Wisconsin election: Referendums on the ballot

Nicole Herzog, our investigative reporter, is in our newsroom. And Nicole, we haven't talked to you for a while, but I know one of the things you were looking into is, in addition to all of these big races, there are a bunch of school referendums on the ballot with a lot of money on the line. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, that's right. We know 72 school districts across the state asking voters to approve about $1.6 billion in referendum requests. In total, though, 79 referendum questions across the state. Most would cover really just basic operating expenses, while others are requesting funds for school building projects, facility upgrades. We've seen some pretty expensive ones across our area. One of the most expensive in our area is the Elmbrook School District. Asking voters to approve a $100 million referendum to upgrade four schools that they say are more than 50 years old. This would include light renovations on classrooms and lab upgrades for the elementary and middle schools. The district says the average home would pay about $66 more per year in taxes if that referendum passes. But that is unlike... The other referendum, which is the second most expensive in our area, the Whitefish Bay School District referendum, that one, they did have to scale back after voters narrowly turned down a $135 million referendum in April. And that measure failed with 52 percent voting no, 48 percent voting yes. So this is going to be something to really watch is what voters decide on these referendums, particularly for schools, because this is something we're seeing across the board and especially an issue within the governor's race tonight as schools say state funding has not kept up with the pace of inflation in recent years. Yeah, Nicole, you mentioned some of the bigger ones. Are there any other races you're following throughout southeast Wisconsin, any other referendums on the ballot? I know you mentioned Brown Deer earlier as well. Yeah, Brown Deer has one. The school district of Sheboygan Falls also has a $65.7 million facilities referendum. This is the third time in two years that they're asking voters to approve this, which is down significantly from 2024, where they had a $99.8 million referendum. So interesting to note here also that there were 75 school referendums on the ballot in April, which means that this year voters in more than one third of the state's public school districts have had to decide if they're willing to raise their property taxes to support their schools.