School District of Waukesha previews $223.2 million preliminary 2024–25 budget, projects 1% levy increase

The School District of Waukesha presented its preliminary $223,200,835 budget for the 2024–25 fiscal year at a public hearing, with district staff projecting a 1% increase in the property-tax levy and emphasizing declining enrollment and one-time facility spending funded from district reserves.

Darren Clark, who delivered the budget summary, described the hearing as a community-feedback opportunity and said, "This work began last November and won't be finalized until late October when the board will act on the final property tax levy and, property tax levy and budget." Clark told the board the preliminary budget is available in print and on the district website.

Why it matters: Clark said enrollment has fallen from 13,143 students in a 2012 fall count to 10,899 this past year and the district projects an additional roughly 2% decline, noting outside analyses foresee multi-year declines. Because Wisconsin districts' revenue limits multiply a per-pupil revenue figure by resident counts, declining enrollment reduces local revenue even where the per-pupil revenue authority rises. Clark explained the state's revenue-limit authority increased by $325 to $11,325 per pupil for 2024–25 but that fewer students will offset that per-student gain.

Key numbers and priorities: Clark gave adoption-format totals of $223,200,835 in expenditures and $215,000,578 in revenues. He said Fund 10 revenues are set to drop by about $4.4 million (2.66%) and Fund 10 expenditures by about $12 million, largely because ESSER one-time federal funds have been fully expended and because the district used fund balance last year for one-time projects. Clark said the Special Education budget is set to increase by 7.97% to meet staffing and transportation needs.

Capital funding and debt: Clark said the district has invested or is in the process of investing approximately $15.7 million of district funds into facilities for 2024–25 and "did not issue any debt for these projects to be completed." He described completed Fund 43 referendum projects and noted the district holds about $6.5 million on hand toward future bond payments while reporting $16.7 million in outstanding principal. Clark said refinancing and advanced payments have produced $1.7 million in interest savings so far and that reserves could allow paying off remaining bonds on the call date of April 1, 2026, which he estimated would save taxpayers "just over half a million dollars" more in interest.

Levy and aid assumptions: The board settled on a preliminary 1% levy increase and Clark projected a tax-rate decrease of about 3.81% (roughly $0.22 per $1,000 of home value), while noting uncertainty in the state aid estimate. He said the district is conservatively assuming a 4% increase in state aid for planning purposes because state aid estimates (DPI) will not be finalized until July 1 and because reporting issues in other districts could affect statewide calculations.

Public input and next steps: Chair (name not stated) invited public comment; no community members had signed up to speak. Clark and the board said they will continue to monitor enrollment and state-aid estimates and expect to return in late October for formal budget and levy adoption.

The meeting concluded with the board reiterating how the preliminary numbers will be refined before final adoption in October.