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# Northeast Wisconsin Voters Decide School Referendums From Gillett to Green Bay as State Limits Trail Inflation
- URL: https://foxwatershed.com/northeast-wisconsin-school-referendums-november-2026/
- Published: 2026-11-03T22:06:49.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T22:06:49.000Z
- Description: More than a dozen area districts are asking voters Tuesday to exceed state revenue limits or borrow. Three of them lost in April and came back with smaller requests, and Green Bay's $158 million ask is the largest in the state.
- Author: Fox Watershed Staff
- Tags: Education, The Midterm Monitor, Green Bay Area Public Schools, Fox Valley

Voters in [more than a dozen Northeast Wisconsin school districts](https://www.nbc26.com/fox-cities/election-day-little-chute-seymour-voters-decide-school-funding-referendums?ref=foxwatershed.com) are deciding Tuesday whether to pay more locally for staff, utilities and building repairs that state revenue limits don't cover, led by [Green Bay's $158 million, four-year request](https://www.gbaps.org/aboutgbaps/2026-operational-referendum-vote-nov-3?ref=foxwatershed.com), the [largest on any Wisconsin ballot](https://www.cbs58.com/news/more-than-70-school-districts-to-hold-referendums-in-november-continuing-widespread-calls-to-revamp-k-12-funding?ref=foxwatershed.com) this fall.

Statewide counts vary by source and date. [FOX 11 reported](https://fox11online.com/news/local/northeast-wisconsin-districts-among-72-statewide-school-referendums-on-tuesday-ballots?ref=foxwatershed.com) 72 districts and $1.6 billion in requests, CBS 58 cited Department of Public Instruction tracking showing 73 districts and 78 referendums, and a [copy of DPI's Oct. 23 report](https://www.districtfacts.com/wi/ballot-2026/?ref=foxwatershed.com) lists 79 questions in 72 districts, 62 to exceed revenue limits and 17 to borrow.

## Three Districts Came Back After Losing in April

Southern Door, Gillett and Oconto all lost in April and returned with smaller requests. DPI's guidance [limits a district to two referendum resolutions a calendar year](https://dpi.wi.gov/sfs/reporting/safr/referenda-info?ref=foxwatershed.com), so each has used its second chance of 2026.

[Southern Door is asking for $2.055 million a year](https://fox11online.com/news/local/southern-door-to-ask-taxpayers-for-three-year-2m-referendum-on-november-ballot?ref=foxwatershed.com) for three years, after 56% of voters rejected $3 million a year in April. The district then [planned to cut 16 jobs and freeze pay](https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/failed-spring-2026-school-referendums-around-wisconsin-trigger-scuts-closures-and-new-funding-pushes/?ref=foxwatershed.com), according to Wisconsin Watch. About $1.43 million a year of the new request would go to staff pay adjustments and roughly $282,000 to restoring three teaching positions.

[Gillett wants $1.9 million a year for three years](https://www.gillett.k12.wi.us/district/Gillett%20Press%20Release%2008252026.pdf?ref=foxwatershed.com), down from a five-year request in the spring, and projects deficits of $1.4 million this year, rising to $2.29 million by 2028-29\. The district says it's drawing down its reserves and may need short-term borrowing for daily costs. Superintendent Nathan Hanson [told NBC 26](https://www.nbc26.com/oconto/after-failed-spring-referendum-gillett-school-district-turns-to-voters-again?ref=foxwatershed.com) that staff pay is the lowest in the region and that "we've already cut to the bone." Without the money, the district says, classes would grow or combine grades, and electives and career programs would shrink.

[Oconto Unified cut its request to $900,000 a year](https://fox11online.com/news/education/oconto-united-school-district-adds-referendum-to-november-ballot?ref=foxwatershed.com) for five years, from the $1.2 million voters turned down in April. An earlier $800,000-a-year measure expired after 2025-26.

