SASD e-Newsletter: December 2025
State report cards for all public schools and districts are now available. The Sheboygan Area School District (SASD) state report card shows an overall accountability score of 63.7, which earns a rating of “Meets Expectations.”
The SASD again met expectations, showing an overall upward trend of +2.5 points on this year's state report card. Across the district, 19 schools increased their scores, and 5 schools moved up their accountability category. The following schools improved their overall score by 3 points or more: Cooper Elementary, Étude Middle, Étude High, Horace Mann Middle, Jackson Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Longfellow Elementary, South High, Urban Middle, and Wilson Elementary.
At the District-level, we continue to focus on strengthening math and reading proficiency, and are extremely appreciative of the hard work of our staff and students. This includes our most recent graduating class, where 79% of students met the career-ready accountability measures, and 80% of college-bound students met their college-ready accountability measures, with 94% completing at least one college credit-bearing courses prior to graduation.
An independent analysis conducted by the ECRA Group, a K–12 analytics and research firm, compared SASD to nine similar districts. The report found that SASD outperformed the comparable group average in every category of overall proficiency and achievement, even though we have the second-highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students among the group.
You can view the state report cards, as well as the required Educational Options notice, on our district and school websites.
For the 2025-26 school year, the Sheboygan Area School District received $2.6 million less in state general aid funding. As a result, local property taxpayers will have to cover a larger share of school operating costs, likely leading to higher 2025 tax bills.
Several external factors continue to influence our financial situation:
No increase in state aid to public schools in the current biennial budget, despite a $4.6 billion state surplus, shifting the burden of $2.6 million to local taxpayers.
Special education reimbursement rates are falling far short of the state’s promised 42%, resulting in an estimated $800,000 shortfall for the SASD.
The $325 increase in the revenue limit falls short of inflation and will force the SASD to make approximately $1.6 million in reductions.
Increasing voucher school payments account for approximately 19% of our total tax levy ($7.3 million), despite local voucher enrollment remaining largely stagnant.
The recently approved middle school construction referendum has no impact on the district’s operating budget and does not contribute to this tax levy increase.
Since 2009, the money our district gets for each student has not kept up with inflation. This means we are now short about $3,571 per student, which adds up to around $32.5 million less each year.
Wisconsin has dropped from 11th to 26th in per-pupil funding, and the decline has been the fastest of any state in the nation.
The SASD is proud to retain its Moody’s Aa1 bond rating and will continue to take the necessary budget reduction measures to ensure we remain fiscally sustainable and responsible. We do not take the responsibility of being efficient stewards of taxpayer dollars lightly, and we appreciate the support and understanding of our local taxpayers as we navigate a state biennial budget that was unfriendly to public schools and local taxpayers.
Take a look at this month's Progress Update to see all the work completed on our middle school referendum projects over the past month. The Farnsworth and Urban Middle School projects continue to progress on schedule; the design of most interior spaces is largely complete. As the projects enter the final 60 days of design, the Sheboygan Area School District, Bray Architects, and Quasius | Smith are approaching the final meetings with detailed coordination efforts to ensure each space includes the appropriate built-in amenities.
We added a preview of all the preliminary renderings shared so far to highlight the modern, collaborative learning spaces to our Referendum page. Take a look!
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released the latest version of the Sheboygan Area School District DataTool, which displays updated data for SASD and ten of its peer school districts in Wisconsin.
Modeled after the Wisconsin Policy Forum's popular School DataTool, first released in April 2024, and last updated in January 2025 for the Sheboygan community, it allows users to easily track key education metrics over time and between districts, including student enrollment and demographics, school district finances and staffing, and several measures of student performance.