Kaukauna school board approves budget with a 4% staff salary increase, but a $700,000 shortfall looms in 2023-24
AnnMarie HiltonKAUKAUNA - A preliminary budget for the Kaukauna Area School District shows a balanced budget for the 2022-23 school year, but an anticipated shortfall of almost $700,000 for the 2023-24 school year.
The Kaukauna school board voted to unanimously approve the $60.5 million preliminary budget for the 2022-23 school year Monday night.
The numbers can still change between now and the final approval in October, but the district plans to use more than $2.5 million of its $4.5 million in federal pandemic relief money to balance the 2022-23 budget. School districts have received three waves of pandemic relief money starting in March 2020 that must be used by September 2024.
That will leave $622,000 in federal pandemic money to use for 2023-24, which will not be enough to balance the expected budget leaving the district with an expected shortfall of $681,000, according to documents on the district website.
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The budget voted on Monday allows the district to continue operating through the early part of the new fiscal year. A formal review of the 2022-23 budget will take place in October, which is also when the tax levy will be set.
The preliminary budget anticipates a tax levy of $12.1 million – a decrease of $350,000 from the previous year. That would lower the tax rate by 43 cents from $7.04 per $1,000 of property value to $6.61 per $1,000.
A closer look at spending increases
Regular education salaries: Between a 4% salary increase, staffing additions and retirements and resignations, there's an increase of $470,000 or 2.2% from the previous year in the preliminary budget.
Special education salaries: Like with regular education, special education salaries are set to increase by $630,000 or 12.3% from the previous year in the preliminary budget. This includes a 4% salary increase. A large part of the increase is due to unfilled educational assistant positions that were taken out of the 2021-22 operating budget and added back in for 2022-23.
Health insurance: The budget for health insurance from January to June 2023 went up 5% following the news of WEA Trust discontinuing its health insurance offerings. With the special education benefit costs, $330,000 was added to next year’s operating budget. The district is reevaluating next steps for securing a new insurance carrier for calendar year 2023.
Construction: The budget includes $1.37 million in construction costs for the Tanner Early Learning Center’s new office area and the driveway and entrance to River View Middle School. The project at Tanner came in at $800,000, which was about 30% higher than anticipated.
Reach AnnMarie Hilton at ahilton@gannett.com or 920-370-8045. Follow her on Twitter at @hilton_annmarie.