NORTH CRAWFORD - At the North Crawford School Board’s regularly scheduled meeting on October 21, the board passed the 2026-27 district budget. The budget was the same as that presented at the district’s annual meeting held the Monday before.
Highlights from the budget include a decrease in the mil rate from $7.13 in the 2025-26 budget to $6.598 in the 2026-27 budget. That means a decrease in the amount of property tax levied per $1,000 of assessed value.
This mil rate puts the district right in the middle compared to other neighboring districts, with Seneca at 6.04, Boscobel at 7.63, and Kickapoo at 7.32. If the referendum to exceed the revenue cap at Seneca passes, the mil rate is projected to increase to 9.01 in the first year, and 9.0 in the second year.
However, North Crawford’s overall tax levy increased in the budget passed by the board due to the increased assessed value of properties in the district. In 2025-26, the total district levy was $2,935,472. This school year, the total district levy will be $3,112,214. That’s an increase of $176,742.
The Fund 10 (general fund) levy increased from $2,414,303 to $2,663,714. There was a $110,769 decrease in the levy for “non-referendum debt service,” bringing that amount to $0 in 2026-27. The ‘referendum debt service’ amount increased by $38,100 to a total $278,500 in 2026-2027. The Fund 80 (community service, daycare) stayed the same at $170,000.
Superintendent Scott Uppena shared some very good news for the district about student enrollment. He said that this year, the district is up 30 students, and the open enrollment trend has changed from one more open enrolling ‘in’ than ‘out’ in 2025-26 to seven more ‘in’ in 2026-2027.
Administrator reports
North Crawford Elementary Principal Amanda Killeen reports they have completed their fall screening for English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, which provide a snapshot of student proficiencies at the beginning of the school year.
“We really went through student by student to look at what the test results showed us from last year compared to this year, and looked at what our district goal is,” Killeen told the board. “Our testing service recommends that all students at least be at the 30th percentile of proficiency, but our goal is to have all students at least at the 40th percentile.”
Killeen said that as a result of the testing, 10 kindergarten students have been issued a ‘personal reading plan’ to help them improve. She said that each family of a student scoring below the 25th percentile received the plan, along with a graph that shows their child’s ELA gap. Likewise, with the math scores, the elementary team is using the scores to help students improve their proficiency.
North Crawford Middle School/High School Principal Rob Sailer said that his teams were also diving into the fall screening results, and working hard to identify gaps to help students increase their proficiency.
“The in-service conversations have been focusing on what a grade means, our late policy, our homework acceptance policy, all those types of things,” Sailer explained. “Those conversations start very broad, but very quickly we're finding themes that are coming to the top.”
Sailer pointed the board to the many things happening in the school since students came back. These included the Wisconsin Education Fair in La Crosse for juniors and seniors, the FFA trip to World Dairy Expo, a successful week of Homecoming activities, and the Apple Fest Parade. He said the final ‘gun safety’ event this fall would be at the district’s popular Fall Festival, following the district’s booth at Apple Fest.
“In addition, every year we try to do a fall trip and a spring trip with our middle school students, and we don't repeat the same thing each year,” Sailer said. “This year they went to the International Crane Foundation. I would highly recommend that anybody take their family there. It is quite the setup. The birds are very up close and personal, and they're very, very loud. It's a great experience, and very affordable.”
Lastly, Sailer talked about the recent ‘Mock Crash’ event held at the school, and reported that he’d received very good feedback about it. He said the district hopes to repeat the training every other year.
“I spoke with several students and faculty members about the Mock Car Crash, and there was nothing but praise for it,” board member Mark Fredelake said. “People said how realistic it was, with a lot of tears in the audience, and how it was very impactful.”
North Crawford Student Services’ Amanda Wagner offered praise for the work of visiting counselor Katrina Johnson in conducting mental health screenings for students.
“I want to recognize Katrina for this work that is part of a grant agreement organized in consortium with multiple districts,” Wagner said. “The screening is conducted by three people, and scored in real time. Any immediate safety or support needs are addressed within 24 hours, and then additional resources and referrals can be set up after that.”
North Crawford Superintendent Scott Uppena told the board he would be meeting with the district’s policy consultant Neola to discuss artificial intelligence, with the goal of making some guardrails for students and staff. He said he is also working on an ongoing basis with financial consultant Baird on building a budget forecast model that can be used by the district going forward.
In other business
In other business, the board:
- heard that Jalu Food Pantry had connected the district with excess produce from Driftless Organics for use in the district foodservice and food backpack programs
- heard that September lunch participation increased year-over-year by 18.6% (1,108 meals), and breakfast by 22.4% (952 meals)
- approved basketball coaches, with Chris Wettstein, as boys basketball head coach, assisted by Devlin Smith, Mark Dull and Tyler Zitzner; and Jeremy Fradette as girls basketball head coach, assisted by Ray Strong, Lara Dudgeon and Jessica Kasinkas
- approved Eric Hady as wrestling head coach, assisted by Adam Hady, Russ Torgerson, and Jordan Keegan.
