Report (pdf) - School Management Services

The Project Consultants concluded that, between 2001-02 and 2007-08,
Weyerhaeuser School District taxpayers had assumed a substantially
greater responsibility for funding the school district’s operations, while the
State of Wisconsin’s obligations to the school district over the same span of
time had substantially decreased.
3.3 Total Expenditures Per Student
Following an examination of seven years of the School District of Bruce’s,
(six years of) Ladysmith-Hawkins School District’s, and Weyerhaeuser
Area School District’s audit reports, the Project Consultants determined it
would be instructive to review each of the organization’s total
expenditures/student trend data over the ten inclusive years from 1996-97
through 2006-07 and, additionally, comparisons of those expenditures with
the average of all State of Wisconsin school districts’ figures over the same
span of time. Such data—it was believed—would reveal the growth rate of
each school district’s total expenditures/student and the extent to which
such expenditures would appear to be displaying heightened
cost/effectiveness or cost/ineffectiveness.
As delineated in Table 6-B, the School District of Bruce’s total
expenditures/student in 1996-97 was $7,179/student, an amount that was
-$156/student or -2.1% less than the State of Wisconsin average figure in
that year ($7,335/student).
Over the nine year span of time from 1996-97 (base year) through 2006-07,
the School District of Bruce’s total expenditures/student increased from
$7,179/student to $11,042/student, a gain of +$3,863/student or +53.8%,
while the average of all State of Wisconsin school districts’ figure increased
© Roger Worner Associates, Inc.
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