prentice School District voters rejected a spending request.

According to a study by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, record numbers of referendums and new school funding were approved earlier this month, with rising inflation outpacing increases in the state's per-pupil revenue limits, pressure to boost wages and the loss of federal COVID-19 pandemic relief noted as factors in the recent uptick in funding requests.