Colfax school district could do “incredible amount” with $2 million
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — There’s a reason why some school districts in Wisconsin are holding referendums in the April election to exceed the revenue limit for operational costs.
About 75 percent of the school districts in Wisconsin are experiencing declining enrollment, and school districts also have to pay for unfunded mandates, such as special education, and also lose funding for open enrolled students and homeschooled students, said William C. Yingst Jr. at the Colfax Board of Education’s February 19 meeting.
The Colfax school district “loses” $2 million per year in funding, he said.
Yingst referenced a recent CESA 11 meeting with state Senator Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) and U.S. Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-WI-7th District).
The Colfax school district’s special education program ends up with a cost of over $1 million per year, Yingst said.
The school district receives a small amount of funding from the state and federal government for special education, and then the additional cost for the program, about $1 million, must come out of the school district’s general fund, he said.
Another $1 million goes for students who are open enrolled out of the school district along with lost state aid because of homeschooled students, Yingst said.
Under the open enrollment program, the student’s home school district must pay a certain amount to the school district where the student has open enrolled.
This year, the Colfax school district will be paying about $660,000 for students open enrolling out of the school district.
The Colfax school district also has students who have open enrolled into the district, but there are more students open enrolling out than there are students open enrolling into the district.
People do have a right to have special education services for the students who need those services and the right to homeschool their children or open enroll them into another school district, Yingst said.
But the combination of those factors means the school district has $2 million less to spend on other budget items, he said.
“It’s the system. It’s the rules we have to follow,” Yingst said.
Special education is one example of an unfunded mandate, he noted.
During the April election, 95 school districts in Wisconsin will be holding referendums, Yingst said, and while not all of them are operational referendums, many of them are referendums to exceed the revenue limit to help pay expenses that the school district incurs.
The Boyceville school district will be holding an $18 million referendum in April that would be used to remodel and update school buildings.
According to the Boyceville school district’s website, the $18 million referendum would have no additional impact on the property taxes paid in the district because the new debt would be replacing debt that has been paid off.
“It is incredible [to think about] what Colfax could do with $2 million every year,” Yingst said.
Jaci Ackerlund, school board member, said it was “eye-opening” to find out at the state convention for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards in January how much public money goes into non-public education.
Convention
Two members of the Colfax school board reported on what they had learned at the WASB convention.
Jodi Kiekhafer talked about a program called “A Grateful Nation,” concerning “the last full measure of devotion for our freedom.”
“I thought of the fifth graders,” she said.
The program has cards with “heroes” on them and is a way to bring history alive beyond just dates and occurrences. The cards feature real people with real family members, Kiekhafer said.
Solar installations to help provide electricity to the school district is another idea, and there are grants available to help pay for the installation. There also would be money savings for the school district, she said.
The Rice Lake school district has solar arrays, Kiekhafer said.
Another session focused on vaping and placing vaping detectors in bathrooms, she said.
There are no regulations on vaping or regulations on what is put into the vaping capsule, Kiekhafer noted.
Another session that Kiekhafer attended focused on the supportive discipline approach to deal with addiction and to assist with helping to eliminate addiction or depression.
Wellness and emotional wellness are important. Being under stress for only 10 minutes every day can affect a person’s memory and behavior, she said.
One area of stress for young children is a “fear of not succeeding,” Kiekhafer said.
One session Ackerlund attended was about “following the money” and how the state funds education and not just public education.
Presenters from River Falls talked about a community education program, she said.
The program started several years ago and includes evening education for the community. You could have a session called “Cooking with Kathy” about preparing meals, Ackerlund said;.
The community education program is a way to get taxpayers into the school buildings to see what is going on at school, she said.
Last year, there were 240 community education events in River Falls to help get community members engaged, Ackerlund said.
School calendar
The Colfax Board of Education approved the calendar for the 2024-2025 school year at the February 19 meeting.
Classes will begin September 3, 2024, and classes will finish May 29, 2025.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the school district was able to get a waiver to start school earlier, but that is no longer an option, Yingst said.
Athletic practices are already starting in August, so sports begin a month earlier than classes, he said.
If a spring break is included in the calendar, that pushes school back into June, which pushes swimming lessons back and then pushes summer school back, Yingst said.
Instead of a spring break, the calendar has two four-day weekends that will give parents an opportunity for a short vacation with their children, he said.
The four-day weekends are October 11 to October 14 and February 21 to February 24.
If there are a number of snow days next year, one four-day weekend could be eliminated to help make up for lost school days, Yingst said.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Board of Education:
• Learned that Door D was in the process of being replaced. The doors were rusting, the push bars were not working and there was trouble getting the doors to lock, Yingst said, noting that the doors had originally been installed in 1978.
• Received a written report from Ken Neuburg, school member, who was the Colfax delegate assembly representative at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards convention. There were 324 of the 421 Wisconsin public school districts initially present at the assembly, and there were 11 resolutions to review. The following resolutions all passed: student teachers and WIP interns; federal aids-facility barriers for students with disabilities; state specialty schools; office of school safety; artificial intelligence; classroom technology; and revenue limits.
Following a closed session, the Colfax school board:
• Approved the following spring athletics coach hires: John Dickinsen (head softball coach); Rick Geissler (varsity assistant softball coach); Tasha Bjork (junior varsity softball coach); Kirk Secraw (head baseball coach); Ben Anderson (junior varsity baseball coach); Chuck Brown (head track coach); Joseph Doucette (assistant track coach); Courtney Sarauer (assistant track coach, 50 percent); Ally Heidorn (assistant track coach); Tina Johnson (assistant track coach); Megan Cormican (middle school track); Felisha Glomski (middle school track); Ryan Krall (boys’ golf).
• Approved a retirement request from Theresa Ruff, school nurse.
• Approved a retirement request from James Satter, bus driver.
• Approved hiring Darryl Mewes as a bus driver.
• Approved hiring Hayden Goodman as a high school math teacher for the 2024-2025 school year.
