District electors approve operating budget, pay increase for school board members

By Kim McDarison 

Some 20 electors from within the School District of Fort Atkinson — many of whom were members of the district’s faculty and administration — attended the district’s annual meeting of electors Thursday and granted final approval to the 2021-2022 operating budget, including a tax levy of $18.8 million to support it. 

Electors also approved a pay increase of $500 for each of the district’s five board members, increasing members’ annual paycheck from $1,500 to $2,000, among other items.  

Operating budget

Electors approved an $18,825,053 tax levy to be paid by property owners across the district in support of the $40,335,361 total budget, which will be used to support operating costs during the 2021-2022 school year. 

Property owners in December can expect to see on their tax bills a tax levy rate of $10.96 per $1,000 of equalized property value, which represents a 15-cent increase over the rate paid last year. 

A proposed budget was initially presented by Director of Business Services Jason Demerath to school board members in June, and the board approved the budget in July. A final step in the approval process was completed Thursday when the district’s electorate voted to adopt the budget. 

Demerath shared a slide presentation Thursday, summarizing districtwide expenses, coming in at $40,335,361. After applying revenues of $40,186,406  Demerath said, the district would be left with an anticipated deficit of $148,955. 

While the framework of the presented budget was adopted, Demerath noted that final numbers, which could conceivably narrow or widen the anticipated deficit, will not be known until after Sept. 17, when the district makes its fall pupil count, after which the state Department of Public Instruction will certify the amount of any additional state aid the district might receive. Demerath said the budget assumes the district will receive no additional state aids and will instead be asked to use its Elementary and Secondary Emergency Education Relief (ESSER) funds, which, he said, were one-time monies given to districts by the state to help offset additional costs incurred as a response to COVID-19. The School District of Fort Atkinson has set most of those funds aside, he said, in anticipation of using them to cover the potential shortfall. 

Also affecting a final budgetary outcome he said, was the state’s voucher program, which operates within the framework of the public school system by requiring districts to collect taxes to support families within their districts using the voucher program. The districts then pass those funds to the family’s school of choice. 

A chart presented by Demerath noted that during the 2020-2021 school year, the district collected tax levy dollars of just under $800,000, which were used to support district families using the voucher system. Given anticipated trends, he said, the district may likely collect closer to $1 million in the next few years to support the voucher program. 

He cited declining enrollment within the district as a factor bringing a negative impact to the district’s budget, further suggesting that the nearly $150,000 shortfall was largely attributable to that decline. 

A full presentation of the district’s 2021-2022 budget, as made by Demerath before the board of education in June, is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/district-official-voucher-funding-decreasing-open-enrollment-contribute-to-148955-budget-shortfall/.

Pay increase

During the meeting, a member of the electorate, Dick Schultz, who is also a member of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors and a former member of the Fort Atkinson school board, addressed the electorate, requesting that it consider amending a motion to adopt annual salaries of $1,500 for each of the district’s board members to include a $500 pay raise, bringing the new annual salary for each member to $2,000. The measure met with approval. 

Within his comments to the electorate, Schultz said he believed the work of board of education members was more extensive than many realized, and he believed, at $1,500, they were paid too little. County board members, he said, are paid $2,400 annually and are compensated for mileage. A member of the electorate asked from where within the district’s resources the money would come. Demerath said the increase would be supplied through the district’s general fund. 

In other business, the electors approved: 

• Authorizing a sale of the districts “tangible personal property” which was no longer being used by the district.

• Approved reimbursements to school board members for expenses incurred as part of their duties carried out on behalf of the district. 

• Recognized Rachel Snethen for her service as a board member. Snethen was not in attendance. 

• Among first orders of business, school board President Mark Chaney introduced student parliamentarian Liam Bos, a senior at Fort Atkinson High School, and presided over the meeting until, as a subsequent order of business, Chris Rogers was installed as chairperson. 

Among presentations, the electorate heard from: 

• Chaney, who delivered the president’s report. Chaney called the 2020-2021 school year, “a school year like no other,” noting the district’s use of multiple learning structures, including virtual and in-person, and touched on issues of planning during a pandemic, saying: “even when you have plans A, B, C and D, you might end up having to use plan T.” He thanked the district’s full team of staff and administrators for their “tireless efforts in making concurrent learning a reality for our students and families.” 

• District Superintendent Rob Abbott, who delivered the superintendent’s report. Abbott said when the new school year was launched last fall, he challenged district staff to “invest, believe and demonstrate the mantra: We can. We will. We must. — And we did,” he said. He talked about the challenges, adjustments, and successes met and developed throughout the district over the past year. Looking to the future, he talked about 1FORT Success Teams, which, he said, work to involve “teachers as leaders,” as they support the district in achieving strategic plan goals, while “establishing a culture of collaboration” and engaging teachers in professional learning, data analysis, and responsive pedagogy to improve professional practice.

• Director of Pupil Services Lisa Hollenberger and Director of Instruction Amy Oakley, who collectively talked about academic priorities, such as English language arts and mathematics. Departments — with guidance from the Department of Public Instruction — prioritized content and collaborated, “unit by unit and standard by standard,” they said. Both reflected on defining essential content or skill, by grade level and course, looking to improve learning experiences for students while maximizing instructional time. They also talked about student-centered teaching, noting that the pandemic had different impacts on students, who experienced it in different ways. “Some flourished in virtual classrooms and others struggled,” they said. They offered assurances that “our team is ready to welcome all of our learners to our classrooms and is committed and equipped to meeting each learner where they are and adapting to student needs throughout the upcoming school year.” 

• Board of Education Treasurer Adam Paul, who delivered the treasurer’s report, noting that district finances continue to be managed in a “considerate and strategic” way. Looking at defeasance of debt, he said, a final referendum payment will be made in February of 2024, which would help facilitate a possible capital referendum, which would be in alignment with a next operational referendum. Energy projects at the high school, which were approved this spring will be completed this summer and fall, and will lower operational costs while correcting issues with building infrastructure, he said. He noted the School District of Fort Atkinson and Demerath’s achievement of being recognized as the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials Business Service Award recipient (find a separate story here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/district-receives-wisconsin-association-of-school-business-officials-2021-business-service-award/), and said he was looking forward this year to having meaningful conversations with the community about the district’s future and working through the Facility Advisory Committee’s recommendations for long-term facility planning. 

• Demerath, who gave a slide presentation of the 2021-2022 operational budget. 

A story about the monthly board of eduction meeting, also held Thursday, will be posted soon.