Can you imagine going to the polls and not having an opinion on a $62.2 million dollar referendum? Well, at least 294 voters did just that on Tuesday.

Anyone have any ideas why that would be?

Elm Grove had 45 ballots left blank; Brookfield had 249, both work out to be around 2% of the vote.

I did speak to one younger woman about the referendum on Friday. She said she really did not know much about it. She didn't feel she needed to look into it, because she did not have any children.

You do pay taxes though, I said. She seemed confused by that.

Another person told me of an older neighbor who did not feel it was their place to make any decision about the referendum, because they no longer had school age children. I can only wonder how many people share this view.

I am not sure where that idea comes from, but the school system belongs to all of the taxpayers, not just the parents of the students. Collectively we make the decision to increase spending by referendum.

Links:

Don't worry, I am not going to drag on about the referendum too much, but I think some things need analyzing before I move on to other areas of interest. It is important to understand why it passed and how the process works...for next time.

Some of us asked ourselves, how did the referendum pass in a climate of rising food prices, increasing taxes and the prospect of gasoline hitting $4/gal by summer? Pretty remarkable considering the dollar amount, $62.2 million, was sizable for a declining enrollment.

First, voter turn out was key to the referendum passing or failing. No question about it, apathy played a huge role in the referendum's passing, but the timing of the election played a larger part. The apathetic are always with us.

Voter turn out was expected to be higher. I expected it would be lower.

Holding an election the Tuesday after Easter vacation and before all the snow birds returned home, indicated to me turnout would be low. By placing the referendum question on the spring ballot then, known for lower turnout than a November Presidential election, timing alone eliminated a huge percentage of the voters. (I am pretty sure Waukesha County had a 97% turnout in 2004.)

The spring election, based on past voting trends, was sure to garner fewer total votes from the general public than the November election.

Some might be thinking that because of the dire need in our schools, the district felt it could not wait until November. They could have included the referendum question however, in the Presidential primary, where a broader field of voters participates. 

Second, there only are so many YES votes in the Elmbrook School district. Getting those likely Yes voters out to vote then was key to passage.

Elmbrook informed (they are not allowed to promote) the need to renovate their schools every chance they could on tours, at PTO meetings, on their cable channel, and in publications sent to residents. The only alternative they gave was to let things continue as they were.

Considering only 1 out of every 4 homes in the district have children in Elmbrook schools, getting out the vote amongst those parents* was very important. They were the key Yes voters.

Low voter turnout of the general voting population, who don't have children in Elmbrook Schools, then was key to this referendum's passage.

But the district also needed to add to that number of Yes votes. How would they do that? The HSST. 

Sure, some people changed their minds because the total dollar amount was lower. Maybe some thought this time the cost was not too outrageous. But next to timing the election, the HSST, I think accounted for a goodly portion of those 577 new yes votes this go around.

With referendums, timing and perception is everything. 

If you did not bother to vote last Tuesday and now are upset that the referendum passed, I can only say we get the government we deserve sometimes. Don't let it happen again. 

Next time, a look at the HSST and what it represented.

*Not all parents voted this time for the referendum. I don't blame those of you who did. As a parent we all want what is best for our children. I am just sorry Elmbrook did not get the most for our tax dollar here and we still have done nothing to address maintaining our schools.  

I'm not sure who dropped off this referendum brochure; it is a copy of Elmbrook Schools April 1, 2008 High Schools Facilities info sheets.

There was no disclaimer on it stating where it came from or who paid for the printing.

When I opened it, it was obvious it was not just run off on someone's laser printer. The paper size was very unusual: 11 1/4 x 11 inches.

If it was from Elmbrook Schools, they should have known it is illegal to place any flier in or on a mailbox.

If it was from the Vote Yes group, then that should have been noted?

No matter. I was concerned that voters would not know there even was a referendum to be voted on come April 1st. I think this will let residents know. How was yours delivered?

FYI, affixing any kind of mail or flier to a mailbox, inside or out is not allowed. I checked with my favorite Postmistress today, and she said this type of delivery was not OK with the U.S.Postal Service. In fact, if any fliers survived the weekend and rain, if the mailman sees them on his route, he is to bring them back to the post office and the listed responsible party can be charged postage due. 

