Breaking down the Eau Claire Area School District budget

While property values have decreased in Eau Claire, school district employees say property tax rates are going up about 4 percent this year.

While Eau Claire's superintendent Dr. Ron Heilmann notes that the economic times are still tough for many, he says the increase this year will likely be about half of last year's increase which was right around 7 percent.

The paintbrushes fly in Kriss Webert's seventh grade art room. And these kids can thank $2.5 million in federal stimulus money for keeping their art classes.

But Superintendent Heilmann paints a much grimmer picture if that money had not been around this year.

"Larger class sizes, we would have seen larger class sizes at the elementary level, and we actually added back some staffing at the middle and high school level. Those dollars have helped mitigate the direct cost to taxpayers in the addition of staff," he says.

But, the $2.5 million federal jobs dollars are just a piece of the very complex puzzle that makes up the Eau Claire Area School District budget.

Eau Claire's proposed 2010-2011 budget is $147,973,616 for 10,700 students ($13,829 per student). Madison spent $15,241 per student during the 2009/2010 budget year.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 5, 2010 1:42 AM
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