RIVER FALLS — Upon approval of the state’s biennium budget, the River Falls School Board heard about how the district will be affected, including changes to property tax numbers.

Director of Finance and Facilities Lynette Coy said the school will receive a $325 revenue limit increase.

“The revenue limit is made up of tax levy and state aid,” Coy said. “When your revenue limit increases, the idea is that both the state aid and the tax levy increase as well to make up that increase.”

Coy said since no additional money was put into state aid in the budget, the burden entirely goes onto the tax levy.

“However, they are doing a one point almost five-billion-dollar income tax cut,” Board Vice President Alan Tuchtenhagen said. “What’s going on in an awful lot of people’s minds, myself included, is that personal income tax cuts and the state level, which are really popular and the governor and the legislature agreed to this, are translated increasingly into property tax increases all across the state.”

Tuchtenhagen said he does not believe this system is a good way to fund schools, but it is important to keep in mind when tax season comes around. He also mentioned a positive from his point of view being significant increases to special education reimbursement. The number was increased from 30% to 42% for the coming year. Board member Alison Page said in 1973, that percentage sat at 70%.

Superintendent David Bell said there are still a lot of variables to be checked off before exact numbers are determined.

Attendance policy

The board approved what Bell called a “massive overhaul” to the student attendance policy. Definitions for excused and unexcused absences, tardies and truancies were established in the policy, with a system for excused absences of 15 minutes to half the school day counting as half a day missed. Previously, each school in the district operated on different definitions, so the change brings consistency.

Habitual truancy was defined as five days absent for over 15 minutes without an “acceptable excuse.”

Students will have four excused absences due to illness under the condition that the parent notifies the school.

“That is what I would say is a unique component to our attendance policy that is not in lots of school district policies,” Bell said.

Bell said at other schools, there are often requirements for either a doctor’s note or the parents can notify the school of their student’s absence for any reason up to 10 days. In the instance where a child is sick for over four days, the school has the opportunity to request a written note from a medical professional. The 10-day general absence policy is also a part of River Falls’ policy, so a student could potentially be absent up to 14 days without repercussion (8% of school days).

The policy also outlines intervention and parental communication to ensure students are at school.

“We want to do everything proactively to avoid kids being gone from school, because we know the impact of kids being gone from school on their overall student success,” Bell said.

Other business

• Approved a 10-year Capital Maintenance Plan with each year having scheduled projects costing over $200,000.
• Approved employee, student and athletic handbooks for the 2025-26 year.
• Rocky Branch Art Teacher Audrey Johnson was recognized with a Wildcat Pride Award for extra efforts in the classroom and creating a space for students to express themselves.
• Approved a purchase of $145,784 for a route bus.