Superintendent's Message

Each year we invest considerable time with the Board of Education to craft our annual budget. Together, we realign priorities for the upcoming school year to address student and program needs, cultivate a safe and welcoming campus environment for all, and deliver high-quality learning experiences to every student all while remaining mindful of our responsibilities to local property taxpayers.  

Our school district continues to grapple with challenging inflationary trends, substantial hikes in health care costs, utility and retirement costs, and the unpredictability of Foundation Aid from the state. These factors all play a key role in mitigating the local tax burden on our property owners.  

Over the last several months, we made significant progress to ensure we are presenting a responsible spending plan that bolsters academics, supports social emotional learning, sustains extra-curricular activities and maintains our facilities while preserving a staffing model that meets the needs of our students and community.  Through retirements and analysis of overall student enrollment and student needs in special education, we have been able to absorb four teaching positions in key areas without impacting the overall quality of our educational program. Absorbing these positions proactively places the district in a stronger financial position this year and into the future with uncertainty in Foundation Aid and/or a slowing economy potentially causing larger than expected budgetary gaps.  

We intend to achieve our goals with a spending plan that continues our trend of staying below the tax cap threshold of the district and current inflationary figures while prudently managing the use of reserve funds to support the budget.  

This year, voters will be presented with two additional ballot propositions. First, to continue the scheduled replacement of older buses and second, to allocate funding to our community libraries (a measure that is separate from the school budget). 

Building a budget involves input from many different stakeholders. We welcome everyone to learn more about our Annual Vote taking place on May 20 in the old Middle School Library. Those interested in sharing their thoughts may attend our annual budget hearing at 6 p.m. on Monday May 12 in the Middle School Cafeteria.

We also welcome everyone to learn more about our Annual Vote taking place on May 20, in the May edition of the Midlakes Journal, and on our website at Midlakes.org/AnnualVote.

—   Nick Ganster, Superintendent