Sept. 1, 2026
By ANASTASIA PENCHI
DE SOTO, Wis. – He never aspired to become superintendent, but after 26 years working for the De Soto Area School District, Tim Fergot will spend the next couple of months explaining why the district needs to pass a $3.6 million operational referendum.
“Here I am,” said Fergot, who was promoted from De Soto Area Middle School & High School principal to superintendent on July 1. “I’m ready for the challenge.”
“Tuesdays with Tim,” – a chance to have coffee, donuts and referendum discussions with Fergot — are now being scheduled throughout the district. The first one will be held on the first day of school from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept.1, at Prairie View Elementary School in Retreat.
Fergot said he plans to hold “Tuesday with Tim” events at all three school sites and at other locations for any community or group interested in learning more about the district’s needs.
“I’m super excited,” Fergot said. “As long as the weather is warm we will be sitting outside.”
History
Fergot graduated high school in Edgar, Wis., and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. A few years later, he went back to school and got a teaching license from UW-Platteville.
He was hired as a social studies teacher at the De Soto Middle & High School in 2000, and was asked to serve as part-time assistant principal at the beginning the 2015-2016 school year when the district’s superintendent left suddenly and the principal at that time was promoted to part-time superintendent.
Fergot also has a master’s degree in education from Viterbo University and is in the midst of completing another program through Concordia University.
Since the 2024-25 school year, he’s been full-time principal at the Middle & High School, and served under the district’s two previous interim superintendents: Mike Richie and Craig Gerlach. He also served as part-time superintendent – a sort of “on-the-job” training – while Gerlach was there, per the school board’s succession planning.
Fergot said he had considered retiring before agreeing to become superintendent because his wife, Julie, retired in 2024 after 31 years teaching for Viroqua Area Schools. He said he decided not to leave because he feels like he is a part of the De Soto Area School District and it needs him to do whatever he can to get the referendum “over the finish line.”
“That’s part of the reason I stayed,” he said. “I know a lot of these people. I hired a lot of these people.”
The ask
The school board unanimously passed a resolution in August to ask voters to exceed revenue limits by $500,000 in 2026-27; $1.4 million in 2027-28; and $1.7 million for 2028-29 for non-recurring purposes of “maintaining facilities, instructional programs, student services and updating security and network technology systems.”
The three-year non-recurring operational referendum would cover the district’s budget deficit and eliminate all but 30 percent of its fund balance – keeping enough to prevent short-term borrowing in the fall before tax payments come in. It also includes money to replace the district’s phone system to a cloud-based system and update its security system and cameras at the Middle & High School.
Fergot said the district needs the referendum to pass on Nov. 3 so students in De Soto have access to the same great education as everyone else in the state. He wants to maintain De Soto’s successes like its Agriculture and Tech Ed Departments, and keep access to college-level classes.
Seventy-one percent of Wisconsin’s 421 school districts have asked for operational referendums in the past decade. Fergot said 23 of the 26 school districts in the the Cooperative Educational Service Agency # 4 – made up of school districts in west and central Wisconsin – have gone to operational referendums.
“This is not an issue that’s unique to De Soto,” Fergot said,. “What they (the state) give us is not keeping pace with rising costs.”
Todd Hajewski, senior vice president at Baird Public Fiance, told the school board earlier this summer that 82 percent of Wisconsin schools are similar to De Soto in that they also face challenges due to declining enrollment.
If per pupil adjustments had kept up with inflation, Hajewski said, schools would be getting $2,574 per student instead of $325, and De Soto wouldn’t need a referendum. De Soto’s last three referendums failed: $4.8 million in April 2024; $5.5 million in November 2024; and $4.2 million in April 2025.
Fergot said despite the failed referendums, the school board has been fiscally responsible and has done a great job managing its finances. The De Soto Area School District’s 2025-26 mill rate of $5.66 is the third lowest in CESA #4.
“I want to encourage people to call and ask questions and we’ll do our best to answer their questions and make people feel good about what’s happening in the school district,” Fergot added.
Anastasia Penchi is veteran writer who spent 13 years as a newspaper journalist and now works as a freelance writer. You may have seen her work in Coulee Region Women’s magazine, the Great Rivers Road blog and Explore La Crosse. Her passions are helping people in poverty and trying to save traditional journalism. She resides in Genoa and is a board member with Couleecap Inc. She can be reached at callmeloislane@hotmail.com.
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