1. School District of Florence
Budget Hearing & Annual Meeting
Mission Statement
The School District of Florence County, as a team, promotes a culture of continuous improvement for both students and staff in academics, positive behaviors and instruction through progressive, research driven best practices.

2. What are We Accomplishing and Advocating for in Positively Affecting the Lives of Children
US News & World Report Best High Schools in America – Top 30%
School Report Cards Meeting and Exceeding Expectations…District Scores Exceeded Expectations
State Assessments – Above State Average in All Five Assessed Content Areas
– Schools of High Progress and Beating the Odds
– Elementary Title 1 School of Recognition
Recognized at the HS as a PBIS School of Merit - 1 of 164 High Schools in Wisconsin
Fab Foundation Fab Lab – Recipient of $25,000 WEDC Grant
Continue providing dual credit opportunities for high school students via NWTC…223 credits earned during the school year, up from 180 the previous year and continue progressing in new opportunities in efforts with your neighbors
Recognized throughout the state as a leader in rural education as shown by invitations and presentations at State School Board Convention, Wisconsin Rural Schools Conference, School of Recognition Awards, Wisconsin Rural Schools and Community Award and invitations to speak at various legislative task forces, most recently Governor’s Small Business Summit this past September. Florence County Schools are on the Map for the Right Reason…Positively Affecting the Lives of Children

3. How Do We Do This…The Bobcat Way…
A Dedicated, Qualified, Caring, Professional Staff of Educators
Reliable, Devoted and Knowledgeable Support Staff (Maintenance to Food Service to Transportation to Classroom and Administrative Support)
Strong Building Leadership
An Engaged and Caring Board of Education
The Support of Florence County Parents, Families, Residents, Businesses and Taxpayers
We Positively Affect the Lives of Children…We Do This Collaboratively By:
Showing Care for Each Student’s Welfare
Defining Essential Grade Level Outcomes
Differentiating Instruction for Each Student
Utilizing Common Assessments
Preparing Students for Post-Secondary Opportunities

4. Budget Hearing
This years budget, for all funds, is proposed to be - $8,383,649.
This is an increase of $246,000 (3.02%), of which $380,000 is for Capital Objects, “One Time” Costs.
Overall instructional costs are up 3.4%, of which 2.9% is regular instruction and .6% is special education (special education aid remains frozen since 2009)

5. Savings Health Insurance Post Retirement Debt In Lieu of Insurance
Total Cost = $1,916,190
2015 S/$780, F/$1,724 – Total Cost = $1,568,267
Increase of HRA, increase in copay of drug card, increase in copay of ER and UC visits
2016 S/$800, F/1,770 – Total Cost = $1,400,293
Increase in copay of drug card & consortium rates that came in well below state and national trends
Post Retirement Debt
7/1/2008 = $7.3 million
6/30/2016 = $1.5 million
6/30/2017 = $1.1 million
In Lieu of Insurance
individuals, saving nearly $200,000 annually
– 22 individuals, saving just over $270,000 annually
CESA 8 Contracted Services – = $90,000, = $29,000,
= $19,900 (Shared Services w/Neighboring Districts)

6. So What More Have We Done…
We’ve aggressively pursued partnerships in educational delivery with our immediate neighbors and our region. This has further reduced costs and has also become a means for generating revenue for the District as we continue to see an erosion of support from the state in the funding of its public schools.
11 shared service agreements with three neighboring schools, 9 of the agreements are the purchases of our district’s services (Psychology, OT, Driver’s Ed, S&L, Director Spec. Ed.)
Signed Charter Agreement with NWTC, Niagara, Goodman & Pembine to form consortium focused on Career and Technical Education

7. Recommendation for Tax Levy
$5,238,925, which includes the maximum $900,000 that can be levied per the most recent operating referendum, $239,517 for building debt ($116,000 less than previous year) and $47,000 for community service fund.
I recommend this levy for the following reasons:
We have a projected shortfall of $750,000 (Capital is $380,000)
To levy anything less than this could potentially put us in position to short-term borrow at the mid-point of our fiscal year due to continue decline in state aid, $81,000 less than last year, hence more reliance on local tax revenue.
We’ve established Fund 46 – Long-Term Capital Improvement Plan. This fund allows this Board to allocate dollars for future capital improvements, most notably our Elementary Building which will be in its 18th year beginning with the school year. Our goal is to designate funds for these forthcoming improvements as we find savings in our operations.

8. Fund Balance
Per recommendation of our auditors we need to strive to maintain a 35% Unassigned Fund Balance for operations. This prevents the District from short-term borrowing during times of minimal operating capital (November – December and June – July). Paying interest for short-term borrowing is not taxpayer dollars well spent, and neither is administrative time in processing the necessary paperwork two different times of the fiscal year.
35% of our general operations = $2,567,000 – we are $67,000 short of this recommendation and policy.
Our current planned capital projects through 2020 = $1.3 million dollars. (busses, technology, equipment replacement)
We have just over $1.1 million in Fund Balance for these projects

9. To Conclude
I recommend to levy a tax of $5,238,925 for the FY, of which $4,952,408 is for operations and capital plan, $239,517 is for debt retirement and $47,000 is for community service.
Your mill rate will remain stable with a slight uptick from 8.41 to due to slight property value decrease in Florence County. The actual total levy is up only $919.