Gilman schools keeps eye on future with budget talks

The 2023-24 budget was a lengthy topic of conversation during the Gilman School Board meeting on September 18. Gilman is hosting their annual meeting on October 2 and therefore the board needs to present a budget to the community. During the annual meeting the community gives their recommendations and the board will then make a decision during their October board meeting.

Dr. Walter Leipart shared with the board a recommended budget. He went through the revenues and expenditures the school district faces and compared these numbers to the 2021-22 and 2022-23 budgets.

Many of the differences in the budget compared to previous years were easily explained by positions being added and/or moved to different sections of the budget.

One big change in the revenue will be ESSER Funds, which will be coming to an end. ESSER stands for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. The program is a federal program administered by the Department of Education in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the loss of these funds Leipart stated, “there are probably going to be some decisions we have to make.” He also added that, “We are in a healthy position, but there will probably have to be some sort of budget reductions for next year.”

One of the key issues that Leipart wanted to make the board aware of is looking at what the future holds. Leipart stated that enrollment numbers are projected to continue to decline the next couple of years. This is something that the school district has been projecting for a number of years. One aspect that has been a surprise is the increase in property values. Leipart informed the board that property values have gone up 24.1 percent. He explained that when a district starts to get property rich, they receive less state aid. Although it may not have an effect on today’s budget, it will certainly have an impact on the budget in future years.

The board did approve the budget for publication and presentation at the annual meeting.

Wisconsin Rural Partners Community forum

Leipart informed the board Gilman has been chosen to represent Taylor County by the Wisconsin Rural Partners to host a community forum on Wednesday, October 11 from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

This is the 12th annual series of small community forums hosted by WRP. Each year the forums are held in four locations in October and November. The reason for these forums is to facilitate dialogue between small communities, address common issues, network, share best practices and identify strategies to address shared concerns. Representatives from many state and regional resource partners will be on hand to connect with attendees and provide guidance on specific concerns introduced during the sessions.

People interested in small town rural Wisconsin are invited to attend, including those involved in quality of life issues, business, government, education, the nonprofit sector, civic and community development.

Wisconsin Rural Partners is a neutral, nonprofit organization that brings together a cross section of residents, organizations and leaders that cross political affiliations and organizational boundaries to advance initiatives important to rural communities throughout the state.

Some Ag courses count for Science Credit

The Gilman School District is continuing to move forward with their plan to have agriculture courses approved for science equivalency and credit. Leipart informed the board that they have met the criteria for a curriculum crosswalk. According to the Wisconsin DPI website, a curriculum crosswalk refers to a process used to cross reference or align the learning outcomes of the courses in the pathway (In this situation agriculture classes and science classes).

After meeting the criteria for the crosswalk, the next step is board approval. The board was in favor and approved the motion.

The final step is that the plan will go to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for approval. This process typically takes two to three months. If approved by the Wisconsin DPI, the district will then will be able to award science credits.

The two agriculture classes that the district is looking at getting approved for science credits are “Intro to Agriscience” and “Intro to Animal Science.” There may be more classes the district will try to get approved in the future.

Superintendent Report

Dr. Leipart gave the superintendent report during the board meeting. He first talked about inservice and stated, “Inservice, both new teachers and returning teachers went very very well.” He also mentioned that the open house was very well attended.

Last Friday was the third Friday in September. The third Friday in September is the day the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requires the district to gather and report an enrollment headcount of students receiving primary educational services from the district. Leipart reported to the board on the school districts numbers, although these numbers don’t have to be finalized until this Friday. The count of students in the building was 278 students. The number of students in e-succeed was 81. Numbers are down slightly compared to the 202223 school year. The count in 2022-23 was 301 in the building and 76 in e-Succeed. Leipart attributed a big portion of the lower numbers in the building to last year’s graduating class having 24 students and the incoming 4k students having 13 students.

The Design Wisconsin program that is scheduled to take place in Gilman this upcoming spring was rescheduled to March 22-23. Leipart shared information about what the Design Wisconsin team will be doing when they are in Gilman. The Design Wisconsin team, which includes 5-10 professionals with diverse expertise (architecture, landscape architecture, planning, design, economic development, art and natural and social sciences), will be in Gilman for two days. The event consists of a flurry of interactive activities that encourage the exchange of ideas. Leipart added that the group will be focusing on Gilman’s downtown area and that he is looking forward to the event.

Leipart also informed the board that board President, Cheryl Ustianowski will be recognized at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards fall regional meeting that will be held on October 4.

Other Board Notes

Dana Bradley was rehired as a paraprofessional. She has previously worked in the district.

The Gilman baseball and softball teams have been fundraising to add another storage building near the fields. The current storage building is on the smaller side and the new Gator that they bought doesn’t fit in the other shed. Leipart said, “they are prepared to buy the building themselves.” Leipart explained that the board needs to approve the building for insurance reasons, as the building would be becoming school property. Board member Darrell Thompson asked, “so we are basically accepting a donation?” Leipart told him that that was correct. The board did vote and approve the new storage building.