NEENAH (NBC 26) — The Neenah Joint School District has balanced its 2026-27 budget after facing a roughly $1.7 million shortfall, avoiding mass teacher layoffs while leaving about 15 positions unfilled as employees retired or left the district.
Jon Joch, the district’s chief financial officer, said administrators entered the budget process with a directive from the superintendent not to balance the books through widespread teacher layoffs.
“The one directive that my superintendent provided me is that he didn't want to have a mass layoff of teachers,” Joch said.
Instead, the district looked at positions that became vacant through resignations and retirements. Joch said a number of those positions were based at the district office, though not all of them were. He said the final number fluctuated as the district adjusted staffing to enrollment.
The staffing adjustments accounted for about $1.3 million toward closing the gap, Joch said another significant part came from the district's health insurance renewal, which saved about $500,000.
One example of the strategy is the district's human resources director position. Joch said the district has gone without that position, with its responsibilities divided among other employees rather than hiring a replacement.
“If this position is no longer here, and those job responsibilities, who are now taking on those job responsibilities,” Joch said. “Maybe this person's handling a little bit of this, this person's handling a little bit of this.”
Joch said the changes were planned with input from other district leaders and communicated to the Board of Education as administrators determined how responsibilities would be handled without the eliminated positions.
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Rising costs, limited revenue
Joch said balancing the budget has become increasingly difficult as district expenses rise while the state’s general aid pool remains frozen.
“We're trying to provide a balanced budget, but expenses continue to rise and revenues are being frozen,” Joch said. “So really, it's no different than your budget at home or my budget at home. If your income stays the same, but your expenses go up.”
Joch said Neenah's enrollment has been declining slowly rather than steeply. He said the district has generally graduated classes of about 500 students for decades, and administrators try to align staffing with student enrollment.
Personnel costs make staffing particularly important when balancing the budget. Joch said salaries and benefits generally account for roughly 70% to 72% of a school district's total budget. Despite the budget pressure, he said Neenah was able to provide staff with 3% raises for the coming year.
What the budget means for taxpayers
The district's 2026-27 budget resolution lists an all-funds budget of about $131 million for the fiscal year running July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Budget documents separately list about $121.5 million in all-funds expenditures after certain interfund transfers are accounted for.
The district's total property tax levy is $41,579,417. That includes about $27.1 million for general operations, $4.55 million for non-referendum debt, $9.35 million for debt tied to a voter-approved referendum and $575,000 for community services.
While the overall levy increases, the district's mill rate is expected to decline from $5.77 to about $5.55 per $1,000 of equalized property value. Districtwide equalized property values increased 7.4%, from approximately $6.98 billion to $7.49 billion, which the budget documents say lowers the mill rate without changing the levy amount.
The budget documents also show the portion of the levy associated with private school voucher programs increasing by $561,725, or more than 13%, to about $4.8 million.
Joch said the district was able to balance the budget without borrowing or dipping into its fund balance. He also said the district has been trying to avoid seeking an operational referendum after voters approved a referendum in 2020 for a new high school, middle school renovations and safety and security improvements at the district's elementary schools.
“We're trying really hard to balance our budget without having to go to operational referendum,” Joch said. “That's getting harder year by year.”
