10/08/2020- Voters in the Marinette School District will make a major decision on the future of the district’s facilities in just a few weeks. A $30.9 million referendum question will appear on the ballot, which, if approved, would fund the consolidation of the district’s six existing schools to just four while also providing renovations and upgrades at the remaining buildings. Superintendent Corry Lambie says once they settled on the four-building configuration, they shifted their focus on deciding which of the schools to close. Garfield Elementary and Sunrise Early Learning Center are anticipated to need some big-ticket fixes in the near future just to keep the doors open, so the district now plans to expand Park and Merryman Elementary and transition them into learning centers to house students in grades pre-K through 4.

The additions at Merryman and Park would cost close to $23 million while the rest of the money would fund work at the middle and high schools. The need to right-size the Marinette School District comes after years of declining enrollment trends, which led to a decrease in state funding. Lambie says the anticipated savings to close Garfield and Sunrise would be about $775000 a year.

The fiscal impact of the referendum on a property owner with a home valued at $100000 would be about $93 annually. The Marinette School District is hosting virtual community sessions about the referendum throughout the month of October and you can get more information by visiting the District’s website.