CALEDONIA - Regardless of what Village of Caledonia residents might want, in the end, a decision to create a new school district would be out of their control, according to one of the authors of a study released last week.

The state law that dictates the process for creating new school districts was designed for combining school districts, not breaking them up, said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

As a result, the process of seceding is "odd," he said.

"The Racine school board clearly holds more of the cards than anybody else," Berry said. "When you cut right down through it, if ultimately the Racine Unified School Board and the state-appointed board don't want this to happen, the 20,000 to 25,000 people in Caledonia … really don't have any recourse other than the courts."

Odd or not, the process of breaking away from the Racine Unified School District to create a new district in Caledonia would no doubt be a lengthy one beset with a number of hurdles along the way.

Berry and his Taxpayers Alliance colleagues conducted the financial feasibility study on the possibility of Caledonia seceding and creating its own district. A presentation was made Monday at Olympia Brown Elementary School.

"From that meeting, it's clear that a substantial number of people in a significant part of the school district want to change something, but they're really at the mercy of forces that they can't entirely control," Berry said.

"There's a lot more flexibility for municipalities being created or altered than there is for school districts."

SUB: Control of one's destiny

The earliest a Caledonia district would start up would be 2011, which would be the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Racine Unified School District.

Either the Unified School Board would need to begin the process, or a petition would have to be signed by 20 percent of the electors in Unified.

This would mean 20,000 signatures, based on the number of eligible voters in the district in the 2000 Census, according to the Taxpayers Alliance.

From there, the Unified board would have to approve the separation. It would then go to a referendum in Caledonia.

If the School Board did not approve, the matter could be taken before the state School District Boundary Appeals Board, which requires a petition from 10 percent of the electors, or 10,000 signatures.

If that many signatures were obtained, the matter would go to a referendum.

In both cases, once it gets to referendum stage in Caledonia, the Unified board could say that a referendum must be held in the rest of the district for approval.

This is the fourth time the alliance has conducted a study on splitting a district in 8 years, Berry said.

Although they've been approached about conducting studies on consolidating districts, they have yet to complete such a study, he said.

"That says to me that the desire for neighborhood and community local control is indeed pretty strong, and yet the statutes, and state lawmakers and officials, don't accommodate that," Berry said.

"And assuming for a moment that every man, woman and child in Caledonia wanted to leave the district, this would be one of the state's larger municipalities that really wouldn't be in control of its own destiny as far as education goes, which is quite unusual."

No one has said creating a Caledonia school district is an impossible goal. But it wouldn't be easy

SUB: Five years and counting

It's been five years since Gary Olsen became involved in issues at the Shawano-Gresham School District.

At the time, Olsen had been asked to serve on a committee to find cost-saving measures for the school district northwest of Green Bay.

It turned out district leaders were looking to close the Gresham school, Olsen said.

"A group of us started meeting to find out what we should do," Olsen said. "I found the law that allowed you to create a school district."

Olsen and a group of other residents formed a group, Gresham Yes, to pursue secession and creation of a new school district. They were successful: The Gresham School District just completed its first school year after splitting from the Shawano School District.

Olsen serves as the first president of the first Gresham School Board. The year went well, Olsen said.

The two school districts are still working out an agreement over how each will split the assets and liabilities. The situation required the help of a mediator.

"It's been a long process. We're still not done," Olsen said. "You had your bumps here and there. The asset and liability split … it seems to be the roughest go in the process so far."

SUB: An unusual case

What makes Caledonia's case even more unusual is the fact that the School Board has not been involved.

In three other studies the alliance has conducted on splitting up school districts, the school boards played some part, Berry said.

In the Shawano-Gresham School District, for example, the school board adopted the resolution and let the citizens of Gresham decide what direction to take.

"The dynamic here is very different," he said. "The Racine board simply has not been involved."

As a result, the process becomes more tangled. The study contains a flowchart on the options for pursuing secession. It takes up five pages.

In addition, the requirements can be difficult to meet.

"There are several stages at which citizens might have to collect signatures on petitions, starting with the very first step, which could take over 20,000 signatures," Berry said.

"Twenty percent of a small district is one thing, 20 percent of a district that covers one of the state's largest cities and two of the state's largest villages, not to mention Sturtevant, is something quite different."

Paul Sloth contributed to this report.