Compared to the budget news at the North Crawford School Board’s July meeting, the update at the August meeting was significantly improved. Munson said that as of August 20, the date of the board meeting, his preliminary budget projects expenses of $7,506,000, and revenue of $7,525,000, with a surplus of $19,000.
The biggest improvements came in the update about federal funding to the district. In July, Superintendent Brandon Munson reported to the board that he expected the district to lose about $50,000 in federal funding due to cuts through the U.S. Department of Education.
“A few weeks ago, we were losing a lot of federal funding, and that has all since been released back to the State of Wisconsin,” Munson told the board. “We still don’t know what the district’s allocation of that funding will be, and I’m anticipating it being a little bit less than last year, but still, this is very welcome news.”
Munson also reminded the board of other budget news to celebrate in the form of increased funding for special education from the state, and the $325 increase in per pupil revenue from the state. That funding was secured by Governor Evers in the last biennial budget, and survived a challenge in the courts.
“The sizable increase given to special education reimbursement (increased to 42% in the first year of the budget and 45% the second year) will result in about a $40,000 less transfer for us from the general operating fund to the special education fund.”
Munson said that despite all the good news, because there was no increase in general aid to school districts in the new biennial budget, the district will see a decrease in aid from the State of Wisconsin of about $300,000.
“The decrease in federal and general state aid in combination will likely result in our taxpayers seeing an increase in property taxes this year,” Munson said. “Those numbers will start falling into place over the next month or so.”
Munson said that the district had also received a preliminary glimpse of the projected increase in equalized value, which in the North Crawford School District is projected at 13%, which means people’s properties are assessed higher. He said that the increase will also be felt by taxpayers on the property tax bills. He explained that the state had also increased the revenue limit for school districts, which alters the maximum amount the district can levy.
“There's still some unknowns in here that will impact our budget, the biggest one being district enrollment, and also open enrollment out,” Munson explained. “But, we're not going to know how we did with that until the first day of school.”
Board member Cody Brockway said that at the recent meeting, there had been discussion of property taxes increasing.
“I think what gave some people in that meeting some anxiety is how much?” Brockway said. “I think we can see it from the school side - what do we need? But I think it's hard to explain, what the impact will be to taxpayers. So, I wonder as we approach the annual meeting, if there's a way we could, even at a high level, explain what is that potential impact?”
“It’s hard - there's just so many numbers still out there that are going to impact that budgetarily, that for us to give any estimate right now would be premature, and I would even argue, borderline irresponsible,” Munson responded. “I certainly wouldn't want to tell somebody this is what I think your taxes are going to do this year, and then they get their tax bill in December, and it's, you know, a few $100 higher than what I or you or anybody else quoted them.”
Munson said the district is not going to get the final equalized value number until October 15, which will play a huge part in what people's tax bills look like. He said that the district will not establish what the final levy is until October either.
“So I would say mid-October is probably about the earliest that we would really, seriously, start having those conversations and putting numbers to paper,” Munson said.
Transportation
Munson also reported on a recent transportation committee meeting, where the needs for the district fleet had been discussed.
“We have a couple of route buses that are getting higher in mileage, so we are looking at some options there. We talked a little bit about propane versus diesel, and then also talked about our school van fleet, with a couple of vans that are getting pretty high in mileage, and starting to show quite a bit of wear and tear,” Munson reported. “So we're going to have to really start looking at some vehicle replacements.”
Munson said North Crawford Transportation Director Curby Heister has been talking with some area dealerships about the possibility of leasing vans. He said this could be an affordable option that might allow the district to keep their fleet updated.
Through having those conversations, we found out that there's been a recent law enacted in the State of Wisconsin that districts are not allowed to run vehicles that carry more than 11 passengers unless it qualifies as a school bus, which means it has to be made yellow, with a stop arm and a stop sign.
“What that means is that the white bus we have we’re likely not going to be able to run for student activities any longer,” Munson said. “So, we'll be having further conversations about what that looks like and what use we might have for that vehicle in the district.”
Munson reported that in the course of their investigations, they’d learned that Bluebird is the only manufacturer still making propane buses. He said that he’d also seen that on the EPA’s website, North Crawford is still listed as being qualified for the Electric School Bus Rebate Program.
“I’m trying to get a contact at the EPA that will pick up the phone and talk with me about this,” Munson said. “The issue is that we applied for the funding working through Lion, and so the question is whether we can switch that to another manufacturer who makes electric school buses?”
“Maybe we should talk with our elected representatives about this, because the district has already spent money putting in the electric charging stations, which was supposed to be something we were reimbursed for,” Brockway said.
Board member Judy Powell asked if there is a way that, if the district doesn’t move forward with the electric buses, the meters could be made available to members of the community or people that are just driving by?
Munson said that the district would have to work with Alliant Energy to see if something like that might be possible.
In other business
In other business, the board:
• heard from elementary principal Amanda Killeen that she’d been working hard with staff to get ready for the new school year, and had recently participated in a Second Sunday at the Mercantile event where she was surprised to hand out three registration packets for the daycare
• heard from middle school/high school principal Dr. Rob Sailer that hunter education had wrapped up the prior week, with 25 graduates, and six students achieving a perfect score on the written exam
• heard from Sailer that North Crawford had received a ‘Fork to Farm’ hydroponic growing system that would be used to supply food for the foodservice program – he said the first one is donated, and that some schools have a fleet of them that they use to supply all their green vegetables
• learned that this year, 17 students are taking 23 different college classes for credit
• met Amanda Wagner, the new Director of Student Services, who reported she has been busy getting acclimated to the district and preparing for the new school year
• heard that in the prior school year there had been zero incidents of seclusion or restraint, and voted to approve the district’s report to the state
• voted to change the professional development day originally scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26 to Monday, Sept. 29, because that Friday is part of Homecoming Week.
