What Are Similar Size Districts Doing Budget-Wise?

The Sun Prairie school board and district administration like to play the role of the lonely victim. Reality is that EVERY school district in the state is facing the same challenges as Sun Prairie. How other school boards rise to the challenge, however, is a distinguishing characteristic.

SP-EYE reviewed the top 5-6 districts both with lower and higher enrollments as ours and took a peek at THEIR budget process. We wonder how come our own board doesn't do this kind of due diligence. These other districts haven't yet removed the words "cut", "reduction", or "freeze" from their vocabularies.

Interesting take on the subject of cuts.

5 districts just larger in size than Sun Prairie
Beloit
Beloit Daily News article 10-7-09

Board gets first look at potential 5.94% levy hike"I’m very concerned about increasing mill rate knowing how many individuals in Beloit are currently struggling," member Shannon Scharmer said.
Initial projections show the tax levy could increase by 5.94 percent, or just under $700,000. The total levy would be $12,484,843.The School District of Beloit board cut nearly $4 million last spring but, like districts across the state, received a whammy when the governor’s budget reduced education funds by 3 percent. "How do you not tax knowing that the way that the state has now rigged the game you can’t continue to reduce to fix this?" he said. "You don’t want to be forced into ‘you have to tax to the limit of your funding position.’"

The board may need to cut another $506,671, but noted he has yet to factor in the federal stimulus money, among other details. He and Thompson also are learning about the district’s staffing needs, which was also brought into focus after the Third Friday Count showed Beloit Memorial High lost 63 students.

Board member John Winkelmann suggested the executive team develop possible reduction items so the board can begin discussions before the budget adoption meeting.Perhaps this is the year the district discusses its priorities with the community and whether it needs to provide everything to everybody, Winkelmann said. For example, he said, does Beloit need to have every Advanced Placement course, or is it OK to let the students take that class elsewhere."We’ve got to think about that question because the ability to pay is not out there right now," Winkelmann said. "Everything is going down." As member John Acomb said, "We’re open to a lot of ideas."

La Crosse
Article on LaCroose budget 7-21-09

The property tax rate for La Crosse public schools would go up by $1.43 under a proposed 2009-10 budget presented to the school board Monday.

The proposed tax rate would be $12.09 per $1,000 of assessed property value, compared with $10.66 in the 2008-09 budget year, according to figures presented by Janet Rosseter, executive director of business services.

District officials expect the $12.09 tax rate to be "the worst-case scenario" for 2009-10 but won't know until factors such as enrollment, state equalization aid and school levy credits are determined. Recent numbers from the state Department of Public Instruction show the tax rate could be closer to $11.70, Rosseter said.

Final figures won't be known until October, when the district's final enrollment figures are in and the state sets its equalized property values. Rosseter used a 2 percent decrease in equalized value.


West Bend
West Bend article

West Bend School District Superintendent Patricia Herdrich blamed talk radio for driving much of the crowd that packed Badger Middle School for Monday's annual meeting, where a recommended 12.1% tax increase was rejected.

West Bend- MKE Journal-Sentinel 10-6-09

The School Board is recommending making $300,000 in changes to its proposed 2009-'10 budget in an attempt to minimize property tax increases. West Bend School District Superintendent Patricia Herdrich said the changes may mean a levy increase of 9% over the 2008-'09 school year, which is still less than previously had been suggested.

Going into its annual meeting last week, district administrators had recommended a property tax increase 12.1% higher than the year before. District electors rejected the recommended levy at the annual meeting, in a vote that is advisory to the school board.
District officials revised its estimated levy increase to 9.9% by the time of Monday's work session for the school board, where they recommended further budget changes.

Half of the recommended reduction in the estimated levy would come from reducing cleaning in buildings. The second largest item recommended by the board would be a salary freeze for district administrators, estimated to save $80,000 in 2009-'10. The board also recommended raising $20,000 in revenue from increasing facility use fees for the community and restricting salaries for custodial and technical staff, for a saving of $50,000.

In an e-mail announcing the recommendations, Herdrich said the changes would mean the district would be levying below state-allowed revenue limits. "This will make the gap larger next year as we plan for next year's reductions," she wrote. "It is highly likely the 2011-12 and 2012-13 budgets will be equally challenging due to loss of stimulus dollars."

Wauwatosa
Wauwatosa NOW 6-17-09

A first look at the Wauwatosa School District's 2009-10 budget proposal reveals many variables, all waiting on firm numbers from state legislators. John Mack, district director of business services, said the current version of next year's proposed $77.2 million budget is one of the most difficult he's ever created because of that ongoing uncertainty.

