Augusta School District pushing for successful referendum on April ballot
AUGUSTA - Augusta School District Superintendent Reed Pecha knows there're a lot of skeptical and critical voices in the Augusta community towards a referendum on the April 7 ballot. And he understands why many citizens in the district feel this way.
"For whatever reasons property valuations and taxes in the City of Augusta and Town of Bridge Creek have gone up dramatically in the past five years." Pecha said. "And yet people's wages haven't risen to help meet those costs. A lot of people around are hurting financially. And then you look at the financial situation of the district, the fact that we went to the voters just a few short years ago with a building referendum, that the district went over its 2024-25 budget which has forced us to borrow money from the state to fill a shortfall and make big cuts to staff. And this was right after the annual meeting where local people approved that very budget believing it balanced. Then you hear about an school employee in a nearby district charged with embezzlement and you wonder if that's going on too and asking where did all this money go?. Yeah, people are going to be bewildered, upset, angry, questioning what's going on, wondering if there's other problems out there. I completely understand those sentiments and that's what we have to deal with and answer to the citizens satisfaction if this referendum will pass."
The district has fashioned a referendum question for the spring ballot that Pecha says needs to pass to continue the district's march towards fiscal stability after all the budget upheavals of the past year in a half and the challenges the district faces with enrollment, special education funding, inflation and a state education funding system that Pecha along with many small school superintendents says is "broken". The 2026 referendum asks voters to approve a non-recurring operational referendum of $375,000 per year for two years, beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, to help address rising operational costs and stabilize the District’s financial position.
Pecha said the district has done the cutting it needs to do in its staffing, some $2.5 million, in order to fix a structural deficit within its budget along with getting rid of administrative positions and looking to sell district land at Memorial Park for revenue and build new housing in the district that very little has been built in the past 30 years.
"A few years ago we had seven administrative positions within the middle/high school and elementary school and now we're down to four and next year we'll be at three,." Pecha said. "I know people don't want to see teaching positions cut compared to administrators but being a food service director or a transportation director and someone responsible for buildings and grounds, those are fulltime, 40 hour jobs. We just cannot do without them."
A referendum to exceed state revenue limits without issuing new debt. are known as “operating referendums” and fund operational expenses, such as utilities, routine maintenance, salaries and benefits for staff, insurance, and supplies. Pecha said the referendum is needed to allow the district to pay for such things along with its educational programs as it continues to restructure its finances and bring it back into balance. A similar referendum is on the ballot for Eleva-Strum which is over $700,000 and Osseo-Fairchild has passed similar referendums in the past. Fall Creek, on the other hand, is asking voters this spring for what's known as “capital referendums” because the funds are typically used for construction and other large capital projects, similar to what Augusta passed in 2022. A capital referendum authorizes the district to issue a specific amount of bonds or notes to pay for such projects which the FC School District will be over a million dollars.
Pecha said the district found itself in this red ink situation when COVID-19 money given to it went to pay for new staff, raises, and programs. When that money ran out by 2024, and state aid could not make up the difference, a shortfall and structural deficit ensued that had to be fixed. Plus, inflationary costs in fuel and food in the wake of COVID along with high construction costs were also not factored into the budget.
"The way the state gives out aid, there's no incentive to being a frugal school district," Pecha said. "Because the more you spend, the bigger your budget, the more state aid you get. Spending less just means getting less from Madison."
And while the current state biennial budget provided more money to special education, it was miniscule amount compared to the two-thirds tab and promise the state made long ago and the education costs in this area continue to rise as public school districts are mandated to provide such service.
And Pecha said regular audits done by the district's official audit firm Clifton, Allen Larson (which gave its annual report at the last school board meeting on Feb. 18) plus some independent audits as well have found no malfeasance or any "missing" funds. What happened was a simple case of overspending.
It's these explanations Pecha offered to citizens who attended a public forum and listening sessions on the referendum back on Feb. 25 and will again in another forum on Wednesday, April 1 in the middle/high school auditorium. Pecha hopes these forums provide the answers citizens in the district are looking for and not have the discussion and debate on the referendum degenerate into a fight on social media with the potential of causing lasting and damaging divisions within the Augusta community.
"It was a good event and plan to have another question and answer session at the Augusta Senior Center this week on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. and then the one on April 1," Pecha said. "We want get as much information out there to the people and make the case that their community school needs their help to set things right and move forward."
The Augusta School Board held its regular February meeting on the 18th in the middle/high school cafeteria. The Board approved the conditional land sale of Memorial Park land for development to Black Creek Builders. They was discussion about using local contractors, surveys and what to do with fencing and other materials that will need to be removed from the site for preparation. The Board also approved the PBIS Activity Account. There was also a special meeting of the Board on March 4, much of it in closed session to consider employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any
public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. The Board came out of closed session and took no action.
The next regular School Board meeting is on March 25 at 6 p.m. at the middle/high school cafeteria.
