A STRONG COMMUNITY NEEDS A STRONG SCHOOL
Butternut School has a long history of excellence and community connection. Regardless of your status of having school-aged children, neighborhood schools are essential for fostering stronger communities. They provide a sense of belonging, promote opportunities for future success, enhance neighborhood safety, strengthen social interactions, contribute to the local economy, and offer educational resources to all.
Quality schools have been shown to lead to higher home values, stability in the community, and a higher quality of life for residents. When a community loses its school, all the surrounding businesses begin to suffer the consequences and property values in the area can begin to decrease.
An investment in our school is an investment in our community.Together we're inspiring success!
STAY INFORMED!
Join us for an informational session to ask questions, get answers and learn more about this important decision. All meetings begin at 6:00pm
March 2, Agenda Town Hall,
March 9, Butternut Village Hall
March 23, Chippewa Town Hall
What's different about this referendum?
As most area residents know, Butternut School District has asked voters to support the school with basic funding two times in the last two years, both failed by a slim margin. As a result, the district has had to make significant cuts ranging from staffing to resources, trimming over $500,000 from the school’s operating budget in the 2025-2026 school year. That reduction in expenses allowed the district to balance the budget, however the continued revenue shortfall impacts our ongoing ability to maintain school operations.
The combination of expense savings through budget cuts and planned incremental use of the remaining Besse Fund monies puts the district in a position to reduce the amount voters are being asked for, extend Besse funds, and sustain the school for four plus years.
There is a certain amount of projected revenue allowed by law to be collected by the Butternut School District in a mix of state aid and currently allowed property tax revenue. Based on our projected expenses for 2026-2030, there remains a gap in funding of approximately $800,000. To minimize that amount, while at the same time extending the stability of the district, money from the Besse Fund will be incrementally added to the total revenue to bring the gap down by $500,000 through this referendum.
Historically the mill rate for Butternut residents has decreased each year since the 2019-20 school year with our current rate of 5.78being almost the lowest in over 30 years.
The School District of Butternut’s mill rate has decreased by 52.6% in the last five years bringing it to 5.78 which is in the lowest range that it has been in over 30 years. The district’s total 2025-26 tax levy was $1,045,340. This is $915,340 to support the general fund 10 budget to maintain district operations and the $130,000 for fund 80. This has decreased by about $206,000 since 2020-21.
(A)Total School Based Tax Levy = $1,045,340
(B)Equalized Property Value = $180,758,337
(A/B)x1000 = 5.783This is the amount you pay per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The total tax amount to the school district is very small considering the land value of the district.In the 2025-26 school year, the district portion of taxes was 0.58% of the total district land value.
general school funding calculation
In 2026-2027 Butternut school district is projected to receive an estimated $3,040,000.
Basically, every public school is funded the same way (Base Revenue Per Member x Membership or Student Count). The base revenue per member is set by the state each school year and it increased in 2023-24. As of 2023, the minimum any district can receive per student is $11,000. Butternut received $11,504.50 per student in 2025-26 and received $11,829.50 per student in 2025-26. The student count is based on the number of full time equivalents (FTE) or in person students. This count is based on a 3 year rolling average. Our average is 134 students.
$11,829.50 x 134 = $1,585,153