HARTLAND, Wis. (CBS 58) - Lake Country School District residents will be voting on an operational costs referendum in April that would help fund the district.

If approved, the referendum would mean an extra 13 cents a year of property taxes per $1,000 of fair market value on a home. Which means if a home is worth $100,000, the owner would have to pay an additional $13 per year.

The referendum was voted down in 2024 and 2025 but is back for a third time this year.

“I don’t really see any way that we are gonna be able to operate beyond 26-27, given our current fund balance,” District Administrator Chad Schraufnagel said.

The district has already cut $1.6 million by cutting programs like Spanish classes and eliminating the entire band program. 

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“We operate almost six months of the year before we receive any significant tax payments from the state of Wisconsin,” Schraufnagel said.

Kelly Hoesly has three daughters in the district, in first, fifth and eighth grade.

“If this doesn’t pass, I don’t know where my kids are going to go to school in two years,” Hoesly said. “It has to pass; there’s no alternative in my mind.”

Hoesly has created a community group to help the referendum pass, getting together with other parents who are unsure about their children’s future.

“There’s so much unknown if the school heads down the path of dissolution and what that looks like, because it hasn’t happened in a long time,” Hoesly said.

If the district does get dissolved, it is uncertain what will happen to the 350 students currently in the district.

“We don’t know. I mean, the state of Wisconsin will come in and they will redraw boundaries and all of our assets and liabilities get passed on as well,” Schraufnagel said.