Vote YES 4 Performance!
5 Reasons to Vote YES 4 Performance!
The desired result for any school district is the highest quality education at the lowest cost possible. A study is prepared by the Yes4OurCommunity using publicly available data from many different resources. The objective is to identify how the Mayville School District compares to the top 5, 15 and 50 K-12 School Districts in the State of Wisconsin. 367 Wisconsin K-12 School Districts are considered in the comparison. A summary of results is then provided to indicate the opinion of the Yes 4 Our Community Group in what is needed for Mayville to reach the Top 50 list of schools for Wisconsin.
5 Reasons to Vote Yes 4 Performance:
- Schools that invest in their facilities perform better.
- Mayville needs to improve college readiness through investment in facilities.
- By passing this referendum, Mayville limits risk to have bad debt that plagues other school districts.
- Mayville has a decent Mill Rate now and it will still be comparable after the referendum.
- The total levy after the referendum will still be much lower than that of top 50 K-12 schools.
Compared to the top 50 Wisconsin School Districts, Mayville is an under-performing school district with no referendum debt. This is rare. We must make investments in our school district to boost performance if we want to be a top 50 K-12 School District in Wisconsin.
- College Readiness Score
The College Readiness Score is provided by US News and World Report. It is calculated based on many factors, including ACT scores, and is analyzed and adjusted for students of various academic capabilities and demographics.
This score is generally used as a method to rank schools for performance.
Results:
School District College Readiness Score
Mayville 16.5
Top 5 Average 59.6
Top 15 Average 52.6
Top 50 Average 41.9
Mayville is severely underperforming the Top 50 Schools. Looking deeper into the data, it is noticed that Mayville’s Math and English scores are on par with the Top 50 Schools in the study. Therefore, other factors in the ACT test and demographics are impacting the result. These other factors include Science, Reading and Writing. Science is a key component of the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Arts and Math) that is a large focus of the referendum.
- Mill Rate
Note: The data for local schools for the mill rate does not reflect the referendums from Fall, 2016.
Mill rates are the driver behind school taxes. They are the multiplier against the home value in 1,000’s to determine your school tax. To calculate your school tax, take the assessed value of your home and divide it by 1,000. Take the result and multiply it by the mill rate. The end result is your school tax for the year.
Mill rates are provided for comparison of operating budgets and debt amounts carried by the school districts.
Results:
School District Mill Rate
Mayville – Today 8.81
Mayville – After Referendum ~10.5*
Top 5 Average 9.86
Top 15 Average 9.99
Top 50 Average 10.16
Top 50 Range 8.81 to 13.89**
Mayville’s current mill rate today is below average.
* The new long-term mill rate of 10.17 to $10.89 will be comparable to all other schools carrying referendum debt. Many schools have other types of debt that Mayville does not carry. It is generally favorable to only carry simple referendum debt.
**Less Gibraltar Area (2.9 Mill Rate)
- Total Levy Per Resident FTE
The Total Levy Per Resident FTE is an indication of total taxes collected per student for operating, referendum, and other debt. FTE represents Full-Time Equivalent, or number of full time students. This is a strong indication of the efficiency of the school district when compared to performance. Schools that have high performance with low Total Levy Per Resident FTE typically are among the most efficient schools. However, a higher value along with high performance indicates a school that has invested in its education system to provide high performance.
Results:
School District Total Levy Per Resident FTE
Mayville – Today $4,649
Mayville – After Referendum $5,816
Top 5 Average $9,800
Top 15 Average $8,594
Top 50 Average $7,972
This value is not inclusive of referendum debt for the local average from 2016 referendums. However, it is clear that our local schools are not spending the same amount per student as top performing schools.
- Total Referendum Debt Levy Tax Per Resident FTE
The Total Referendum Debt Levy Tax Per Resident FTE is a good indication of schools that have invested in major programs to update or add on to their schools.
This value can be compared to the College Readiness Ranking to identify which schools are investing in their programs to maintain or improve their performance, and which are failing.
It is also important to note that the top 15 school districts all carry referendum debt. They are simply investing in their school districts to maintain performance.
Of the top 50 K-12 school districts, 7 schools carry no referendum debt. However, only 3 of those schools carry no other “bad” debt (anything other than Fund 38, which is “good” and similar to Mayville). These schools are listed as follows:
- Gibraltar Area 538 Students
- Whitnal 2,074 Students
- Wisconsin Heights 771 Students
All other top 50 K-12 schools with no referendum debt carry debt in other funds; some to cover operating expenses or other emergencies. It is clear that it is very rare to perform well without carrying any referendum debt.
Results:
School District Total Referendum Debt Levy Per Resident FTE
Mayville – Today $0
Mayville – After Referendum $1,166*
Top 5 Average $1,010
Top 15 Average $1,009
Top 50 Average $1,010
Top 50 Range $59 to $6,200**
* Will be offset lower after retiring Fund 38 Debt in a few years.
**For schools carrying any referendum debt.
The clear result here is that schools that perform invest in their facilities through referendums. It is nearly impossible to be a top 50 K-12 school without investing in facilities over time.
Conclusion:
Compared to the top 50 Wisconsin School Districts, Mayville is an under-performing school district with no referendum debt. This is rare. We must make investments in our school district to boost performance if we want to be a top 50 K-12 School District in Wisconsin.
Summary Data:
Note: All data is based on 2016 data unless otherwise noted.
Follow link for Raw Data Collected for all Wisconsin School Districts.
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