Dateline Milton Schools; On Fund Balance: On the Fund Balance of Evansville Schools

The Milton School Board recently had to decide whether to cut staff positions or save less than they had hoped for to put in their Fund Balance. If you click on the post you will note that it was a difficult decision with lots of emotions of parents and school board members.

The fact that leapt off the page in that article, was the statement that the AVERAGE fund balance for school districts in Wisconsin is 16% of annual expenditures.

Consider then the current fund balance situation of Evansville School District. The annual expenditures published in The Evansville Review today and as will be discussed at the Annual Budget meeting on Monday August 28th at 7PM in the EHS Media Room is $15,447,480. If Evansville were in the AVERAGE situation, the fund balance would be $2,471,596. Instead, our ending fund balance is $983,877. This is VERY BELOW AVERAGE.

Why does this matter?

Putting this all in a personal perspective, what happens when your checkbook balance is low and your savings are zero. This tends to put a lot of tension in your everyday life. Years ago, it was said that Americans had about 30 days cash on hand in the case of an emergency. And about as much food on hand. The situation for families I will leave you to review for yourself. The numbers say that Americans are living day to day and have little "reserve."

So--as a school district, it is a worthwhile objective to increase the fund balance to AVERAGE levels so that the district can face surprises without the sense of panic of being on the edge of little reserves. School districts with AVERAGE or ABOVE AVERAGE reserves can look to make infrastructure ie. heating and energy improvements that can prolong the life of buildings. School districts that have little reserve cannot. The list goes on and on.


At the last minute, in the August Evansville School Board meeting, there was the request to pay for $7500 for new football helmets. On the argument that they were needed for safety. It was approved.

On the Observer polls, Evansville folks have approved the increase of athletic fees rather than cut some sports etc. No increase from the $55 was proposed or approved. Many Madison schools have fees over $100.

Somehow there has to be revenue to pay for expenses---and increasing fees for the EXTRAS has to be one of the items on the agenda. Nobody is beyond the discussion. As I see it, it would be prudent to increase fees for the EXTRAS rather than cut teaching positons, and classroom related expenses.

The historical lack of adequate revenue due to rate caps has caused the erosion of the fund balance in Evansville Schools. Only painful increases of fees can help raise the balance so that the school board can effectively deal with the normal surprises that confront them. That is how I see it.

And you?

You make the call.