Colfax school district receiving $140,000 less state aid than 10 years ago

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  In actual dollars, the Colfax school district will be receiving nearly $140,000 less in state aid for 2016 -2017 than the district received ten years ago.

Bill Yingst, district administrator, handed out an analysis of the state aid received by the Colfax school district at a public informational meeting October 26 for the district’s $7.2 million referendum November 8.

Part of the reason that the Colfax Board of Education authorized a referendum is that the decrease in state aid has left no extra money to even begin any of the projects on the referendum list.

In 2006-2007, Colfax received $4,722,745 in state aid. For 2016-2017, the school district will receive $4,584,098 in state aid — or $138,647 less than ten years ago.

The analysis of the state aid for Colfax reveals that all together, because of Act 10, in 2010-2011, Colfax lost $200,000 in state aid, and in 2011-2012, Colfax lost $390,546 in state aid.

Since 2011-2012, Colfax has received some increases in state aid, but overall, the loss to the district since 2010 is still $270,000.

In an attempt to make up for the loss of revenue, five staff members who have retired over the past several years have not been replaced.

A general rule of thumb for school districts is that a newly-hired staff member will cost about $60,000 to $70,000 a year for salary and benefits.

In 2012-2013, the district received a $30,000 increase; in 2012-2013, the district received an $88,000 increase; in 2014-2015, the district received a $94,366 increase; in 2015-2016, the school district received a 0 increase; and this year, the district will receive a $108,137 increase.

Items that will be part of the $7.2 million referendum question include replacing temporary classrooms; updating building infrastructure; constructing a bus maintenance building; updating and expanding the technical education and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program; improving safety and security; and replacing six school district buses.

In addition to the construction items and the buses, the referendum question will include $400,000 to pay off the school district’s unfunded pension liabilities.

In the November 8 election, nearly 70 school districts in Wisconsin will have referendum questions on the ballot, Yingst said at the informational meeting.

For the last five years, each election has included 60 to 80 referendum questions statewide, he said.

For each year of delay on a construction project, the cost increases between 3 percent and 5 percent, Yingst said.

The Colfax school district has not had a referendum in 20 years.