Twenty-six Platteville School District residents took 15 minutes to approve the school district’s 2013–14 budget and projected tax levy Aug. 26.
The 2013–14 budget and tax levy projected to increase 2.23 percent, to almost $15.7 million. The mil rate is projected at $11.44 per $1,000 assessed valuation, up from $11.29 per $1,000 last school year.
The owner of a house assessed at $150,000 will pay $1,716 in school property taxes, up from $1,693.50 last year, depending on the effects of three things in the next six weeks — the statewide third-Friday enrollment count Sept. 20, property value reports in October, and final state aid certifications Oct. 15. Increases in enrollment, property values or state aid would reduce the tax levy and mil rate; decreases in those areas would increase the mil rate.
The elected chair of the annual meeting was Dan Dreessens of Delta 3 Engineering of Platteville, a graduate of Platteville High School and UW–Platteville. Dreessens’ firm employs seven PHS graduates and 14 UWP graduates, and his son is a PHS freshman.
“The number one goal for the school district is to provide as many opportunities for students as possible to lead a quality life,” he said.
The school district is getting a $150-per-student increase in spending — a $75-per-student increase in state aid that is part of the state’s 2013–15 budget, which also allows school districts to levy $75 per student in additional taxes this school year.
The school district is also receiving more state aid because students from the closed St. Mary’s School are now counting more completely in school district enrollment figures.
District superintendent Connie Valenza noted the scores of three of Platteville’s four schools — Westview Elementary School, Platteville Middle School and Platteville High School — as “exceeded expectations” in the first statewide report card issued last fall.
Valenza said the school district’s goal is to have a “premier school district, not just in Southwest Wisconsin, but throughout the state of Wisconsin as well.”
