MMSD keeps coming back with referendum after referendum while test scores stay stagnant and families flee to Middleton or Sun Prairie. At what point does voting no become a reasonable civic stance rather than just anti-education?
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Add your commentMy grandmother used to say the measure of a community is how it treats people who can't advocate for themselves. Third graders can't vote in referendums. They can't lobby the school board. They can't move to Sun Prairie. Some of us are going to keep voting yes because the alternative — a generation of kids in a cash-starved district — is not something I can square with living in a city that puts progressive values on every lawn sign. That tension is real and I think a lot of no voters just don't want to sit with it.
Born and raised on the east side, watched this district go from something genuinely great to a money pit that produces middling results. I voted yes on every single referendum until 2022. That was my line. When my neighbor's kid couldn't read at grade level after THREE years and the district's answer was 'we need more resources,' I finally said enough. Voting no isn't anti-education. It's demanding accountability before writing another blank check.
lol the audacity. my property taxes went up $800 last year. EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS. on a house i bought before prices went insane. i am not a wealthy homeowner sitting on equity i can tap. i am a retired city worker in the Willy Street area trying not to get priced out of the neighborhood i've lived in for 31 years. at some point yes becomes not viable regardless of how i feel about schools.
I challenge anyone in this thread to go sit in on a single classroom at Jefferson Middle School before casting their vote either way. I volunteered there last spring. Those teachers are doing heroic work with genuinely difficult circumstances — large class sizes, kids dealing with real trauma, resource shortages that would make your jaw drop. 'Stagnant test scores' flattens a reality that is so much more complicated.
The framing of this whole debate drives me crazy. 'Families fleeing to Middleton' — some of that is school quality, sure, but a LOT of it is housing costs, proximity to jobs on the west side, and people just wanting newer construction. Pinning every demographic shift on MMSD referendum fatigue is intellectually lazy and you know it.
Actually state law requires these referendums because Wisconsin caps school revenue limits. MMSD doesn't just decide to ask for more money out of greed — they're legally constrained from raising operational funds any other way without voter approval. The referendum process itself is the problem, not the district. People keep blaming the wrong entity.
Fun fact that nobody mentions: Madison's per-pupil spending is already among the highest in the state. So the 'we just need more money' argument has some serious explaining to do when you look at the achievement gap data. I say this as someone who works in education, not as some anti-public-school crusader. Money matters but it is not the only variable and pretending otherwise is dishonest.
voting no is a totally reasonable stance and it does NOT make you anti-education stop letting the district gaslight you into feeling like a monster for questioning them. nonprofits, churches, and small businesses get audited and evaluated constantly. why does MMSD get to be exempt from serious performance scrutiny every time they come asking
ok so genuine question for the no voters — what exactly happens to the kids currently enrolled when funding gets cut? like those are real children not a hypothetical budget line. i moved here from chicago two years ago specifically because people kept telling me madison has great schools. now im hearing this and im stressed.
Moved to Middleton five years ago. Best decision we made. Our kids' school has smaller classes, better extracurriculars, and we pay less in taxes because Middleton-Cross Plains runs a tighter operation. Sorry but the Madison premium stopped making sense a long time ago and everyone who stays keeps subsidizing a bureaucracy that resists any real reform.
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