Our taxpayers overwhelmingly approved the operating referendum to exceed the revenue limit caps by $2,000,000 for each year for the next five years.
Let's review how we arrived at this point. All Wisconsin school districts operate within revenue limits which cap the amount of revenue each district can receive each year from state aid and property taxes. There are three key variables in the revenue limit calculation, enrollment, property values, and state aid. Each district is unique in these variables and therefore the revenue limit cap is different for each district. Since 2008, the Nekoosa School District has seen a reduction in the revenue cap of $1,072,000. State aid and local revenues are not keeping pace with costs to maintain the current educational programs and to address emerging student needs. For several years the Board has made budget reductions (in the form of staff and services) to operate within the revenue limit caps.
The passage of the operating referendum to exceed the revenue limit caps has allowed our district to retain our outstanding staff, hire a social worker, hire a math coach/interventionist, hire a second tech ed teacher and upgrade equipment in the technical education (shop) area, and hire a second WISE Academy teacher. With these additions, our district is in a great position to serve our student needs.
The additional staff members have been hired and we are now working on upgrading the equipment in the technical education area. The newly hired Tech Ed teachers, Mr. Bryan Kind and Mr. Theran Plummer gave School Board Members a tour of the shop area prior to the October board meeting.
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