Greenfield School District Faces State Aid Drop of $1.7 Million

If Gov. Scott Walker's biennial budget proposal passes, as expected, and does so with limited or no changes, the Greenfield School District is facing a state aid decrease of $1.7 million, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The bureau released a series of aid distribution memos yesterday showing districts and municipalities statewide how they will be impacted by the budget.

Under current law, Greenfield would have been in line for an increase in aid of just more than $800,000, but the new budget calls for a 5.5 percent reduction, or a loss of $1,694,760 for Greenfield. The result is a net difference of nearly $2.5 million.

The numbers are the most complete figures available since Walker's budget speech, but according to the memo, "the information is a static estimate of the effect of the proposed changes as if the changes had applied in 2010-11. If a district has increasing enrollment, the proposed changes would affect more pupils, and the effect would be greater than that shown in the attachment.

"Conversely, if a district has declining enrollment, the effect would be less. In addition, school districts would determine whether to levy to the maximum allowed under the proposed per pupil adjustment, or low revenue ceiling, whichever would apply."

An automatic email reply to a message sent from Greenfield Patch to Greenfield Superintendent Conrad Farner said he was out of the office for the remainder of the week.

An explanation of the formula used to calculate funding is attached.