Getting Ready for a Great School Year

Getting Ready for a Great School Year
Posted on 08/17/2017
 Getting Ready for a Great School Year

Believe it or not, this is the last summer edition of the School Crossings column. By the time the next column is published in the newspaper on September 2, the school district’s annual meeting will have been held, school will have started, and the high school football team will already be one-third of the way through the regular season schedule.

Classes in the School District of the Menomonie Area start with a required orientation/check-in day on Friday, September 1. Students in grades K-8 need to report to school for approximately two hours in order to meet with teachers and get organized for the school year.  At the high school level, only the ninth grade students need to attend school for a day-long orientation program. Buses will not run in the school district until Tuesday, September 5, the first full day of school for all students in grades K-12.  More information about the start of the school year is available on the school district website.

The 2017 budget hearing and annual meeting for the School District of the Menomonie Area will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, August 28, in the Tiered Lecture Hall at Menomonie High School.  While the final budget and tax levy will be approved by the Board in October, the annual meeting provides an opportunity for electors to hear about budget projections, ask questions of district administrators, and provide feedback related to the school district’s financial operations. An official notice for the annual meeting and a copy of the current 2017-2018 budget summary is posted on the school district website.

The state legislature has not yet passed a state budget for this biennium, so the projections used by the school district have been based on the governor’s school funding proposal, which appears to have support in both the state assembly and senate. The 2017-2018 tax levy for school district operations, debt service, and community service is projected to be $16,754,678, a decrease of 0.65% compared to a tax levy of $16,865,844 for 2016-2017. State revenues are projected to account for 57% of the total budget in 2017-2018, which is a slight increase over the previous year. The projected tax rate for 2017-2018 is $9.72 per $1,000 of equalized value, which is a decrease of $0.06 from the actual mill rate of $9.72 a year ago. At this time we are projecting no increase in property values, but if reported values are higher, the projected mill rate will decrease. Actual tax rates will vary per property owner depending upon where one lives and the full or partial values of assessment. 

For those who might not have noticed, several fall activities and athletic seasons are already underway. The girls swimming team hosts a varsity invitational at MHS on Saturday, the boys soccer and the girls volleyball teams host events on Tuesday, and the girls tennis team hosts a meet on Thursday.  The first home varsity football game vs. Holmen is scheduled for 7:00 pm on Friday, August 25, and the next home girls golf meet is scheduled for Tuesday September 12.  Complete athletic schedules are available on the school district website.

Should school families or community stakeholders have any questions about the start of the school year, athletic schedules, or the annual meeting for the School District of the Menomonie Area , I invite you to visit me at the Administrative Service Center on Pine Avenue, or contact me at 715-232-1642. More information about our schools can be found on the school district website (www.sdmaonline.com), and I regularly post school-related information on Twitter (www.twitter.com/sdmaonline) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/menomonie.schools).