District overview
Southern Door County School District
Funding structure, how it compares to peers, and where major projects stand.
How is Southern Door paid for, and why a second referendum?
Southern Door serves about 1,000 students in Brussels, Wisconsin. Wisconsin caps what a district can raise from state aid and property taxes (the revenue limit), and a district can only exceed it with voter approval in a referendum. A board member said the school has run deficits for years, even before a 2022 referendum. On April 7, 2026 voters rejected a $3.15 million a year request (44% yes). The board cut staff and activity pay, then asked again for $2.055 million a year on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot.
April 2026 vote
1,603 yes, 2,031 no on $3.15 million a year for three years.
Nov. 3 request
$2.055 million a year through 2028-29: $1.43M pay, $300K maintenance, $282K to restore teaching positions.
General fund 2025-26
Revenues $16.2M, spending $16.1M, ending balance $2.04M.
Mill rate
Expected to fall to $6.35 in 2026-27 even with the referendum, from $6.99 in 2025-26.
The Nov. 3 result was not in the records read. Even if it failed, the board approved a no-referendum budget and levy on Oct. 19.
Where the district stands
Major projects
Nov. 3, 2026 operating referendum
On the Nov. 3 ballot; result not in records readPay raises, maintenance and restoring three teaching positions.
- Board places $3.15M question on April ballot
- Voters reject it
- Board approves $2.055M question
- Election
- Board of canvassers certifies results
Funding
Local property taxes above the revenue limit (per year, 3 years)
Recent news
View the news feed →Resources
Practical guides to school phone policies, district budgets, and administrator hiring.
Explore resources →Built from 37 board agendas, meeting summaries, superintendent reports, the annual meeting booklet and 10 auto-captioned board meeting recordings (Nov. 2025 to Nov. 2026). Approved minutes and board packets are stored as zip files that could not be collected.
Get alerts for Southern Door County School District
We read every agenda, packet, recording, and set of minutes, and write up the decisions that affect families — each one linked to the document it came from.
Copy the RSS link into your feed reader to get new published alerts.