## What the Larger Requests Would Do

Green Bay's request climbs from $29 million in 2027-28 to $49 million in 2030-31\. It replaces a [10-year levy of about $16.5 million a year](https://foxwatershed.com/gbaps-158-million-referendum-explained/) that ends after 2026-27, and the district projects a $24 million to $32 million deficit without it. The district calls the plan tax-rate neutral, meaning the mill rate wouldn't rise, though individual bills could still climb with property values.

[What Green Bay's $158M School Referendum Would Pay ForGreen Bay schools ask voters Nov. 3 for $158M over four years to replace an expiring levy. What it covers and what happens if it fails.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ed/b4/edb4fd27-66fb-4967-8c7f-ec1cf54dfb05/content/images/icon/transparent-5-ba7a8e3b-2e63-43d9-b8d9-198394a762ed.png)Fox WatershedEthan Rouse![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ed/b4/edb4fd27-66fb-4967-8c7f-ec1cf54dfb05/content/images/thumbnail/Green_Bay_West_cafeteria_2020-a872b444-00a4-4410-a875-f76045f22503.jpg)](https://foxwatershed.com/gbaps-158-million-referendum-explained/)

West De Pere wants $4.9 million a year for five years, which board president Jenni Fuss [told FOX 11](https://fox11online.com/news/local/northeast-wisconsin-districts-among-72-statewide-school-referendums-on-tuesday-ballots?ref=foxwatershed.com) is money already budgeted and moved over from debt payments. Seymour is seeking [$5 million a year for three years](https://www.nbc26.com/fox-cities/election-day-little-chute-seymour-voters-decide-school-funding-referendums?ref=foxwatershed.com) with no increase in its tax rate during that period, and District Administrator Kellie Bohn said a loss would mean "more aggressive layoffs." Little Chute has two questions: $400,000 a year for technology and $1.95 million in borrowing for roofs, asbestos removal and air conditioning, which the district estimates would together add about $28 a year per $100,000 of property value.

[DPI's report](https://www.districtfacts.com/wi/ballot-2026/?ref=foxwatershed.com) also lists an $18.75 million operating request in Sturgeon Bay and $68 million in borrowing in Marinette. Pulaski, Luxemburg-Casco, Brillion, Ripon, Weyauwega-Fremont and Wausaukee have questions on the ballot too.

## Why Districts Keep Asking

Wisconsin [cut revenue limits loose from inflation in 2009](https://www.wispolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/Focus%5F26%5F05%5FSpringReferenda.pdf?ref=foxwatershed.com), according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, and allowed increases have been $325 per pupil since 2023-24\. The Forum also points to expired federal pandemic aid and to falling enrollment, which shrinks what a district may collect. Statewide enrollment is down 9.2% since 2010-11, CBS 58 reported.

"State aid just has not kept up with the pace of inflation," Bohn told NBC 26\. Dan Rossmiller of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards told CBS 58 that health insurance costs are rising 15% to 20%. Green Bay officials [told Spectrum News](https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2026/09/23/green-bay-school-district-1-million-referendum-budget-pressure?ref=foxwatershed.com) the state's special education reimbursement fell from 60 cents to 39 cents on the dollar, leaving the district to move $32 million from its operating fund. CBS 58 puts the current rate under 45%. A lawsuit filed in February alleges the Legislature has underfunded schools in violation of the state constitution.

## Pushback From Taxpayers

Referendums shift those costs onto local property owners. Property taxes rose last December at rates unseen in nearly 20 years, CBS 58 reported, driven mainly by school levies. Will Flanders of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty told FOX 11 that Green Bay gets more than $19,000 per student counting federal money and that it could review administrative staffing. Green Bay's chief financial officer, Angie Roble, replied that federal dollars are restricted to uses such as food service and Head Start.

Voters have grown less generous. They approved [46 of 75 school referendums in April](https://www.wispolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/Focus%5F26%5F05%5FSpringReferenda.pdf?ref=foxwatershed.com), or 61.3%, down from 70.1% in 2024, and districts the Forum classifies as towns passed just 6 of 18.