By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With all pieces of the puzzle in place, Whitewater Unified school officials have adopted a finalized version of the district’s 2019-20 budget, which includes a 1.9 percent increase in the property tax levy.
The School Board on Oct. 28 approved WUSD’s spending plan for the fiscal year, which officially began July 1 and runs through June 30, 2020.
Business Manager Matthew Sylvester-Knudtson has been assembling financial data in recent months, presenting the board with draft versions of the fiscal document along the way.
In mid-October, several of the last pieces — including an official amount of state aid and the tax rate for all municipalities within the district’s footprint — came into sharp focus.
WUSD’s budget of $26.8 million for the current school year represents a slight uptick from the initial projection Sylvester-Knudtson had in place in the budget’s last draft state; it previously was $26.3 million.
By comparison, the district’s 2018-19 school year budget clocked in at $25.08 million.
On the expense side of the ledger, several categorical items have been on the rise, year-over-year, including special education curriculum. A year ago, WUSD earmarked $2.5 million for the expense; this year, it has been set at $3.2 million.
Year-over-year, Sylvester-Knudtson said WUSD had to employ 11 more full-time paraprofessionals for special education programs, in addition to an increase of 1.5 full-time equivalency (FTE) teachers.
The property tax levy, which is one of WUSD’s largest sources of income, has been set at $16.8 million, up $328,886 from the 2018-19 school year levy of $16.5 million.
According to the numbers Sylvester-Knudtson prepared in the final documents, the bulk of the levy — $12.9 million — will fortify general operations for the current school year.
The balance will go toward such efforts as paying down debt from prior referendums ($3.4 million), community service ($205,500) and the capital expansion fund ($150,000).
Although it represents a sliver of WUSD’s overall budget, Sylvester-Knudtson said the community service levy supports programs beyond school-age children
“The programming and services supported by the community service levy, in part or in whole, including adult ESL, after school strings, middle school-age athletics/intramurals, volunteer coordinators and payment to the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center,” Sylvester-Knudtson said.
He added, “All programs supported by the community tax levy are open to all age-appropriate members of the community and occur outside the regular curricular and extracurricular programs of the school district.”
The overall tax rate, Sylvester-Knudtson reported, is $11.50 per $1,000 of equalized value, down from the 2018-19 school year rate of $11.67 per $1,000 of equalized value.
WUSD is receiving more state aid than initially anticipated, based on a formula that takes into account property valuations and student enrollment figures over a rolling three-year average.
With all information in play, Sylvester-Knudtson said WUSD is receiving $9.1 million in state aid this school year, up from the $8.1 million received a year ago.
