Campbellsport School Board Discusses Future Fund Balance Increase

During the Finance Committee update at its meeting on Monday, June 1, the Campbellsport School Board discussed the Fund 10 fund balance.

Fund 10 is a school district’s general fund. The Campbellsport School District’s policies require a 20% fund balance. 

“We currently have a 15% financial cushion [or fund balance] for Fund 10. We want to have 20%. You never know what’s going to happen, so it’s always wise to have a cushion,” said Treasurer Maureen Koch. “The intent is to add back $300,000 in 2026-2027 to gradually grow it rather than take a huge hit to get us back up to 20%. We think that is doable while maintaining current services.”

Taxes would not be raised to grow the fund balance. Instead, President Mike Weiss explained that funds would be allocated differently within the budget to raise the balance to 20%. 

Questions and concerns over whether $300,000 would be enough arose during the meeting. 

“I thought we were closer to over $500,000 or $600,000 in savings to get back up, so I guess I’m surprised at the $300,000 only,” stated President Weiss. 

“We are at a 15% financial cushion that comes to actually $1 million, so we figure it will take us three years to get back up to the 20%,” explained Treasurer Koch. “Some of those numbers were what were anticipated . . . We close out the books at the end of this month, so now we’re close to actual numbers. We might have been off a little bit.”

Treasurer Koch noted the school district operated without a business manager for much of the year, and expressed anticipation for future clarification on complex financial matters when the district’s new business manager begins. 

Questions about Fund 10’s fund balance history also arose, specifically concerning which years the fund balance was at 20%. During the Board Member Requests for Information portion of the meeting, President Weiss requested Fund 10’s fund balance history from the last five years for discussion at a future meeting. 

School Board Matters:

• During the Safety and Transportation Committee update, President Weiss encouraged the committee to begin seeking bus service bids. “Prior to the end of the five-year agreement, I’m hoping we have bids from Johnson, . . . Lamers, GO Riteway, and there were a couple other companies very interested in submitting bids to us,” stated President Weiss. The school district’s current contract with Johnson School Bus Service ends in two years. 
• The school board discussed hiring Tate Tranel as a fourth-grade teacher at Campbellsport Elementary School and Kieth Kohls as a middle and high school technology education teacher. A motion to hire Tranel and Kohls was made by President Weiss and passed unanimously.