Sheboygan Area School District wants to increase taxes to build new schools
Sheboygan Area School District wants to increase taxes to build new schools
The Sheboygan Area School District (SASD) to increase property taxes by $126 million
The folks running the Sheboygan Area School District (SASD) have decided that this is the perfect time to ask homeowners for their blessing to hike their annual property taxes. Clearly, these people surfer from tone deafness. You know? Having or showing an obtuse insensitivity or lack of perception particularly in matters of public sentiment and opinion.
SASD Superintendent Seth Harvatine has been insistent on the idea of demolishing Urban and Farnsworth middle schools. A new school building would be built directly south of the current Farnsworth site while Urban would be built near North 21st Street and Mill Road. Homeowners near the proposed are strongly against the proposal.1 Take a drive down Mill Road and you’ll see “No Urban School” yard signs in nearly every front yard.
According to the Sheboygan Taxpayers Alliance, the proposal by the school district would increase property taxes every year for 22 years. They also pointed out those who do not own a home, like renters in low-income apartments, will likely see their rents increase as landlords will need to pass on the added property taxes caused by this plan. On UrbanMiddleSchool.com, it’s stated perfectly: “It's not necessarily a funding issue that the School District has. It's gross mismanagement.”
Take Back Sheboygan County has raised concerns about academic achievement in SASD high schools.2 The lack of student achievement is a significant economic issue as we fail to prepare students to enter the workforce. Not only that, back students are failing to understand the basics.3
One has got to ask, where did our tax money go all these years? Why was the school district not doing a better job of maintaining our schools? Why wasn’t money being budgeted and saved to avoid such a high tax hike? There are so many questions surrounding this and we may never get answers but what is clear: those leaders in charge of the school district failed our children and our community.
Sources
SASD Prepares to Ask You for $126 Million as High Schools Continue to Fail Kids
Take Back Sheboygan County
School & District Report Cards
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction