By: Brook D. Curtiss
Publisher
***Editor’s note: After watching a series of years of Wakefield Community Schools’ issues with funding, the Publisher decided it might be informative to attempt to give a full picture of the school’s current funding issues and where the expenses are coming from.
This story was not solicited by the school, and though it was verified for accuracy by the administration, all information was obtained from the Nebraska Department of Education website.***
In light of the school’s recent budget, amended budget, failed budget vote and now reintroduction of a budget for the 2024-25 school year, an explanation of the expenses of Wakefield Community Schools shows that for its size, student population and state aid – the funding required to cover the school’s budget might be near impossible to raise through property taxes alone.
At Wakefield’s current $5.5 million property tax request and $.80 levy per $100 of valuation, if the school went to its current maximum, with the current valuation, of around $.95 levy per $100 of valuation, it would raise $6.5 million for the total budget of $11.3 million.
The school currently reports $1.15 million in the building fund, expects to receive $2.056 million in state aid, and reported a cash reserve of around $2.3 million, which would net the school – in very round terms – about $1.5 million in reserve – which was a close approximation to the first budget that was spoken against by some members of the community, and the board adjusted to its current level of $.80/$100 of valuation.
Superintendent Matt Farup said last week that he had hoped to use some funds to begin piecing projects together to do things like get rid of the mobile classrooms, renovate with some smaller projects and update some other classrooms, but with the lowering of the levy, those projects cannot occur, and the school will have to dip into its cash reserves for this year’s budget.
Property taxes serve as the major contributor for every school in Nebraska’s budget.
According to Nebraska Department of Revenue, Nebraska raises about $5.3 billion in property taxes each year, its largest local revenue source (added to sales and income taxes), and of that total, about $2.8 billion in direct taxes and $318 million in bonds went to statewide K-12 schools.
Wakefield finds itself in a “top 20% situation” when it comes to state aid.
Of the 244 Nebraska School districts 55 receive more than $2 million in State Aid, including Wakefield, with a good portion falling between $1 and $2 million – but everyone receiving something in this last iteration of the state aid formula, where previously a number of districts were “fully equalized” and received no funds from the state.
On periods of “bubbles” Wakefield Community Schools has, since 1991, received at a low $204,407, and at its peak recently in 2023-24, $2.69 million.
In the last year – Wakefield Community Schools has received a goodly-portion of those funds in state aid in conjunction with LB34 that was passed almost two years ago, and recently amended during a special session in August.
Those funds are expected by the Governor’s office and the Legislature to offset some property tax request on the local level, which the Wakefield Board responded with, lowering the levy from $1.01 to $.78 per $100 of valuation – but following last year’s failed bond election and an increase in valuation of 11% this past year, Wakefield Community Schools still requested an increase in property taxes from $.78 cents per $100 of valuation to $.942434 per $100 this year.
That increase was met with resistance by the community at the Joint Public Hearing and September Board of Education meeting, and the Board reduced that request drastically from a 24% increase to a modest 6% increase, or $5.5 million in tax request for a total budget of $11.3 million.
That $11.3 million included around $2 million for state aid this year, and other funds, including “dipping into savings” said Superintendent Matt Farup.
The amended budget called for an total tax rate of $.809384 – but for reasons on both sides of the discussion – the Board denied the budget at the September 23 meeting, and discussions were forced to continue up past press time on Tuesday.
Superintendent Farup said that the Board would have to do something quickly to meet the Nebraska Department of Education’s deadline of September 30 to have a budget turned in. the NDE requires budgets to be submitted by September 30, or penalties can be levied against the school.
A budget committee meeting was planned for Tuesday, and the new budget hearing will be held on Monday, Sept. 30 at 5:30 p.m. at the school.
By the Numbers
What follows is an attempt at an explanation of the “perfect storm” that the community of Wakefield and the Wakefield Community Schools is experiencing – a population boom, outpacing other local schools in student population by, in some cases almost double, and increased expenses with that growth, but also a below-average sized district, about half the valuation as neighboring districts, and aging infrastructure that cannot hold the number of students that are attending.
Last year the Board of Education purchased some “mobile classrooms” that are still in use, just to hold the students that are attending.
On paper, the growth that Wakefield is experiencing breaks many of the projections and expectations that the state, community and local school district would have forecasted 10 or 15 years ago – and there are some significant growing pains to deal with those changes.
Wakefield Community Schools covers (very) roughly 20 miles north to south and 10 miles east to west around the community.
It touches three different counties – Wayne, Dixon and Thurston - and is bracketed by six other school district’s taxing areas – Wayne, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, Allen, Emerson-Hubbard, Pender and Wisner-Pilger.
From the figures nearby this story, Wakefield has at least up to 70 more students than the next closest similar situated school (barring Wayne).
But, Wakefield also has one of the smallest school districts not only in square miles, but also in valuation.
Wakefield’s 594 (2023-24) youth and 12:1 student/teacher ratio is serviced by only $620 million in taxable valuation, while a school like Pender with 171 less youth, has a higher taxable area at $666 million.
Wakefield has 198 more students than Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, but has $400 million less in valuation to be able to raise funding from to service the needs of those children.
To help make up for that district size and total valuation shortfall, Wakefield does receive more state aid than most of its local contemporaries, but during the State government’s last changes to the system, the school is actually receiving 24% less than it did last year.
In 2024-25 the School is expected to receive $2.056 million in state aid, a 23.82% decrease from 2023-24’s $2.669 million, which was an 87% increase from the $1.4 million the school received in 2022-23. Those funds come from the state, not directly from local taxpayers.
Ranging back to 2004-05, Wakefield’s state aid has been a variably moving target, dropping down to $240,000 in 2016-17 and topping out at $2.69 million in 2023-24, making it difficult to add into the entire budget system.
In addition, Wakefield’s “English Language Learners” student population, which always causes more expenses, is also much higher than nearly every district, almost statewide. The addition to the community and school population help “widen the base” and provide more population to the school, which results in higher state aid, but also in expense.
Omaha Public Schools reports at 26% ELL student population, and Wakefield pushes nearly 60% in the district, making expenses that much higher. Statewide, the average per district of ELL students is 7.1%. A lot of the ELL expenses are listed as a regular budget item, which creates a special “need” in the state aid formula, but is not entirely reimbursed directly.
Of the 93 counties in Nebraska, only 15 counties have more ELL population than Wayne County, pushed primarily by Wakefield’s figures.
(These figures are from the most recent searchable results, and may not be up to date this year accurate, from a 2023-24 report released on January 30, 2024 by the Nebraska Department of Education.)
Student populations and teacher/student ratio in each of those districts include:
Wakefield: 594 (12:1)
Wayne: 1,009 (16:1)
LCC: 396 (10:1)
Allen: 144 (7:1)
E-H: 223 (10:1)
Pender: 423 (13:1)
W-P: 453 (10:1)
District Valuations/Budgets in each of those districts include:
Wakefield: $620,267,372 val.
Wayne: $1,185,196,049 val.
LCC: $1,102,258,192 val.
Allen: $405,752,096 val.
E-H: $519,030,716 val.
Pender: $666,079,250 val.
W-P: $1,068,773,326 val.
The most recent Annual Financial Report from 2022-23 (2024 won’t be available until November) indicates that Wakefield, during that year, spent:
Total Instruction: $5.27 million
Regular Instruction: $3.669 million
English proficiency programs cost the school: $678,388
That regular instruction figure breaks down to:
Salaries: $2.1 million
Benefits: $999,615