Certified 2022-23 General Aid numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction were released to school districts at the general public Oct. 15. Most schools in Kenosha County received the amount expected based on estimates released by the DPI July 1, for better or worse.
State aid is calculated through an equalization formula, which accounts for property valuation, enrollment and shared costs.
Brighton School District received $408,044 in state aid, which is up from the $291,508 received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $336,337.
Bristol #1 School District
Bristol School received $4,187,800 in state aid, which is up from the $3,881,858 received for the 2021-22 school year.
People are also reading…
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $4,231,141.
“It was about in line when we were expecting, always, you know, the biggest factor is membership,” said District Administrator Jack Musha. “With our with our student enrollment numbers, that shifted a few here and there at the last minute, so we had just a few less students enrolled than we anticipated.”
Musha said the open enrollment students help to offset the decrease in enrollment numbers within the district.
Burlington Area School District
Burlington Area School District received $18,871,979 in state aid, which is up from the $18,464,609 received for the 2021-22 school year.
The district received the exact estimated amount from the DPI estimate released July 1.
Central High School District of Westosha
Central High School District of Westosha received $5,244,680 in state aid, which is down from the $5,554,257 received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $5,307,023.
Paris Consolidated School District
Paris Consolidated School District received $63,547 in state aid, which is down from the $74,761 received for the 2021-22 school year.
The district received the exact amount the DPI estimated in a release sent out July 1.
Randall Consolidated School District
Randall Consolidated School District received $2,013,319 in state aid, which is up from the $1,911,237 received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $2,214,662.
Salem School District received $7,483,026, which is up from the $7,150,979 received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $7,419,702.
Trevor-Wilmot Consolidated School District
Trevor-Wilmot Consolidated School District received $3,089,502, which is down from the $3,311,168 received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $3,106,251.
According to Michelle Garven, the Trevor-Wilmot district administrator, the lack of adequate state aid drove the district to go to a referendum to exceed the state-set revenue limit by $800,000 annually for a period of five years, which was passed in April.
“State aid hasn’t kept pace with inflation,” Garven said. “We asked for $800,000 for the next five years to help support our schools, so despite state aid not keeping up with inflation, we had our community come out and vote yes for a referendum. So then we’re able to use those local dollars to support our programming for our students.”
Garven said referendums are a way for the community to get involved in crafting a vision for the future of the school.
“It’s really a cool process because then, through the referendum process, you can find out what is what is your district? What what does it represent? What should learning look like in your school?” Garven said. “And then your taxpayers come out and they support that through saying ‘yes’ in the referendum process.”
Garven said she was thankful for the community supporting the referendum, especially people who no longer have kids attending the school.
“I feel just so grateful to all our community members, especially those who don’t have kids in the district, because I think it’s easy to go out and vote yes, when you have little kids or you have grandkids in our school,” Garven said. “But those people who either have never had children or have kids that are no longer with us to think, ‘Oh, my tax bill might go up, but I’m still going to support that school because they’re the hub of the community,’ I just think is a wonderful way to make sure that our community is strong through putting support in the school.”
Twin Lakes school district also received less aid than expected. The district received $890,395 down from the $1,058,303 received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $890,396.
Wheatland J1 School District
Wheatland school district received $2,650,985, which is up from the 2,465,158 received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive blank amount
Wilmot Union High School District
blank school district received blank dollars, which is up or down from the blank amount received for the 2021-22 school year.
In the DPI estimate from July 1, the district was estimated to receive $2,647,224.
“Ours has gone up as we’ve continued to gain students back both in the resident population and through open enrollment,” said Wheatland District Administrator Marty McGinley. “So we’re a couple $100,000 up from the previous year, which is good, but that’s just reflecting that we have more students here at Wheatland so yeah, we’re very stable from a financial perspective.”
Other factors in state aid
School districts in the area are financially set for the 2022-23 school year. However, there was no per-pupil aid sent to districts around the state in the last biennium budget.
“There was a zero increase in per pupil aid, and I think that it was one of the things that that hurt us, because there wasn’t those additional funds that came through that way,” Garven said. “And I think that then puts more burden on us going to our communities (for a referendum).”
Districts fear a continued trend in not receiving per-pupil aid could lead more districts to go to referendums.
“Inflation is, at a low estimate at 10 or 11%. So we’re still paying more money for things like gas, electric, school buses and our teaching staff deserves a compensation schedule appropriate to their work as well and things like that, “Musha said. “And if we’re not getting any more money in, it’s very hard to sustain. That’s why you see so many schools go to referendum across the state.”
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Comments are closed.