Speaking of Education

The annual meeting for the Lake Holcombe School District will be held in the Elementary IMC on Monday, October 25th, 2021 at 6:00PM. The annual meeting is an opportunity for the electors of the school district to participate in the process of approving a budget for the operation of their local school district. The following is an overview of how the budget has come together for the 2021-22 school year. Budget books are available in the school office or on the district’s website at www.lakeholcombe.k12.wi.us. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

The 2021 general fund revenue limit for the Lake Holcombe School District is $3,915,381. This includes a three year $850,000 non-recurring referendum to exceed revenue limits. This is the third year of the existing referendum to exceed revenue limits. We will ask the electors to approve a referendum again next spring. The state budget included a per member revenue increase of $0 (zero). This is the first time in many years that there was no increase in per member revenue. This is going to create future budget challenges for all Wisconsin school districts.  The community service fund levy is proposed to be $55,000. The October 15 certified amount of state aid is projected at $126,833.  This is down from the 2020-21 state aid amount of $146,803.  The mill rate for tax year 2021 is projected to be $8.10 per thousand. The owner of a $100,000 house will pay $810 in school taxes. This is down from 2020 when the school tax/mill rate was $8.81. The October 1 equalized value of the Lake Holcombe School District is $489,703,994. This is up from the October 2020 equalized value which was $447,317,079. The budget serves as a management tool to guide and direct the financial operations of the school district. There certainly will be changes to revenues and expenses as the year progresses. 

The district continues to be vibrant and successful. This year we welcomed several new staff including a new school principal. Numerous curriculum updates have been implemented. Technology infrastructure and hardware updates have been implemented. COVID necessitated us to transition to a 1:1 device initiative in a very short period of time. We continue to use our capital improvement fund to complete deferred maintenance projects. This summer we were able to put a new roof on the elementary portion of the building and replace our boilers that heat the entire building. More building and infrastructure projects are planned for this year.

 The students and staff of the Lake Holcombe School District appreciate the continued support from the electors of the Lake Holcombe School District.