GBAPS presents 2024/25 district budget today

GREEN BAY, WI – (WGBW) – The Green Bay Area Public School District will present its  2024-2025 district budget to the school board and the public at two meetings this month. Chief Financial Officer Angie Roble will present the budget to the school board today at 5 pm during a Special Board of Education Meeting. 

The school board will hold a public hearing on the district budget on October 28th at 5:30. Following the public hearing the school board will have its regular meeting and will vote on the budget and tax levy.

The Chief Financial Officer of the GBPAS, Angie Roble said the district was able to balance next year’s budget. However, she is projecting future deficits if the per-pupil increase doesn’t keep up with inflation. 

“The 2024-25 District budget continues to address several challenges the District is facing including declining enrollment, inflation, and the end of one-time ESSER dollars,” stated Roble in a press release. “The District’s budget includes the recurring $325 per pupil increase included in the 2023-25 state biennium budget; however, a flat dollar amount does not account for year-to-year inflation. With the increase in revenue limits to $11,000 per student, staff attrition, school consolidations, and use of ESSER dollars to pay for operational expenditures such as summer school, the District was able to balance the budget. The District is still projecting future deficits, as there has not been a per pupil cost of inflation increase since 2009.”

The Green Bay Area Public School District is asking voters to approve a $183 million capital referendum. If it passes, the 2024 mill rate is projected to be $7.65 per $1,000. That is about a 7% decrease from the 2023 mill rate of $8.26.  If the referendum does not pass, the 2024 mill rate will be $5.30 per $1,000 of fair market value. 

District budget hearings

Information is available on the District website regarding how the public can participate in the budget public hearing on October 28th. The budget meetings will be streamed live on the GBAPS District’s YouTube channel.

Date	Time	Location	Meeting	Presenter
Monday, October 14, 2024	5:00 PM	200 S. Broadway, Green Bay	Special Board of Education Meeting	CFO Angie Roble
Monday, October 28, 2024	5:30 PM	200 S. Broadway, Green Bay	Public Hearing	School District

Budget highlights

Some highlights of the budget include the following:

• The 2024-25 general fund budget of approximately $311.4 million is a balanced budget. 
• The 2024 mill rate is projected to be $7.65 per $1,000 of fair market value with the passage of the referendum, which is a decrease from the 2023 mill rate of $8.26.  If the referendum does not pass, it is expected to be $5.30 per $1,000 of fair market value. The mill rate remains one of the lowest mill rates that the District is able to find on record. If the referendum passes, the mill rate will be slightly higher than the state average of $7.22 for K-12 school districts (Source DPI).
• The district budget includes $4.6 million of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) dollars which was earmarked to support operations and other allowable expenditures through September 30, 2024, like paying for summer school.  These one-time funds allowed the District to close the deficit for this upcoming fiscal year.
• The state budget increased Special Education reimbursement to 33% (the District received 32.4% last year).  The 2024-25 budget has set aside $35 million from the general fund to transfer to the Special Education Fund to cover expenditures not reimbursed by the state.