by Superintendent Mitch Wainwright
A few weeks ago, I wrote a very lengthy column, laying the groundwork for the Mineral Point Unified School District’s question on the November 5 ballot. Leading up to election day, I’ll attempt to break down some key talking points. The District wants you to have the information you need to make an informed vote.
The Mineral Point School Board has voted to move forward and ask the district taxpayers to approve an operating referendum. The amount of money we are seeking is $1,300,000 on a recurring basis to maintain our current programs and services. When a district passes a recurring referendum, it means that the money is added to its base revenue and stays there. It does not mean that the district is asking for $1,300,000 each year.
The intent is to levy up to an additional:
- $700,000 for the 2025-26 school year;
- $150,000 for the 2026-27 school year;
- $175,000 for the 2027-28 school year;
- and $200,000 for the 2028-29 school year, for a total of an additional $1.3 million.
This then resets our base tax levy for the 2029-30 school year.
Many area school districts are pursuing an operating referendum in November. Those in CESA 3 (southwest Wisconsin) include the following: Argyle, Belmont, Cuba City, Darlington, Dodgeville, Iowa-Grant, Ithaca, Mineral Point, Platteville, Prairie du Chien, and River Ridge. With all of these local districts asking their communities for support, you may hear a lot of different numbers floating around as each school’s situation is different.
The School Board has stated its commitment to debt defeasance in an effort to keep the mill rate stable. Therefore, the anticipated tax impact for a successful operating referendum would be an additional $62 per $100,000 of assessed value for the first year in 2025-26, then decrease to $32 in 2026-27, $33 in 2027-28, and $35 in 2028-29.
Additionally, the Board is committed to fiscal responsibility, using only the amount of revenue authority necessary to maintain current programs, and does not intend to levy the full amount unless it is absolutely necessary each year.
How did we get to this point? School districts have been working under state-imposed Revenue Limits since 1993. These limits are the maximum amount of money that a district can raise through state aid and property taxes. Beginning in the 1998-99 school year, the state of Wisconsin tied school funding to inflationary increases. This provided school districts with increased funding to match the increased costs each year. In the 2009-11 state budget, this connection to inflation was removed from the school funding formula. In its place was a flat dollar amount, and in several years, there was a zero dollar increase. Recently, the state has increased state aid without increasing the revenue cap. These claims of increased funding for education were actually reductions in property taxes.
Who is always the “bad guy” during property tax season? The obvious answer is public schools. If you look closely at your property tax bill, you will see that there are three other entities that also need your tax dollars to operate. Depending on where you live, it is either the City of Mineral Point or the township you live in. They need money to maintain their roads, fix damaged infrastructure, plow the snow, and many other things. The county also uses property tax money for the same items, only they have a much larger area to monitor. The last entity is the technical college associated with your area. In this part of the state Southwest Technical College also pulls money from your property tax bill. In some years, one entity may not have a very large increase, but another one sees a significant increase. When the county builds a new jail, the city upgrades water lines, or SWTC adds new buildings, these all increase the amount of money property owners pay in taxes. What you won’t see on your bill is transparency regarding how much of your tax money goes directly to support the Wisconsin Parent Choice and Racine Parent Choice programs — in the last five years alone, Mineral Point taxpayers have sent approximately $349,000 to these programs, as mandated by the state. This is real money from your taxes that is skimmed off the top to support Milwaukee and Racine students, but it isn’t publicly reported on your tax bill; rather it’s lumped in with all school taxes even though Mineral Point Unified School District students never see a dime of it.
In six of the last ten budget cycles, school districts received no increase in revenue limit authority. Sixty percent of those years was a $0 increase for students. Over that same time span, inflation has increased by 27.45%. Just like at home when the cost to turn on your lights or heat your home has gone up, they have also increased for the school district. Our water bill was affected by the most recent rate increase just like all of the homeowners in the city of Mineral Point. The cost of groceries has increased and it costs more to feed a family at home. It also costs more money to feed our students at school. The district gets hit with increased delivery charges because gas prices at the pump go up. The cost to put gas in the buses that transport students to and from school, and many other events hits the district with increased expenses. Every person is hit by inflation, including the employees of the school district.
If the school district revenue limit had kept up with inflation over the last fourteen years, the district would have received an additional $3,234 in state aid. If we multiply that by our current enrollment, that would be more than an additional $2,000,000 dollars in state aid. This money would have prevented the Mineral Point Unified School District from needing to pursue a referendum in November.
We will provide additional information coming up next Wednesday, September 18 at a Community Information Meeting in the Middle/High School Cafeteria (705 Ross Street) at 6 pm. Additionally, there is a wealth of information on our website, including clarifying questions, at: https://mineralpointschools.org/2024-referendum/
If you have additional questions or would like to schedule a time for me to come meet with your community group, please reach out at 608-987-0740 or mitch.wainwright@mp.k12.wi.us.
As always, thank you for your support of Pointer Nation.