When I decided to run for school board, I couldn’t honestly say that the intricacies of a $64,000,000 budget were exactly what I had in mind. Many of us in my district are privileged enough that we often don’t have to worry about how these budgetary decisions affect us, or how they affect our children, or our taxes. After all, many people in Waunakee are not living on the margins where rent/mortgage/property taxes fluctuations could spell disaster.
[It’s important to note there are many in the Waunakee area that do live on fixed incomes, including those on SSI, SSDI, or are otherwise in poverty or living on limited means. More on them in a later discussion on housing (or the abject lack of it).]
As of the 2018-19 date, the parents of children attending the Waunakee Community School District are significantly more affluent (on average) than every other school district in the county. The level of poverty among students in Waunakee is among the lowest in the state. Only 6.9% (n=299) of students in Waunakee (n=4339) are classified as “economically disadvantaged”, which is shockingly lower than our neighbors (Middleton is 18.7%, Madison is 48.2%, DeForest is 17.7%, Sun Prairie is 27.2%).
As an aside, WCSD is also among the least diverse, at 88.1% white.
Point being – when compared to our neighbors, I can understand when we have the privilege to “not worry” about budgets. WCSD has a controlled level of growth, a growing tax base (thanks largely to high-income residential growth in Waunakee, Westport and Middleton). and a history of prudent fiscal management.
With that brief history of where I’m coming from, I present the 2019-2020 4th draft of the Waunakee Community School District’s budget.
Of particular note:
1. We’ve created a new “Communications Director” position, which should ideally increase the quality of the district’s communication with parents, staff, children and the overall community.
2. We’ve already created and hired a new Asst. Principal position for the High School, which was apparently a decade overdue.
3. The district is covering effectively half of the Village of Waunakee’s costs for upkeep to local tennis courts at Ripp Park (which the district uses), which indirectly lowers Village expenses that would otherwise be stuck to Waunakee taxpayers only.
4. Most importantly, we’ve allocated enough remaining funding to ensure that our staff receives salary increases to the largest amount possible under current state law without an operating referendum. We’ve budgeted for salary increases of 3.3% across the board, with zero increase on dental or health insurance. While I believe our staff is significantly underpaid, this represents the kind of pay increase that our teachers deserve, and will keep Waunakee in a position to outpeform our neighbors on every level.
Waunakee & Friends 