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Oshkosh board approves 2025–26 tax levy; district cites voucher program and keeps referendum debt unchanged
Summary
The Oshkosh Area School District Board approved a $67.6 million levy for 2025–26, an increase the district says is driven in part by a state voucher calculation; administrators said referendum debt and planned debt service remain unchanged.
The Oshkosh Area School District Board approved the district's 2025'26 tax levy on a roll-call vote after a presentation from district staff.
Chief district staff member Drew Nihans said the levy calculation includes voucher payments placed into the state's revenue-limit formula and noted the voucher calculation for this year is just over $9 million. Nihans said the district's final levy landed 'just over $67.6 million' and the estimated mill rate is about $7.81 per $1,000 of equalized value.
District officials told the board the voucher program creates a two-year cash-flow pattern: the district must include the voucher expense in the levy the first year and receives offsetting state aid in the following year because aid is calculated on a lag. Nihans said, "The voucher calculation was just over $9,000,000 for this year, and that does, increase what we will be taxing or our taxing authority for the school district." He added the district typically becomes whole over the two-year cycle.
Board members emphasized the distinction between the levy (the dollar amount the district sets) and the mill rate reported on equalized value, which is a state standard for comparing taxing jurisdictions. Multiple trustees urged clearer public communications distinguishing equalized-value mill rates from assessed-value tax bills residents receive from municipal treasurers.
The board's action left referendum debt unchanged at $21.5 million, per Nihans' presentation. Trustees said referendum debt service and operational spending were factors in drawing the levy but that the district sought to limit the levy increase; administrators noted the adopted levy came in about $500,000 lower than an earlier projection discussed at the budget hearing.
The board vote followed public and board discussion about how the voucher program, state aid timing and local assessed values interact to determine the actual tax impact on individual property owners. Administrators said the equalized-value mill rate is a standard calculation and that final assessed-value bills will depend on municipal revaluations and local assessment changes.
The levy resolution passed; the record of the motion and roll-call names was noted in the meeting minutes.
