Monday’s Annual Meeting of the Board of Education opened with Dr. Ouellette presenting highlights of the District’s achievements and the Board’s focus areas. Click here to view Dr. Ouellette’s presentation.
Presentations were also provided by Board Treasurer Heather Logelin and Tim Erickson, Chief Financial and Operations Officer. Together, they covered the 2019-2020 proposed budget and levy, budget challenges and assumptions, and the impact on property taxes.
Budget Challenges:
- Address reduced state funding levels.
- Address instructional needs for all learners including: staff professional development, curriculum adoption, resource materials, and services to meet student needs.
- Maintain student to teacher ratios within class size guidelines.
- Sustainable funding for long-term maintenance and capital improvement plan for all facilities.
Budget Assumptions:
- State equalization aid is projected to be $836,000 less or 3.8% lower than last year and per pupil categorical aid has been increased by $88 per student under the first year of the biennial state budget or a $496,000 increase over last year.
- The estimated mill rate of $10.35 is down 1.54% from last year’s $10.51. Overall property valuation is estimated to increase 10.09% compared to 3.7% last year. The state average is 6.0%
- Total under levy stands at approximately $3,300,000, which is direct tax relief for property owners in the Hudson School District.
- Salaries and benefits are budgeted to increase $1,830,000 or 4.0% over last and include new staffing, staffing reductions, Teacher Salary Structure, Support Staff Compensation System, Hudson Lead Salary Structure, and Board approved increase of 2.5%