Wisconsin district refuses to sell empty building to Catholic school, faces legal action
A Wisconsin school district is facing legal action for refusing to sell a vacant building to a Catholic school.
The Marinette School District (MSD) has allowed its former Garfield Elementary…

A Wisconsin school district is facing legal action for refusing to sell a vacant building to a Catholic school.
The Marinette School District (MSD) has allowed its former Garfield Elementary building to sit empty for two years at taxpayer expense, but declined a full-price offer from Saint Thomas Aquinas Academy (STAA).
MSD Superintendent Corry Lambie justified the decision by saying STAA might attract students away from public schools.
âWeâre a district right now that has a declining enrollment,â Lambie explained. âIf [the building] was owned by another entity that provides these similar services, more dollars could go to that entity, which then has an adverse impact on our taxpayers.
âIf $10,000 follows a student,â he gave as an example, â[and] if it draws 30 students away from our district, thereâs your $300,000 that we got for the sale.â
However, STAA, assisted by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, believes MSDâs actions are illegal. In a letter to the district, WILL presented legal precedent that school districts lack âstatutory authority to expend tax money on buying and holding land for no designated purpose.â
âIt is one thing to dispose of property acquired for a permissible purpose. It is quite another to hold property in order to frustrate the ability of district residents to privately educate their children and to avoid competition.
âHolding and maintaining property to prevent others from establishing a school is not itself the expenditure of tax dollars to âbuild, rent, lease or purchase and furnish, equip and maintain schoolhouses, teacherages or outbuildingsââ as expressly outlined by case law, the letter argues.
Itâs also just sad MSD views the Catholic school as an enemy rather than a partner, adds Cheryl Sporie, chairman of STAAâs board of trustees.
âIt is unfortunate the school district utterly refuses to work with us despite our fair and reasonable offer,â Sporie says in a press release. âWe are not trying to take business away from them; we are simply trying to provide a better service for the students in this community already enrolled in our school.â
WILL also pointed out MSD had allowed the vacant building to become a public nuisance, since at least 25 incidents of vandalism and trespassing had occurred at the empty school.
This isnât the first time a public school district has likely shot itself in the foot to avoid doing business with a Christian school. An Iowa school district recently sold an empty school building to a real estate developer even though a local Christian school offered more than twice the amount in cash.
That district, too, cited potential financial losses, while the Christian school maintains it was âstiff-armedâ and treated as a âcompetitor.â