Oct 16, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 13 segments
In November, residents in both the Southern Door and Sturgeon Bay school districts will vote on nonrecurring operational referendums, which would allow the districts the exceed their designated…
As we talk, and even our board talks, it's good to remind ourselves and our community of the different types of referenda, right? And you talked already, Eleanor, about it being a non-recurring, right? So taking one step back from that, there are operational referenda, and there are capital referenda, right? And so we're talking operational today, right? We're not talking about the capital, which is where normally the district, right, borrows bonds, if you will, right, to be able to build a new school or what have you, right?
And then as you teed it up nicely, the operational referendum, really there are two kinds of operational referenda.
Uh, Gibraltar has some of those on the books in the county as far as local context, where once that happens, that impacts, uh, kind of in- into the future.
Like in our case, we're talking about a five-year educational programming non-recurring referenda.
And again, not speaking for Southern Door, but right, Kevin, you guys are looking at a three-year this time, right?
Basically, like you said, exactly covering what you're talking about, the day-to-day expenses, staffing, academic programs, student services, operational cost, not m- brick and mortar, not building anything, adding on anything like that, not anything to the infrastructure of the campus.
Although locally we talk about that operational, or in Sturgeon Bay, they use that educational programming operational referendum.
Some communities in the state, including in Northeast Wisconsin, would talk about this as a revenue limit override referendum, right? Where the state-
... going all the way back, right, revenue limits back to 1993, right, there's, uh, some things where every district is kinda locked into its own level based on if it was a higher or lower spending district back in 1993.
And although I was not in Door County at that time, nor do I think, Kevin, you or Eleanor, right, any of us were at that time.
My, my sense from our fairly conservative communities in many ways is that Southern Door and Sturgeon Bay would've been low-spending districts.
As we talk, and even our board talks, it's good to remind ourselves and our community of the different types of referenda, right? And you talked already, Eleanor, about it being a non-recurring, right? So taking one step back from that, there are operational referenda, and there are capital referenda, right? And so we're talking operational today, right? We're not talking about the capital, which is where normally the district, right, borrows bonds, if you will, right, to be able to build a new school or what have you, right?
And then as you teed it up nicely, the operational referendum, really there are two kinds of operational referenda.
Uh, Gibraltar has some of those on the books in the county as far as local context, where once that happens, that impacts, uh, kind of in- into the future.
Like in our case, we're talking about a five-year educational programming non-recurring referenda.
And again, not speaking for Southern Door, but right, Kevin, you guys are looking at a three-year this time, right?
Basically, like you said, exactly covering what you're talking about, the day-to-day expenses, staffing, academic programs, student services, operational cost, not m- brick and mortar, not building anything, adding on anything like that, not anything to the infrastructure of the campus.
Although locally we talk about that operational, or in Sturgeon Bay, they use that educational programming operational referendum.
Some communities in the state, including in Northeast Wisconsin, would talk about this as a revenue limit override referendum, right? Where the state-
... going all the way back, right, revenue limits back to 1993, right, there's, uh, some things where every district is kinda locked into its own level based on if it was a higher or lower spending district back in 1993.
And although I was not in Door County at that time, nor do I think, Kevin, you or Eleanor, right, any of us were at that time.
My, my sense from our fairly conservative communities in many ways is that Southern Door and Sturgeon Bay would've been low-spending districts.
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