The Shawano School Board approved its final 2026-27 budget Oct. 26 with the tax rate going up slightly and the spending limit increasing by about $800,000.
During the Shawano School District’s annual meeting earlier in the evening, Bryan Kadlec, business services director, presented a budget for over $34.6 million. The 2025-26 budget showed spending around $33.8 million, although revenues were only $33.5 million, resulting a $326,234 gap that was filled with the district’s general fund.
“When we began the year here, we implemented a strategy phase that ultimately looked at needing to bring our expenditures in alignment with our revenue,” Kadlec said. “We had a lot of tough conversations about the fact that our enrollment has dropped significantly.”
The levy limit increased by about $1.2 million from $13.7 million to $14.9 million, and the tax rate goes from $5.56 per $1,000 of equalized value to $5.69. That means someone who owns a $200,000 piece of property can expect to pay $1,138 in school taxes.
The tax rate is increasing because the district’s property values only increased by 6.6%, even though values had increased by more than 10% each of the last two years.
The district is getting less in general aid from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, about $17 million. It received almost $17.8 million in the 2025-26 school year, even with a $325 per pupil increase approved during the state’s last budget in 2025. That comes from a drop in students from 2,179 last year to 2,132 this year, part of an ongoing trend where the student population continues to decrease.
“We’ve dropped in the last five years by about 300 students,” Kadlec said. “We looked at the student-to-staff ratios and made some reductions.”
The district’s fund balance, which is utilized to pay bills and staff while waiting for state aid to come in, is over $10.9 million, which comes to 31.6% of the district’s total expenditures. Financial experts always recommend a fund balance that falls within 25-30% of expenditures.
“We’re in a healthy place with that, with the unevenness of revenue going into the state biennial budget,” Kadlec said.
About $1.8 million of the district’s revenue limit is going out to private school vouchers, according to Kadlec. He noted the amount has increased from year to year.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
