Shell Lake Residents Vote Down School District Referendum

Shell Lake residents voted against a four year non-recurring operational referendum proposed by the school district in Tuesday’s election.

The School District of Shell Lake Board of Education approved the referendum question in January. Much like the operational referendum passed by Ashland County voters on Tuesday, the Shell Lake opeartional referendum was a slightly tweaked version of the question proposed in the November election. It failed by about 50 votes in that election.

The referendum asked residents to approve additional funding for each of the next four years. If it had been approved, the district’s revenue limit would have been exceeded by $505,000 for next school year and grow to be exceeded by over $1.7 million for the 2028-2029 school year.

District officials said the additional funding would have been used for educational programming, resources, staffing and maintenance needs. It failed with 861 residents voting no and 777 residents voting yes. Of the nine precincts in the district, the six in Washburn County actually voted to approve the measure by 9 votes. The two precincts in Burnett County voted against the measure by nearly 100 votes.

Superintendent Todd Felhofer has previously said the school board is already considering alternative budget solutions, such as switching from trimesters to semesters and partnering with the Chamber of Commerce or City Council. He’s also said the district has been very fiscally conservative and ranks nearly last in per-pupil revenue limit.

Of 89 school referendum questions on Tuesday’s ballot, Shell Lake was one of 38 districts voting against their referendum. In recent years, a vast majority of Wisconsin school districts have asked voters to approve a school referendum. November’s election saw 120 districts vote on a school referendum. Voters approved the measures in 92 of those districts.