The School District of River Falls is faced with a 2024-25 budget deficit that will create a structural financial shortfall between revenue and expenses. Due to the state school funding formula our revenues are not keeping pace with inflationary expenses. Therefore, we are reviewing potential referendum options to present for a public vote in February 2024. In the coming months, our district will continue to provide transparent information and host community conversations about our February 2024 referendum options.  

School funding in Wisconsin uses a formula that is closely tied to enrollment averages over a three-year period. In recent years, our local enrollment has remained flat and in the near term we will see our largest class sizes graduating high school with smaller class sizes moving through the elementary and middle school levels. 

The funding formula requires school districts to stay within revenue limits, thus capping revenue largely based on that three-year enrollment average. Declining and/or flat enrollment dramatically stifles a district’s ability to remain financially solvent without either reducing expenses (budget cuts), freezing wages, or both. Alternatively, districts across Wisconsin have been seeking public referendum support to fill the financial void. 

In anticipation of our future financial situation we have been “tightening our fiscal belt.” We had a hiring freeze the past two budget cycles, and are in the process of considering a few staff and program reductions for the 2023-24 school year in an effort to minimize our projected 2024-25 deficit. We know and fully understand the need to be fiscally responsible, we will attempt to maintain appropriate wages and benefits that attract and retain high quality staff, and we will certainly be communicating budget reduction plans after those details are fully vetted and those who would be affected are notified properly. 

We have utilized federal COVID-relief dollars to stabilize our budget in 2021-22, 2022-23, and for 2023-24. However, even if/when the state legislature approves the 2023-25 school finance biennial budget, we are certain there will remain a 2024-25 budget deficit in the School District of River Falls. 

Exacerbating the normal school operational deficit are some growing facility needs. We are also conducting a formal facility study which will be vetted and shared with our community later this spring.

Again, in the coming months our district will continue to provide transparent information, to include community conversations about our February 2024 referendum. For now, we continue to identify all of our future needs and will most certainly involve parents and the community as our referendum plans move forward. These are your schools, and ultimately it will be for the community to decide if a referendum is warranted – and if voters will support the referendum ask in February 2024. 

Feel free to contact me at any time for further details and/or related questions. 

Respectfully, 



Jamie Benson 

Superintendent 

jamie.benson@rfsd.k12.wi.us 

715-425-1800

The River Falls School Board appreciates the community’s support for the school district. River Falls residents understand how important education is for students, families, and society. The School Board strives for transparency and solid communication with the community. In order to keep the community apprised of an important issue facing the district, I provide the following update regarding a potential funding gap starting in the 2023-24 school year.

ONGOING FUNDING: Wisconsin school districts receive funding based on a three-year rolling average of student enrollment multiplied by a specific dollar amount that is determined by the state legislature. The majority of school funds are typically “ongoing,” which means districts can count on those funds being available in the future. These ongoing funds are like a regular allowance parents provide to their children to help them learn to budget. School Boards make ongoing financial commitments with ongoing funds while managing inflationary cost increases.

ONE-TIME FEDERAL FUNDS: Rather than providing typical ongoing funds during the 2021-2022 and 2022-23 school years, the Wisconsin legislature gave zero ongoing dollars to school districts but passed on one-time federal dollars that were designated to offset unexpected expenditures due to COVID. One-time funds are like a financial gift children receive and can put in their piggy banks or spend—once. The legislature directed school districts to fund ongoing expenses with these one-time, non-recurring federal dollars.

While the board appreciates all funds we receive, using one-time dollars for ongoing expenses made the board nervous. However, not using the dollars was a worse alternative. We would not have been able to pay our teachers and staff, have appropriate resources for our students, or buy gas for school buses. In order for our school district to be financially solid, it is imperative that the legislature provide ongoing funding to catch-up and take the place of the previous one-time funds in the next two-year budget cycle.

THE CLIFF: The school board met with Representatives Warren Petryk and Shannon Zimmerman to tell our district’s financial story and to enlist their support and advocacy for addressing this financial situation, sometimes called “the cliff.” The board is hopeful the legislature will take appropriate action, particularly given the state’s 6.5-billion-dollar budget surplus (part of which comes from the dollars the state did not give to school districts during the last budget cycle).

CALL TO ADVOCATE: Please join the board in advocating for sustainable school funding with the Wisconsin legislature. Please contact your representatives and ask them to support public education. Request that they eliminate the financial cliff our district faces.

Thank you for reading this update. Superintendent Jamie Benson and I will continue to keep the community aware of important issues facing the School District of River Falls. Thank you for your ongoing support and pride in our schools.

Stacy Johnson Myers

School Board President