Dear Members of the Watertown Community,
This coming Tuesday, April 7, is a very important day for the Watertown Unified School District. As voters head to the polls, they will be asked to vote on an operational referendum for the WUSD that would provide (if approved) $4.5 million per year for five years to fund district operational, instructional, and day-to-day maintenance expenses.
Funding from the last approved operational referendum ended in 2023. Through careful fiscal management, the district was able to extend funding from that last referendum across additional school years. Now, however, those funds have expired, and the money that is currently received through state aid and property taxes is not enough to fund daily district operating expenses such as salaries, utilities, transportation, and day-to-day building maintenance.
The WUSD Board of Education takes its responsibility seriously to carefully manage the community’s tax dollars, and is committed to reducing spending. To that end, the Board and district administration have reduced staff and cut the 2025-26 operating budget by more than $1.2 million. Even if Tuesday’s referendum is successful, the Board remains committed to making further deep budget reductions in operations such as staffing, programming and building maintenance for the 2026-27 school year and beyond. The Board acknowledges that its decisions to reduce the budget have not been - or will be - easy to make, but understands that they are necessary in the best interest of the taxpayers, the students, and district staff.
In addition, to further reduce the district’s overall operating budget, the Board voted at its February 23, 2026 meeting to close Lincoln Elementary School & LEAP (Lebanon) Elementary School at the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year.
Last April, the Board of Education asked voters to consider a $7 million operational referendum that was recurring (meaning it would not expire). This referendum was not successful. Since that time, the Board has listened to feedback from its constituents, engaged in focus group discussions, and approved the mailing of a community survey to area households to gauge their level of funding support for a future referendum.
Based on the feedback received, and after much careful deliberation, the Board voted last December to ask voters to consider the $4.5 million operational referendum that is on the ballot this Tuesday. A successful referendum would enable the district to stabilize its financial foundation. It would also make it possible for the district to retain as many high-quality staff members as possible, while maintaining high-quality core programming.
Even as the Board of Education makes hard choices, the district remains focused on protecting core academic programming and maintaining extracurricular opportunities that keep students engaged and connected. The district is also implementing targeted strategies to improve test scores and student outcomes by better using existing resources, without increasing the budget.
Over the last several years, the Board has made every effort to reduce the burden and impact on people’s budgets that this referendum causes. As a result, the mill rate of a successful referendum would still be less than the mill rate was during the 2023-24 school year. In addition, the school district, through careful fiscal management, is now in the healthy position of no longer carrying capital debt.
Strong public schools are essential to Watertown’s future. They support economic development, help families thrive, and ensure that Watertown remains a place where people look out for one another. To continue this, we need the support of the entire community now more than ever - even that of those who do not have children or no longer have children in our school system.
We ask you to vote yes on the WUSD operational referendum this Tuesday.
Sincerely,
Craig Wortman
President
WUSD Board of Education
Sam Ouweneel
Vice-President
WUSD Board of Education