RAYMOND, Wis. — In a move likely to be welcomed by local homeowners, the Raymond School Board approved a 21% decrease in that portion of their tax bill.
The newly approved mill rate of $3.80 per $1,000 in equalized property value marks a $1 reduction from the prior year, translating to significant savings for property owners. For example, a resident with a home valued at $400,000 will pay $1,520 in Raymond School taxes – 21% less than the 2022-23 school year.
The board’s approval of the tax levy is the final step in the district’s budget process.
In his presentation to the board in October, past Superintendent Michael Garvey noted that the district’s property values have increased significantly, which has helped keep the mill rate down.
Garvey resigned in December, but here’s what was included in the budget.
The Raymond K-8 School state aid increased from $823,522 in the 2022-23 school year to $1.3 million in the 2023-2024 school year, a 57.89% increase. The increase represents the fourth-largest percentage increase of any school district in the state.
“One of the important pieces keeping this levy lower is our property values increased fairly significantly,” Garvey said. “In comparison, that is about $38 million greater than last year.
“We can thank the state legislature for the increase in state aid and the formula used to distribute it.”
What’s in the school budget
The Raymond School District Board approved a budget summary reflecting $6.86 million in total spending for the 2023-24 school year, a 2.25% increase from the previous year. The budget summary includes approved spending of $5.5 million for the general fund, about $1 million for special projects, and $246,000 for debt service.
While the total budget increased, the total amount the district collects through tax levy payments saw a significant drop.
The budget includes revenue from the general fund levy of $2,278,767 and a capital improvement levy of $192,448.
A tax levy is the money a school district plans to raise from property taxes in a given year. It funds the district’s budget, including teacher salaries, textbooks and school supplies.
Racine County Eye staff requested the line item budget multiple times, but Garvey sent the budget summary saying that “that’s what the board approved,” which is the document they were releasing. When asked about the status of the budget report, Garvey said, “It was in another system,” even though that budget detail is typically filed with the Department of Public Instruction in October.
Here is a link to the budget report documents the district previously filed with DPI over the past 20 years. Typically, media outlets do not have to file open records requests to obtain budget documents detailing public spending. Officials also continue to refer to state law regarding legal notices to deny Racine County Eye’s request, saying they only needed to provide a budget summary.
Garvey said the budget reflects the following priorities:
- Revamp special education programming to “serve our students best”
- Increase intervention programs
- Add a world language program back into the curriculum
- Address safety and communications.
Included in the budget is over $1 million — or nearly 20% of the district’s total revenue — for more than 130 open enrollment students who attend Raymond School from other districts throughout the area.
Open enrollment allows families to transfer students to school districts outside their own. The state pays the receiving district a certain amount for each open-enrollment student.
Raymond School District’s total 2022-2023 school year budget was $5,566,273.
For the same year, Wisconsin transferred $8,224 per student to districts for open-enrolled students. Raymond welcomed 137 open enrolled students from surrounding communities for a total of $1,158,553, or just about 20% of the district’s total budget, according to a DPI spreadsheet that tracks how many pupils transfer into and out of districts and the applicable aid attached to each.
The numbers for the 2023-2024 school year won’t be available until summer.
Differences in spending in budget summaries
The comparison of the “Revised After Levy Raymond School District Final Adjusted 2023-24 Budget” in August and the “Raymond School District Proposed 2023-24 Budget for Adoption” approved in October reveals several key differences in financial allocations and projections.
Garvey said the proposed budget is often presented at the annual budget hearing before knowing all the pieces.
“We can zero in on the ‘final budget’ prior to setting the levy,” he said. “The budgets are road maps, and usually, they will end up with differences between the final and actual budgets.”
Instruction (General Fund – Fund 10) 2023-24 Budget (Revised vs. Proposed):
- Regular Curriculum: The revised budget allocates $1,732,260, an increase from the proposed $1,670,500, about 3.7%.
- Both (regular and undifferentiated curriculum costs) have increased due to salaries and benefits costs, new curricular materials, and instructional materials and equipment. Some of the increases also involve using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funds to make one-time purchases of technology (smart boards, laptops, etc.), Garvey said.
- Undifferentiated refers to the individual elementary classes where teachers are responsible for more than one subject. Regular curricula are those classes where a teacher is responsible for one subject (math, English, science, etc), Garvey said.
Support Services (General Fund – Fund 10)
- Instructional Staff Services: Slight increase in the revised budget to $138,000 from $131,533 in the proposed budget.
- General Administration: Increased allocation in the revised budget ($311,000) compared to the proposed ($301,000).
Special Education Fund (Fund 27)
- Instruction: The revised budget increases spending to $719,480 from $680,537 in the proposed budget.
- Business Administration: An increase to $78,000 in the revised budget from $72,187 in the proposed.
Debt Service Fund (Funds 38, 39)
- Long-Term Capital Debt: The revised budget increases the expenditure to $246,178 from $185,597 in the proposed budget.
Ending Fund Balance
The primary purpose for building a fund balance is to reduce or avoid cash flow issues. How schools are funded and funds are distributed can cause the cash balance to ebb and flow.
- The district increased its fund balance from $883,000 to $1 million.
- Garvey maintains that the general fund levels are “not at the ideal level,” but they are “moving closer to a time when the District can reduce the short-term borrowing expenses.”
“This is also the leeway that allows us to handle unexpected expenses throughout the year,” he said.
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