SENECA - The Seneca School Board made a definitive decision on staff wage increases at their regular monthly meeting Monday night.

Wisconsin school districts usually consider the Consumer Price Index announced annually as a guideline for establishing wages and creating raises. In 2023, the CPI showed a more than eight percent increase in prices. In the past, the Seneca School Board has considered the CPI and often chose to exceed it by one percent or more.

However, the eight percent increase based on inflation over the past year is seen as beyond the district’s ability to match. It was noted at the meeting, that school districts in CESA #3 were averaging wage increases of between four and six percent.

The board initially discussed adopting a five percent increase in wages for the academic staff, the support staff and the administrative staff.

Finance manager Sarah Sime presented projections based on five percent. The averaged annual raise for the instructional staff at five percent was $2,858.

The five percent raise would produce an average raise of 93 cents per hour for the support staff. The raise for supervisory staff of five percent would vary based on the salaries, according to Sime.

Last year, the district raised employee wages by 4.7 percent.

Sime explained the effect of raising employee wages by five percent this year would cost the district about $100,000.

Board members asked Sime what the effect of increasing staff wages by 5.5 percent would be. The extra half percent would increase the cost to the district by $10,000 to make the total cost the increase to be approximately $110,0000.

The district’s 2022-23 budget would appear to have a surplus left over, but the numbers have not been finalized and audited at this point. That surplus will be used to help pay for a new floor scrubber at a cost of about $17,000 and the cost of replacing windows in the elementary school at about $15,000. However, some of the remaining surplus might help the district pay for the extra half of a percent raise.

Several board members noted the 8.5 percent CPI increase was simply beyond the district’s ability to pay this year.

Board member Mark Johnson pointed out that no other local school districts could afford the eight percent. Nevertheless, he argued in favor of a substantial increase. He stated raising wages to 5.5 percent was possible and would keep the district’s culture of caring for staff in place.

“Staff can see we can’t give an eight percent raise,” Johnson said. However, he noted several staff members had acknowledged that the board had exceeded the CPI several times in the past.

The 5.5 percent raise would be a show of good faith on the part of the district, according to board president Shawn Lenzendorf.

“We still need to worry about the taxpayers and inflation is coming down,” the board president said.

Lenzendorf moved to make the raise for 5.5 percent across the board for all district employees. Brittany Joy seconded the motion and it passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

Fund 46 deposit

The board also decided to make a deposit of $10,000 in Fund 46, if the 2022-23 budget surplus actually comes in at $40,000 to 45,000.  Fund 46 is a Capital Improvement Plan that requires the district leave the money in the account for five years before spending it on capital improvements.

The board started the Fund 46 account last year with a deposit of the $1,000.

Chromebook care

In another matter, school principal Alex Osterkamp told the board that students were not being as careful, as they initially had been, with school district-issued laptop computers, called Chromebooks.

Osterkamp proposed that middle school and high school students pay $75 or $100 toward repair of any computers that are damaged by mishandling

School board member Charles Clark questioned how the practice of charging for damage to Chromebooks would work for low income students unable to pay. Clark pointed out that students need to have the Chromebooks to participate in the classes, which rely on students having them.

Other questions about Chromebooks and their care arose and the board tabled the matter for further consideration in the future.

Projected state aid

Financial manager Sarah Sime told the board that projected state aid to the district is for an increase of $218,000, an increase of about 15 percent over last year’s state aid amount. However, she noted those numbers are not confirmed at this point.

In other business

In other business, the Seneca Area School District board

• chose to honor the Brandon Swiggum family with the Seneca School District Monthly Recognition Award for their work improving the athletic fields

• approved paying a $250 membership in Association for Equity in Funding

• approved paying a $500 membership in the Wisconsin Rural Schools Association

• learned the district’s bread bid will be handled through the purchasing consortium the district joined recently

• accepted the milk bid of Prairie Farms, formerly known as Swiss Valley, which will be six to seven percent higher than last year

• modified language in the employee handbook that was supplied by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards to compensate teachers teaching more than a full load by paying an extra $4,000 per year for the extra work

• approved the extracurricular handbook with no changes

• approved the athletic event passes, registration & fees with no changes

• set the date for the Seneca Area School District Annual Meeting for October 11

• learned the school district had no seclusions or restraint incidents involving students that had to be reported to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

• approved publication of academic standards in compliance with state law

• approved paying one third of the cost, or $21,473, for the school resource officer shared with North Crawford and Wauzeka-Steuben

• learned the Wisconsin Reading Corporation will again provide a reading specialist.

After closed session

Following a closed session to discuss personnel, the board reconvened in open session and approved hiring Brianna Brockway as the girls varsity basketball coach and Shelly Davidson as the girls varsity volleyball coach. They also approved hiring Lacy Walters as the middle school volleyball assistant coach.