Unified to talk referendum again

BY PAUL SLOTH
Journal Times

Wednesday, January 9, 2008 5:23 PM CST

RACINE — The Unified School Board is under pressure to decide whether it will pursue a referendum this spring to pay to maintain the district’s aging buildings, according to a district agenda.

The board will discuss the possibility of getting a referendum on the April ballot at its meeting Monday. The board would have roughly a month to adopt a resolution by a state imposed deadline of Feb. 16.

Unified hasn’t set aside enough money to maintain its 33 school buildings, according to information provided to the board by David Hazen, the district’s chief financial officer.

Hazen is recommending an annual $3.3 million referendum for a period that the School Board would still have to determine. The board cancelled a June referendum amid the controversy surrounding the contract former Superintendent Tom Hicks signed with a private consulting firm.

The board voted 7 to 1 in May to cancel a June 12 referendum that would have asked voters for $12.9 million over two years. Most board members at the time agreed that the referendum had little chance of passing in light of the district’s relationship with Public Business Consulting Group, the firm hired to manage Unified’s business office.

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