The Manitowoc Public School District wants the public to know how the district gets its money.
The school board held their first Public Information Session last week regarding the school’s budget, tax levy, and revenue limit.
School District Business Director Angela Erdmann explained about the different aspects of how the district is funded starting with the revenue limit and how it’s calculated.
Erdmann says it’s important for everyone to learn about these things, especially with declining enrollment in the district.
“Enrollments declining and so our funding is going to decline overtime,” she explained. “And we depend upon right now with an operation referendum in place, we depend upon the community’s support for those dollars, and we need to really answer the community and make sure that they understand how we use the money and how the operational referendum dollars are.”
The district right now is spending about $11,000 per student, but that’s just below the state average of $11,606.
The district is getting $325 more per student this school year, but it’s still below average.
Erdmann also went into detail about general aid which helps calculate how much the district gets from the state.
With everything, MPSD is getting more state aid than the average district to offset the revenue limit authority.
Erdmann also discussed why the district got more money during the COVID pandemic to offset property taxes and how tax money from residents is used in the district.
You can find the entire presentation and hear questions from the public on the district’s YouTube Channel.
