By Dave Fidlin
CORRESPONDENT
While the current school year is beginning to wind down, leaders of the Waterford Union High School district are beginning to turn their attention toward 2016-17, particularly from a monetary standpoint.
Superintendent Keith Brandstetter said he is cautiously optimistic about the high school’s budget for the upcoming school year as he provided the School Board with an update April 25.
“Budget numbers are starting to come together, and the district should be able to make budget,” Brandstetter said.
There have been several positives to WUHS’ finances, Brandstetter said, including an increase in the district’s overall three-year rolling enrollment average.
The upward trend means WUHS is able to receive more income from the state — about $10,000 more in year-over-year comparisons. State aid is the district’s second largest source of income, behind property taxes.
But Brandstetter said WUHS will have at least one notable change on the expense side of the ledger.
“Our largest increase will be in special education, due to the increase of 15 students, which will require an additional teacher,” Brandstetter said.
A draft version of the budget, including a proposed property tax levy, will soon be presented to the board. Brandstetter said he has received spending requests from all of the high school’s departments, which is one of several steps involved in the budget-building process.
The School Board later this month will make a definitive decision on a few line items within next year’s budget.
Brandstetter is asking approval to increase substitute teacher rates by $3 per day for the 2016-17 school year. The change, he said, is reflective of the local market rate.
If plans move forward, WUHS would offer substitutes a daily rate of $117. For persons working more than 25 days in a school year, the rate would increase to $122 per day. WUHS retirees will be privy to a daily rate of $148, as will long-term substitutes.
The board also will act on next year’s student fee schedule. At the April meeting, Brandstetter said most existing fees will remain the same, though two changes are proposed.
The first involves increasing the yearbook fee from $62 to $65 to accommodate heightened production costs. The second is for students taking upper-level college courses through a partnership program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Students in that program will now have to pay half the cost of enrollment as part of the proposed change.
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