G-E-T school board presented with referendum options
Any decision on a potential referendum for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau school district still has a long way to go, but a major step in the process occurred when the school board was presented with the details on two main referendum options, community survey results and a community task force recommendation at their regular October meeting.
Details on two main referendum options were given to the board at last Monday’s meeting, including one that would keep open all three of the district’s existing elementary schools (Galesville, Ettrick and Trempealeau) and another that would close Ettrick Elementary, moving those students to Galesville Elementary with additional renovations being done on the latter to accommodate those extra students.
In both of those referendum options, there would be deferred maintenance work done to all district schools, security enhancements and an office addition at the high school, and 4K classroom additions, security enhancements and other varying levels of work done on the elementary schools — including Ettrick in option one and excluding it in option two since it would close in that scenario.
The estimated price tags are $36,300,000 for option one and $36,600,000 for option two.
A community task force — which included board members, district employees, teachers, local business owners and parents — held several rounds of meetings over the summer to consider all options, including combining elementary schools in various scenarios and whether to house early childhood/4K students in their community’s elementary schools or all together in one school separate from the rest.
At the task force’s final meeting last month, they were given a presentation on the results of a community survey conducted among district residents, whittled down the referendum options to two and then voted on a recommendation to send to the full board.
The final tally on the recommendation vote saw 12 task force members vote in favor of the referendum option that would keep all three elementary schools open and eight vote in favor of the option that would close down Ettrick Elementary.
Board member Deb Lakey brought up that she had heard from a few task force members who felt “rushed” in deciding on a recommendation and would’ve liked more time or additional meetings to mull it over further. Cindy George, who, along with Sara Olson, represented the school board on the task force, said such concerns were not raised during that last meeting.
“I felt that it was fine,” George said. “I guess if people would have had that concern, then they should have expressed it. There was nothing expressed to relate to that.”
The task force’s recommendation to the board based on that vote was to move forward with the referendum option that would keep all elementary schools open with improvements while also adding in a slew of high school upgrades, bringing the expected price tag to $40,262,750.
A $40 million referendum would have an estimated tax impact of $8.25 per month and $99 per year on a $100,000 property. Ellie Gilliam with Nexus Solutions, a facility needs firm that is working with G-E-T on the facility assessment and referendum planning process, said that district administrators estimated that the average home value in the district is in the ballpark of $250,000. The estimated tax impact of a $40 million referendum on a $250,000 home would be $20.63 per month and $247.50 per year.
The board also has the option to include a second separate referendum question asking for approval on any or all of a selection of other projects: playground upgrades at Galesville Elementary and Trempealeau Elementary, parent/bus loop modifications at all elementary schools and a gymnasium addition at Trempealeau Elementary.
Community survey results
The task force’s recommendation was informed by the results of a community survey, conducted by Minneapolis-based market research firm Morris Leatherman Company earlier this summer. Morris Leatherman CEO Peter Leatherman went over the survey results with the task force via video call at their final meeting, a recording of which was played at last Monday’s board meeting.
That survey — conducted via telephone between Aug. 12 and Sept. 3 — contained a random sample of 400 residents within the district that Leatherman said was intended to be as representative as possible of the district’s residents as a whole.
Of those 400 respondents, the demographic breakdown by community was as follows: 21% from the town of Trempealeau, 20% from the village of Trempealeau, 18% from the town of Gale, 18% from the city of Galesville, 10% from the town of Caledonia, 8% from the town of Ettrick and 5% from the village of Ettrick.
According to 2025 population estimates released earlier this month from the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Demographic Services Center, the municipalities making up the G-E-T school district have an estimated total population of 10,041. That includes 1,993 in the town of Trempealeau (19.8% of the total), 1,900 in the village of Trempealeau (18.9%), 1,726 in the town of Gale (17.2%), 1,679 in the city of Galesville (16.7%), 1,291 in the town of Ettrick (12.9%), 932 in the town of Caledonia (9.2%) and 520 in the village of Ettrick (5.2%).
The makeup of survey respondents included 27% with children K-12, 14% with preschoolers and 59% without children in the district.
The survey found that 68% of respondents either supported (49%) or strongly supported (19%) having early childhood/4K programs located in the district’s existing elementary schools and only 23% either supported (15%) or strongly supported (8%) having them in their own building.
A total of 63% of respondents either supported (49%) or strongly supported (14%) moving Ettrick Elementary to Galesville compared to 27% who either opposed (22%) or strongly opposed (5%) the idea.
In terms of a potential property tax increase for facility improvements, 35% supported a $10 per month increase, 27% supported a $20 per month increase, 10% supported a $30 or more per month increase and 22% were against any property tax increase at all.
Leatherman noted that the survey findings suggested some positives for the district if they decided to go to referendum. He said that income stability has a big impact on referendum success, and 64% of survey respondents said they were “financially comfortable” compared to 35% who said they were “financially stressed.”
Regarding referendum predisposition, 21% were supportive of the idea of a referendum, 21% were against the idea of a referendum and 57% were persuadable.
When asked about the quality of education in the district, 69% rated it as good, 21% rated it as excellent, 9% rated it as “only fair” and no respondents rated it as poor.
Job performance ratings showed 94% positive and 5% negative for the district’s teachers, 78% positive and 21% negative for the superintendent/district administration, and 78% positive and 21% negative for the school board.
“There are no red flags. This really is an excellent environment right now. And it is different from challenges other school districts are facing, whether it’s economic uncertainty, whether it’s property tax hostility — those are the key factors right now,” Leatherman told the task force last month. “You have less of that economic insecurity. You have less of that property tax hostility. People are going to make the calculation based on what’s proposed and how much it will cost. They are going to go in and do that cost-benefit analysis instead of bringing in the baggage of the past.”
Next steps
Following the presentations, G-E-T district administrator Michele Butler gave the board a refresher on the timeline for a potential referendum. If the district were to go to referendum in next April’s spring election, a resolution would need to be approved in January. A referendum going on the ballot next November is also an option on the table.
Butler reiterated that the district doesn’t want to ask the community for wants rather than needs in a referendum but also cautioned against punting on some of the work that would eventually need to get done and will only get more expensive.
“We know all our buildings need work,” Butler said. “We want to do that at a time when — the longer we wait, the more expensive it gets. We know that for a fact.”
Multiple special meetings will be held over the next couple of months to deal exclusively with the topic of a potential referendum. The board will need to decide whether they want to go to referendum and, if so, when to do it and what to include as part of it.
School board president Todd Roessler urged members of the public to reach out to their board member with any questions or comments on the referendum process. He also stressed to his fellow board members the importance of getting accurate information on the subject to the community.
“I think we have to be, as board members, clear and honest with the community because that’s our job. We don’t want to give out misinformation and misleading information,” Roessler said. “I think the more information we have on any decision we make, at the end of the day, is better. It also has to be correct and honest and accurate.”
