NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE RIPON SCHOOL DISTRICT

Board Votes to Preserve Quality and Protect Budget from More State Cuts
The Ripon Board of Education voted at its special meeting on October 26 to invest in education and preserve the quality of Ripon schools by increasing local property taxes to fill the gap left by the state’s reduction in state aid for the 2009-10 school year. The District has been required to cut annual operating expenses by $1.2 million in the past three years as a result of the revenue limits placed on school districts by the state. At the same time the percentage of Ripon’s school budget supported by state funds has fallen by 9% that has caused school costs to be shifted onto local property tax bills. Faced with even deeper cuts that would be matched by the state next year with even more state aid reductions, the Ripon school board voted a 12.31% increase in the tax levy to preserve the District’s programs and protect the budget from the loss of more state aid next year. The tax levy increase translates into rise in the equalized mill rate of $1.18 per thousand dollars of equalized property value. The owner of a property with an equalized value of $100,000 will pay $118 more this year in school taxes as the equalized mill rate moves to $10.38 for the 2009-10 budget. The actual amount of the mill rates on local tax bills will vary based on local property values in the eleven municipalities that comprise the school district. Because those municipalities had changes in property values ranging from a 4% decrease to a 15% increase, the effect on local property tax bills will vary considerably.

Board Accepts Gift of New Ingalls Field Team Room
The Ingalls Field Community Volunteers group is donating a new team room and storage building to the District with construction planned for the spring of 2010. The school board accepted the gift at its October 26 meeting with the understanding that no budget or taxpayer dollars will be used for building the new facility. In addition to providing shelter for RHS and Ripon College home teams during athletic events, the new building will also be used for storage during the winter and will contain women’s public restrooms during Ingalls Field events. Current restroom facilities for women are inadequate for the large crowds now coming to Ingalls Field. The new building will be located diagonally across St. Wenceslaus Street from the Ingalls Field main gate in the lot now occupied by the Voysey barn and garage adjacent to the Ripon Middle School lot. The Ingalls Field Community Volunteers will demolish the barn and garage at no cost to the District or taxpayers in order to make room for the new team room building.

District Now on Facebook
The Ripon Area School District now has a Facebook page where updates and information are available to residents using that social networking site. The new presence on Facebook is part of the outreach effort by the District to provide information and a place for feedback to parents and community members. Facebook is free to all Internet users, and there is no cost to the District for its page. Friends of the District’s page receive regular updates.