The picture is not from my home, by the way. I grabbed mine on my way out to do an errand on Saturday and then noticed that all of the mailboxes on my street had them stuck under the flags. This was true of other streets in other neighborhoods.

My flier had a personalized note on it. It read: "The referendum contains significant improvements to academic areas :)" 

I thought the word significant is a bit strong since by the flier's own statistics $22,694,288 goes for mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing for 275,707 square feet at Central and 243,675 square feet at East.

Add to the flier's $22.7mil (rounded) for mechanicals, and the $14, $15.8, $18.2, how much? million dollars for new gyms and we are well over 1/2 of the cost for non-academics. 

Today I found out that the referendum includes air conditioning the gyms: 2 acres of gyms at least 2 stories tall. That utility bill money is not going for academics!

As usual, the more information I get, the more questions I have. This $22.7mil struck me as not being consistent with some recent information I received on the HVAC replacement alone being $26 million. Glen Allgier was good enough to explain: The higher number reflects those "soft" costs that were included elsewhere.

Brookfield Academy's $12.5 mil high school, we can too

Correction: C G SCHMIDT Cost summary of Referendum

ACADEMICS, NOT ATHLETICS AND AIR CONDITIONING--did you know they plan on air conditioning even the gyms?

Tomorrow is the big day, Millions of Dollars Tuesday! Be sure to vote.

Elmbrook School District Referendum Links:

Frequently Asked Questions  Not to be missed!

Cost Breakdowns of Type of Work (cost per square footage)

Architect's Conceptual High School Floorplans--East and Central

Facility "Needs" comparison of failed 2007 and present 2008 referendums

Tax Calculator  

Former 2007 Referendum Facilities Facts Sheets (Still a good read)

FYI, Mark Belling, is talking about our referendum and Wisconsin taxes right now on his radio show at 4:35pm. 

He mentioned the alderman who called our schools an embarrassment (Mahkorn) and the 12 aldermen who endorsed Elmbrook's referendum.

Mark said, if the residents vote for this, then they better not call his show complaining of their high property taxes.

A caller noted that the two aldermen who did not endorse the referendum were former city employees. Possibly they know something the other aldermen don't? Belling did not want the caller to speak for Balzer or Carnell. It was an interesting observation though. 

UPDATE: I almost forgot that Bill Carnell once was on the school board too! 

Belling notes and quotes: Wisconsin ranks 44th in favorable business tax climate, 50th for retirees.

"The one positive thing about referendums is that you at least get to vote NO."

"I know it is very hard to be the lone wolf." 

He praises the New Berlin school district in their approach. "I hope the (Elmbrook) referendum fails." New Berlin has built 2 new schools without raising taxes.

"At what point in Wisconsin are we going to say, enough is enough."

You may want to listen to the podcast (hour 2, part 1-housing values, raised taxes, fees, Brookfield council and 2) if you cannot listen live.

The countdown continues: Just 13 days until MILLIONS OF DOLLARS Tuesday!

Email me your thoughts on the $62.2 million dollar referendum.

ACADEMICS, NOT ATHLETICS: VOTE NO

Links: Brookfield7, Betterbrookfield,  Vicki Mckenna 

Former 2007 Referendum Facilities Facts Sheets (Still a good read)

I spent last night going through all of my past Practically Speaking postings from the last referendum up until Easter 2007. I gave them a quick read and made the appropriate subject tags.

Many of them are still very pertinent this year. I hope to make a master list with titles, but if that never materializes, you can just click on the High School tag or Elmbrook to the right and they all should come up.

Brookfield7's postings can be found by typing in High School in the search box at the top of that blog. (I will try to list those too if time allows.)

One tidbit I found of interest was about Matt Gibson's raise from last year, just before the referendum. Last year he got an extra $4,881.

Uncle Matt wants you, Even if it means we have to build bigger schools:

Why would the administration, led by Matt Gibson, want to recruit every possible student if this means greater expenses for district taxpayers and shortages of classroom space?

