The Gillett School District will rely on $444,000 in reserve funds to cover expenses for the 2015-16 school year, based on a preliminary budget approved Thursday by the School Board. A new fiscal year began Wednesday for the district.
The district anticipates a $450,000 decrease in state revenue, including $129,000 less for special education next year, although final numbers are dependent on the state’s biennial budget, which is still being negotiated.
“We really have so many unknowns right now, and we’re trying to build a budget on what we know,” Superintendent Todd Carlson told the School Board.
Gillett is on track to receive $6.59 million in state funding for education, down from $7.04 million for the 2014-15 school year.
Carlson listed four factors affecting next year’s budget: a proposed revenue limit freeze by the state Legislature, reductions in state aid as money is channeled to private school vouchers, loss of special education revenue from the state and increases in health insurance benefits.
“No inflationary increases, a revenue freeze, but yet you have increases in health costs,” Carlson said.
Things are expected to improve slightly for the 2016-17 school year, when the district projects a $100 increase per student for state aid.
“That’s not much,” Carlson said.
With the state no longer supplying adequate funding, school districts are forced to levy taxes through voter referendums, he said.
“You see more and more schools going to referendum for recurring costs, paying for their programs and operations, and basically that’s what’s going to happen with every public school down the line,” he said.
The Gillett School District is not at that point yet because of its healthy fund balance, he said. The projected fund balance as of Tuesday, the close of the fiscal year, was $2,607,682.
The School Board adopted a preliminary budget with expenses at $7.03 million, down from $7.04 million for 2014-15.
District bookkeeper Janice Boucher said staffing projections and a 15-percent increase in health insurance costs were considered when setting expenditures. For the third year in a row, the district contracted with a new health insurance provider in an effort to maintain benefits yet keep costs down. The district will switch to WEA Trust for its 73 policy-holders and has budgeted $1.032 million, up from the 2014-15 total cost of $890,000.
The district also approved a five-year contract with Lamers Bus Lines Inc., of Green Bay, which submitted a bid $61,000 lower than the Gillett firm that previously provided busing.
The district also anticipates spending less on special education, budgeting $1.29 million for 2015-16, compared with $1.33 million for 2014-15.
Boucher said one expense removed from the 2015-16 budget was roofing funds. The district in December approved $2.975 million in bonds to cover roofing and energy savings projects. Renovations at the school started earlier this year and will continue until the end of the summer.
Another change in the budget is reflected in the debt service account. The district paid its final $410,000 for a loan secured when additions were built at the secondary school.
Among the many uncertainties regarding state funding is transportation aid. Boucher said the district could reach the $100,000 mark for 2015-16, but the funding has not been approved yet.
“I didn’t budget for that because it’s so up in the air,” she said.
For 2014-15, the school district received $89,000 for its transportation reimbursement.
According to the preliminary budget, school district residents will see a reduction in the mill rate, estimated to be $9.60 per $1,000 in equalized value, compared with $10.60 last year.
The final budget will be presented at the annual meeting, scheduled at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the secondary school.
