Edgar school board schedules referendum

The Edgar Board of Education last week Wednesday voted unanimously to put an $800,000 recurring revenue cap referendum question on the April 6 spring election ballot.

The spending plan, which received the highest support among three options in a district citizen survey, will phase in this new revenue cap authority over three years. If the plan is approved, the cap will increase by $350,000 in a first year, another $350,000 in a second year and, finally, $100,000 in a third year. The tax impact of the referendum will be blunted by the district using debt service reserves to be able to “under levy” in the first three years of the referendum. The district will use $125,000 in the first year, $165,000 in a second year and $110,000 in a third year to moderate the referendum tax increase.

The referendum is designed to head off district financial insolvency, the result of declining enrollment under state revenue caps, but also to address chronic capital needs in the school district, such as replacing asbestos tile in classrooms, installing a paint booth in the agricultural shop and investing in technology. If the referendum is approved, the district could afford to increase the number of course electives.

The school district’s property tax mil rate is $10.30 for the current year. If the referendum is approved, school taxes on an average-priced Marathon County home ($169,170) would increase in the first three years, between $30 and $39. School taxes would thereafter decrease by as much as $208 by the fifth year of the referendum.

If the referendum does not pass, school taxes would drop $115 in the first year and by $604 in the fifth year. At this point, however, the school district would likely be insolvent, having exhausted its $626,000 balance by 2022-23 and, as required by state revenue caps, run deficits that will exceed $808,000 by 2025-26. The future of the school district would be in jeopardy.

A tax rate projection if the referendum is approved is as follows:

_ 2021-22, $10.53.

_ 2022-23, $10.49.

_ 2023-24, $10.48.

_ 2024-25, $7.89.

_ 2025-26, $9.07.

An alternate tax rate projection should the referendum not pass is as follows:

_ 2021-22, $9.62.

_ 2022-23, $8.56.

_ 2023-24, $8.51.

_ 2024-24, $5.49.

_ 2025-26, $6.73.

Board members approved putting the referendum question on the ballot without much discussion.

Board member Gary Lewis asked about a timeline for promised capital improvements if the referendum were to pass.

District bookkeeper Morgan Mueller said care was taken to make sure the projects could be paid for with the referendum, but that they will be phased in over a course of years. School district administrator Dr. Cari Guden said that she and Mueller, along with board members, would give referendum presentations to community organizations and municipal boards.

Board members talked about the district paying for informational items, including lawn signs, to get the word out about the referendum.

In either school district business:

_ Food service director Rebecca Larson reported that she serves between 400 and 440 lunches each day and between 210 and 250 breakfasts. She said breakfast meals were up. Students, she said, are able to grab breakfast meals right out of the kitchen to eat in classrooms.

Larson said that the food service staff has adjusted to the challenges posed by COVID-19. “There’s nothing we can’t face,” she said.

The director said the food service program ran a fifth annual food drive and were able to donate Christmas meals and snacks to a dozen needy Edgar families.

Principal Tom McCarty said high school and middle school students will eat lunch separately, but in only two cohorts with six feet social distancing

_ District bookkeeper Morgan Mueller said the district was benefitting budget-wise from a mild winter and relatively low bus fuel prices. She noted the district has spent approximately $60,000 of the $87,000 received from the federal CARES Act.

_ It was reported the district has 13 students who have opted for virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic, including five at the middle school and seven at the high school. High school principal McCarty said he has 10 high schoolers and five middle school students who struggle to be engaged with virtual learning and, in a second semester, school rules will be tightened to hold students more accountable for learning during virtual education.

Board member Corey Mueller appreciated this change. “A clear, concise set of rules is not a bad thing,” he said.

_ Administrator Guden reported on fall sports participation: 18 girls and two boys in cross country; 25 girls in volleyball; and 50 boys in football.

_ It was reported high school teacher Kris Federwitz will teach a careers unit over a CESA webinar.

_ McCarty reported that high school resource hour, shifted to the end of the school day, will be moved to a different time because of scheduling issues with staff split between the high school and middle school.

_ Board members approved advisor positions, including Emily Timm, fall musical director; Andrew Diestelhorst and Amanda Albrecht, technical director; and Tina Higgins, Ski Club.

_ The board approved spring sport coaches. They are: baseball, Connor Handrick, head coach; Mitch Mueller, varsity assistant coach; Shawn Bunkelman, junior varsity coach; Brian Halvorson and Jeremy Apfelbeck, middle school coaches; softball, Angela Totzke, head coach; Kelsey Boeger, middle school coach; track: Greg Streit, head coach; Andrew Lukasko, Dennis Webb, Andi English and Nathan Dahl, assistant coaches.

_ Board members hired two custodians, Paige Manderfield and Josh Kroening. A fifth grade intern, Caitlyn Kolehouse, was hired.

_ The board scheduled teacher inservice workdays on Monday, Jan. 25; Friday, Feb. 26, Wednesday, April 28, and Wednesday, May 19.