One reader commented, “He’s trying to build a for profit empire out of our wallet! The bigger the empire; the bigger the check.”

Well big empires justify big raises, and we just gave Dr. Matt Gibson a hefty one of $4,881 for a total of $142,230 this year.

I wonder what it will be this year? 

Elmbrook School District Referendum Links:

Wording of the April 1, 2008 $62.190.000 referendum 

Architect's Conceptual High School Floorplans--East and Central

Facility "Needs" comparison of failed 2007 and present 2008 referendums

Key Academic Benefits: It's direct address is:  www.elmbrookschools.org/.../displayFile.aspx

(I am sorry, I still cannot access it from the 2008 referendum Table of Contents page.) 

Tour Schedule  

Tax Calculator  

Frequently Asked Questions

Elmbrook asks for smaller expansion--JSOnline (Also includes links to past articles)

The countdown begins: Just 20 days until MILLIONS OF DOLLARS Tuesday!

Email me your thoughts on the $62.2 million dollar referendum.

ACADEMICS, NOT ATHLETICS: VOTE NO

Links: Brookfield7, Betterbrookfield,  Vicki Mckenna 

Although I am not in favor of the present $62.2+ million dollar referendum, I was pleased to see this practical solution for creating larger classrooms while on the Central High School Tour this week. They are proposing removing the approx. 8' x 9' office cubes from some of the classrooms.

(These would be those classrooms you visit at the top of the stairs at the beginning of the tour--same ones that last year were mentioned as only having 3 working outlets: The Tale of Three Outlets)

I have no idea what they were thinking when this school addition was built--like so many "new" ideas, it seemed like a good idea at the time? But the office within the classroom really plays havoc with the arrangement of student desks.

You can see in the first photo the front of the classroom with the green board. The 15 student desks are arranged perpendicular to the front wall.

The second photo shows the teacher's office cube in the back. The
remaining 15 desks are arranged perpendicular to the back wall.

Each set of 15 desks face each other.

Now, I am not claiming credit for this idea. I think the referendum committee just saw what I saw, a relatively easy and inexpensive way to expand and improve the layout of some classrooms.
 

I had suggested removing those small teacher's office cubes last year in a posting : Post WW2 era buildings = modern construction: 

One “need” on the referendum wish list is larger classrooms. Classrooms at Central are not large enough. Solution: knock out the teacher’s office cube inside the classroom and suddenly the room meets No Child Left Behind standards. Presently we are told the rooms are 750 sq. ft. If the office were removed the room would exceed 825 sq. ft. The layout of the room would improve too. The concept of a teacher having their own classroom is necessary at elementary schools but not at the high school level. This work can all be done “in house” with maintenance staff during the summer as other districts do.

By removing the office cube, the layout of desks improves and the number of potential students per room could increase--if needed. The teacher would be moved to a department office room that would have a private area for student/teacher meetings. Moving the teacher's office out of the classroom also helps when the classroom is used by another teacher. Where this departmental teacher's office area will be is not know at this time Principal LaBonte told us.

I don't believe we need a $102 million referendum ($62.2 million dollar + interest) to make this type of improvement.  Like School Board Member Patrick Murphy, I favor increasing our Capital Improvement budget--I suggested  by $1million a year, last year Murphy suggested by $2 million.

Elmbrook School District Referendum Links:

Wording of the April 1, 2008 $62.190.000 referendum 

Architect's Conceptual High School Floorplans--East and Central

Facility "Needs" comparison of failed 2007 and present 2008 referendums

Key Academic Benefits: It's direct address is:  www.elmbrookschools.org/.../displayFile.aspx

(I am sorry, I still cannot access it from the 2008 referendum Table of Contents page.)

Tour Schedule  

Tax Calculator  

Frequently Asked Questions

Elmbrook asks for smaller expansion--JSOnline (Also includes links to past articles)

The countdown begins: Just 25 days until MILLIONS OF DOLLARS Tuesday!

Email me your thoughts on the $62.2 million dollar referendum.

Links: Betterbrookfield,  Vicki Mckenna 

Yikes! Gas prices rise 14 cents overnight!.