(6-7-24) Coldwater Schools Superintendent Doug Mader updated residents in a recent mailing about the financial situation taking place in the district.

Hard copies of the Coldwaer Connection will available at the public library, in front of the elementary and district office…and mailed to those who have a subscription.

COMPLETE – Coldwaer Connection (June, 2024)

Doug Mader

Doug Mader, Coldwater Schools Superintendent

Our previous communication outlined how we will move forward for our next academic school year. The Board of Education will continue to engage the community on a potential levy for the November 2024 election. The board will hold another community forum this time in the Pit on June 19, 2024, at 6 pm. In addition, our board meetings are regularly scheduled for June 25th, July 16th, August 13th, and October 8th. Each meeting is open to the public, where we go over every detail regarding our expenses, including all expenditures for that month. There have been some questions circulating in our community regarding our expenditures and how they compare to local school districts. Below is a chart comparing per-pupil expenditures for area school districts. Each category is ranked 1 as the highest and 13 as the lowest.

  1. Coldwater has the lowest administrative expenditure per pupil, ranked 13th out of 13.
  2. Coldwater is ranked 6th out of 13 in instructional expenditures. It is essential to point out that
    Coldwater has a very experienced staff, with an average experience of 20.8 years.
  3. Coldwater is ranked 10th out of 13 in other costs per pupil.
  4. Coldwater is ranked 10th out of 13 in total operating expenditure per pupil.
  5. Coldwater is ranked 4th out of 13 in enrollment.

We continue to be very frugal in everything we do to maintain a stable 5-year forecast. Our maintenance crew recently went to Celina to pull out 80 student desks from a dumpster since Celina moved out of their building to a new building with new furniture. Another area we have been frugal is the carpet in the middle school is so worn that our custodians iron the carpet to try to get it to re-adhere to the floor so that the wrinkles are not apparent or a trip hazard. These examples of our frugality will not compensate for our unfunded priorities with our decaying infrastructure, out-of-lifecycle technology, aging district-owned musical instruments, and other inadequate instructional materials. As mentioned, our Board of Education will have another Community Forum on June 19, 2024, at 6 PM in the Pit. At the forum, they will discuss some of the unfunded priorities that we are worried about and not currently in our budget or 5-year forecast. In addition, the board will discuss what the levy may look like for the election in November. Our goal as a district is to have the capacity and the funds to handle some of the essential priorities for our facilities, equipment, and materials that are up to Coldwater standards