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Platteville budget projects near $1 million shortfall as staff costs and bus-route changes bite
Summary
District staff told the board the 2023-24 unaudited figures leave a projected deficit closer to $1 million than the $1.4 million approved, citing salary and insurance increases, deferred maintenance and route consolidation that may lengthen some student commutes.
Platteville School District staff told the board that the district's current budget position leaves it closer to a $1,000,000 deficit than the $1,400,000 figure the board approved earlier.
"We approved a deficit spending budget of $1,400,000. . . I anticipate this number to be closer to 1,000,000 deficit spending than 1,400,000," the staff member said while reviewing audited and current-year columns and a proposed budget.
The staff member said about 84% of district expenditures are salaries, wages and benefits and that the proposed budget reflects a 2% increase to staff salaries and a 6% rise in health insurance costs. To narrow the shortfall, the proposal defers or reduces roughly $856,946.02 in non-core items and reduces four support staff positions, including not refilling a counselor position at the Neil Wilkins building.
Board members pressed for specifics about how operational cuts would affect families. "How does that affect the families? Have the families been notified?" asked one board member. The staff member said route consolidation followed Warco's route-review process and that families would be notified after sign-up; two existing routes would cover students previously served by the combined third route and some families should expect longer ride times.
The staff member also cited an increase in a shared routing/parent-notification service the district uses (split previously as roughly $3,000 each) that jumped to a $10,000 total fee this year, eroding some expected savings from reducing a bus route. Non-program transfers between Fund 10 and Fund 27 were also highlighted: audited transfers totaled about $2.1 million over three years and staff project about $2.8 million for the coming year, a pressure that could push more districts to consider operating referendums.
Why this matters: the combination of rising personnel costs, insurance increases and constrained state revenue limits leaves the district with narrowing options; staff warned that repeated deferrals of maintenance and technology purchases carry increasing operational risk.
Next steps: the budget presented is the working proposal staff will continue to refine ahead of the district's October meeting, when the board must adopt the official budget for the school year.
