Manitowoc committee recommends $114 million preliminary budget to board

The Finance & Facilities Committee of the Manitowoc School District voted to recommend a $114,000,000 preliminary budget to the full Board of Education, the committee’s Chair announced following a staff presentation.

The recommendation advances the district’s plan to adopt an earlier timeline for budget hearings and to allow purchasing to begin on July 1. A staff member who presented the proposal told the committee the preliminary document is a “best estimate” intended to let departments prepare purchase orders ahead of the fiscal year.

Committee members were shown the district’s current fund balances and spending trends. The presenter said the district’s Fund 10 had a fund balance of $24,345,000, about 30.4% of Fund 10 expenditures, and described that reserve level as leaving the district well positioned to avoid short-term borrowing while awaiting state aid estimates in July. “It’s a $114,000,000 budget,” the staff member said when summarizing the draft totals.

The presentation broke down several major cost drivers: purchase services that the presenter put at roughly $19.5 million (including about $7,176,000 for vouchers, $4,900,000 for open-enrollment costs and a projected $2,300,000 for a new YMCA partnership for 4K). The presenter also noted a projected reduction in the share of the budget spent on salaries — from prior-year percentages around 43.7% and 42.8% to a projected 41.1% — and flagged a substantial increase in stipends (from under $200,000 in 2022–23 to north of $400,000) as an item for further review.

Special education purchase services were identified as an area of significant growth, driven largely by private vendor contracts and off-site placements; the presenter said special education staff reported roughly 500 such placements. For capital work, the presenter noted the summer construction scope at about $6.7 million while Fund 49 is budgeted at $10,149,000, leaving capacity to schedule additional projects outside the busiest weeks.

On food services, the staff member said Fund 50 currently holds $459,000 but that recent years required drawing down the fund balance ($200,000 in 2023–24 and $384,000 the prior year). Committee members discussed expanding summer feeding and increasing reimbursement rates; staff said they would follow up with the colleague coordinating summer feeding.

Committee member discussion concluded with a motion to recommend approval of the preliminary budget to the board; the motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote. The committee’s recommendation does not adopt final levy or aid determinations, which the presenter said would be updated in August after final aid estimates are received.