Arrowhead UHS projects 15% state-aid loss, balances 2025-26 budget with higher levy

A staff member from Arrowhead UHS School District presented the district’s proposed 2025–26 general fund budget at a public budget hearing, saying the budget is balanced but will require a larger tax levy after the district learned it could lose up to 15% of state aid.

The staff member said the district built the preliminary budget on a membership of 1,784 (a three‑year average) and an enrollment of 1,862 students seated in district schools. “The revenue limit controls 84% of our revenues,” the staff member told attendees, explaining how state revenue‑limit law and state aid determine how much of the district’s operating budget comes from property taxes.

Nut graf: The district’s finance presentation showed operating revenue of about $30.5 million, a planned transfer to capital reserves, a fund balance of roughly $12.7 million, and an estimated property tax levy of roughly $19.3–19.9 million for the coming year. District staff said the state’s 2025–27 biennial budget raised the revenue limit by $325 per student but did not add new dollars to the state aid pot, which will push property taxes higher across many Wisconsin districts; Arrowhead expects to lose about 15% of its aid under the formula.

District staff explained the state funding mechanics and the local budget picture in plain terms. Under Wisconsin’s revenue‑limit framework, the district multiplies revenue limit membership by a per‑member maximum (about $11,800 per member in the presentation) to set the district’s revenue…