Nearly 900 Elmbrook School District staff members have completed “advocacy training” in an effort to see the district’s $100 million referendum pass on the November 3rd ballot, it was recently revealed.
Training nearly every single employee of the School District to advocate for a yes vote on a referendum that will increase government spending is unheard of in Wisconsin, according to taxpayer advocates.
The revelation that hundreds of teachers, education bureaucrats, and other support staff would be working to pass the referendum was shared by Elmbrook’s Chief Strategy Officer Chris Thompson as he updated the School Board on the district’s referendum communications plan.
The Elmbrook referendum seeks approval from local voters for general obligation bonds up to $100 million for “renovations, accessibility updates, infrastructure and site improvements at Pilgrim Park Middle School, Tonawanda Elementary, Swanson Elementary and Wisconsin Hills Middle School.”
Shall the School District of Elmbrook, Waukesha County, Wisconsin be authorized to issue pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $100,000,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of school facility improvement project at Pilgrim Park Middle School, Tonawanda Elementary School, Swanson Elementary School and Wisconsin Hills Middle School consisting of: renovations, accessibility updates, building infrastructure and site improvements; construction of additions at Pilgrim Park Middle School; construction of an addition at Tonawanda Elementary School; and acquisition of furnishings, fixtures and equipment?
Referendum question as it will appear on Elmbrook ballots November 3rd
The concerned citizens who formed the opposition group Vote No For Elmbrook believe that the total cost of the referendum will be closer to $165 million when a full and public accounting is done.
The entire Elmbrook annual budget is approximately $140 million according to public sources.
The referendum communications plan shared by Chief Strategy Officer Thompson with the School Board listed varied vote yes activities leading up to the November 3rd vote, presumably to be carried out by the 900 district staff who went through the advocacy training.
District employee Thompson makes $180,000 a year in salary alone. The cost of local government benefit packages can add another $30,000 to $50,000 to an government employee’s compensation total. According to Vote No For Elmbrook, the salaries of Thompson and other central office employees, which would NOT include teachers and other personnel who spend the majority of the school day in front of a classroom, totals almost $4.6 million a year.
The activities listed under Phase 2 – Deployment and Engagement of the plan range from Superintendent video updates, a print mailer sent to all households in the district, “formal engagements” at PTO meetings, back to school events and other community events, and apparently, the lobbying of high school students.
The last entry under Phase 2 states “Engage and inform high school students” which seems to imply that the School District will try to convince eligible students to vote for the referendum. According to the document, the School District will “provide information about the referendum to students” on October 30th, just four days before the referendum question appears on the November ballot.
Wisconsin law bars school districts from using public funds or resources to advocate for or against a referendum. Districts may provide neutral factual information to help voters reach an informed judgment, but words of advocacy such as “vote for,” “support” or “reject” are prohibited in official communications. Using employee work time, district materials or facilities for advocacy also risks running afoul of the law.
Chief Strategy Officer Thompson used the exact term “advocacy training” at the September 8th School Board meeting. See the video here.
Our friend, Ben Yount, who lives in the Elmbrook School District, has discussed the referendum on his WISN AM 1130 radio show. Listen to that discussion here.
