SPRING VALLEY — The Spring Valley School Board approved the annual levy and budget and discussed advertising and fundraising measures for some potential upcoming projects during the Oct. 22 meeting.

The board has gone through frequent budget talks over the last few months including the general public’s annual meeting, but approving the 2025-26 levy and adoption of the budget is what makes it all official.

Local taxpayers will be levied $4,200,411 this year, with the State of Wisconsin funding in the neighborhood of $6 million.

“It all depends on how property rich or property poor you are,” District Administrator John Groh said. “We’re not as property rich as a Prescott, so the state kicks in more money to operate our budget.”

Upon evaluation, there is $572 million in property value within the school district. The number increased by 10% this year, after going down 19% last year because of an overassessment in Gilman, Groh said. Because of the value loss a year ago, the state funded Spring Valley $400,000 more as they were deemed “property poor,” pushing the levy down.

“Local taxpayers are going to see about a 10.2% increase in their levy when it really could have been 21% with that referendum passing,” Groh said.

The mill rate will be 7.34, remaining nearly the same from 7.35 a year ago. The levy was $3.8 million last year to $4.2 million this year, with the increase in property value keeping the mill rate at bay. Groh said most districts in the area are seeing a 10-12% increase in taxes despite not passing a referendum like Spring Valley did because of schools tacking on $325 per pupil that the state approved.

Spring Valley will be funded at $11,650 per pupil for the 2025-26 year.

“That is the lowest funding level for a public school that you can get,” Groh said.

Next year, that lower revenue limit total will be increased to $11,975 because of the state’s recent changes to grant an extra $325 in spending authority. That number comes from the taxpayers rather than the state, but it was seen as a much-needed relief for many of the districts with low funding.

The Finance Committee recommended the budget and it was approved by the board.

Advertising and Scoreboards

The district is starting a fundraising group of about 10 community members who applied for a 501(c)(3) and is looking to raise funds for a fence, lights, bleachers and a press box for the track which are not built into the referendum. To get started, the group is looking at opportunities like a $1,000 club, where people could either individually or team up to donate $1,000.

Lights will cost around $260-360,000, fences will be $60-70,000 and bleachers around $600,000 depending on the material. When the referendum went out for the track, it did not include these items because of the community survey process. Starting a non-profit also opens a window for grants as an additional funding source.

The board approved a motion to allow Groh to go out to area businesses and look into how much money Spring Valley could raise through advertisements to cover the cost of adding large electronic-screened scoreboards to the gym. The current scoreboards are 26 years old and beginning to malfunction.

Approving the motion was not an approval of spending the funds, rather allowing Groh to talk to advertisers about opportunities they would have with a big screen and seeing if they would be interested. If they could not raise enough in advertising dollars to limit the costs, the district could replace the scoreboards with a similar model at a lesser cost.

“That is my concern, [Groh] brought it up, of the ask, ask, ask. Support the track, support this, support the referendum, I think we need something different, it’s just that number scares me,” Board Vice President Jennelle Wolf said. “I would be interested to see who’s interested.”

The board decided there was no harm in gauging interest from businesses without making a set-in stone decision, giving Groh the go-ahead.

Acknowledgements

The board heard from senior Addison Neidermyer who attended the Washington Leadership Conference. Neidermyer is the Spring Valley FFA president and has been heavily involved in the school as a leader and strong student.

Board Member Joan Ford also went through her final meeting as she is stepping away from the board. Ford has been on the board for 35 years. To fill the vacancy, Spring Valley residents can apply and the board will review applications. After the review, the board will appoint a new member. Letters of interest can be sent to the District Office at S1450 CTH CC. The letter should be directed to Board President Monica Vorlicek and include the candidate’s name, address, phone number, qualities they can bring to the board and other appropriate information. Any district resident over the age of 18 can apply.

Other business

Increased the minimum change order threshold to go to the board from $7,500 to $15,000. The change was largely to avoid adding special meetings for change order approvals, as each special board meeting has a cost to the district.