As of right now, the district's 2009-10 budget calls for a $43.4 million property tax levy, an 8.59 percent increase over the $40 million levy for the current budget. Property tax rates would increase to $8.09 per $1,000 of equalized property value, a hike of 64 cents per $1,000 of value.
Superintendent Phil Ertl said next year's property tax rate ultimately might be lower than proposed, but district officials won't have solid guesses about amounts until the dust settles at the state level. State lawmakers have said they expect a finished budget in July.
Mack said he and district administrators carefully considered each expenditure, including all staffing positions, to make the estimates included in the proposal. At $64.1 million, staff salaries and benefits make up 83 percent of the proposed budget, up from 80.12 percent this year. Mack suggested that School Board members consider reining in staffing costs in the future to help reduce the overall budget.

Neenah
Neenah article

The 2009-10 Neenah school budget calls for a 7 percent increase in property taxes but still shows spending exceeding revenues, a practice that officials had sworn off in recent years. The Board of Education reviewed a draft of the $84.1 million budget Tuesday. It would require the owner of a $150,000 home to pay $1,298 in school taxes. That's $89 more than last year.

The budget has a structural deficit of $600,000. That means if savings cannot be found during the school year, the school district will have to use cash reserves to fund ongoing operations. Neenah had structural deficits from 2003-04 to 2006-07, with the shortfall reaching a high of $3.7 million in 2005-06. The practice was criticized at the time as unsustainable.

"I am not so upset that we might take out $600,000 this year," Lehman said. "We put $3 million into the kitty over the last two years." Neenah's cash reserves rose from $7.9 million in 2007 to $10.9 million this year. The balance was helped by a referendum that empowered the school district to levy an extra $2.6 million in 2007-08, $2.2 million in 2008-09 and $1.2 million in 2009-10 to cover operational expenses.

Neenah's budget accounts for a 1.8 percent decrease in staff (12.65 fewer positions) and a stable enrollment.

5 districts just smaller than Sun Prairie

Oak Creek-Franklin
Franklin NOW article 9-2-09

A Franklin School District resident with a home valued at $200,000 can expect to see a $62 increase in school taxes this fall as residents have approved a 2009-10 budget that includes a tax levy hike of 3.9 percent. About 25 district residents approved the $30.6 million levy at the district's annual meeting last week. Because some factors have not yet been determined, the budget could change between now and when it becomes official later this fall.

The tax rate is expected to increase by 2.9 percent, to $11.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The district's total operating budget will be about $49 million, a 2.4 percent increase over last year's $47.8 million budget.

School Board member Dave Szychlinski said it was a tough budget to prepare in light of the recession, especially given many residents' own financial battles. "We know that people are struggling, many people in our community have lost their jobs, and yet we have an obligation to prepare our young people for their futures," he said.

The district was forced to make some tough decisions because of losses in state aid, and officials made about $833,500 in cuts, he said. Next year will likely bring more cuts, Szychlinski added.
Officials also decided not to begin a 4-year-old kindergarten program after the state withdrew funding for start-up programs.

The district picked up about $379,700 in additional revenue by adding 67 seats through the state's Open Enrollment program, which allows non-resident students to attend Franklin schools.

D C Everest Area
DC Everest Annual Meeting booklet

Tax levy increases 0.24%; mill rate unchanged at $9.52.

Wisconsin Rapids
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune 10-20-09

The Wisconsin Rapids School District tax rate will increase for the first time in six years this fall -- the result of falling property values and state aid cuts, administrators said.

District residents will see a mill rate of $8.93 per $1,000 of equalized property value, about 12 percent higher than last year's figure of $7.98. The district's total tax levy in Business Services Director Dan Weigand's proposed budget was about $19 million, about a 9 percent increase from 2008.

Manitowoc

Manitowoc article 10-14-09

At its October 13th meeting, the Board of Education approved a $71.7 million budget for the current school year, a 2.24% increase from last year. The total property tax levy will increase 4.35% to $18.6 million, but the net tax levy rate (homeowners' cost-per-thousand) is expected to be relatively flat due to an increase in area property value overall.

Since budget planning began in February 2009, the Board made $2.3 million worth of reductions to keep the numbers under the state-imposed revenue cap. Cost-control decisions included a reduction of one central office administrator, a 5% across-the-board reduction in supplies and materials, reduction of 5.5 teachers, reduction of 3.5 paraprofessionals, elimination of EXCEL advocates and library aides, and a superintendent salary freeze, among others. Not all union contracts are finalized, but some employee groups have made voluntary concessions in light of the tight budget

Hudson
Hudson website Annual meeting document

Board makes $2.35 M in cuts to avoid a 20.25% mill rate increase. Mill rate of $7.82 represents an 11.06% increase. Tax levy of $28.4M represents an 8.25% increase. Proposal includes reducing