Litchfield School Board Meeting

The Litchfield School Board held its truth-in-taxation hearing last night with a detailed report given by Business Manager Jesse Johnson. The Board certified the levy at $6,629,247.16.

Johnson says 80% of the funding comes from the state and the school funding is highly regulated by the state. He says the District has five funds – general, food service, community service, building construction and debt service and 73.5% of the general fund is for wages and benefits. The levy was a decrease from the amount of the previous year of $51,645.04 or .77%.

No one from the public attended the hearing, but prior to the hearing, Greg Langmo spoke to the Board about his concerns regarding the District’s reading scores for 3rd graders and the test result for the state as a whole. He challenged the Board to try to do something different to make improvements. Judy Jones also spoke to the Board and recognized that their hands are tied in many ways by state regulations. Student Council representative Kalla Ziegler spoke to the Board about the great participation they had last Saturday with their co-ed volleyball tournament.

The Litchfield School Board approved of the 2025-27 custodial contract; approved of the annual report for the 2024-25 World’s Best Workforce which will be published on the Litchfield School District website; and decided to hold a second meeting in December – on the 22nd at 6 p.m. Board member Marcia Provencher spoke about last Saturday evening’s Holiday Showcase which she says will probably be the final one.

Also last night, the Litchfield School Board approved of a resolution accepting several donations including: $5,188 from the Litchfield Gymnastic Booster Club for the Gymnastics program for a competition landing mat; $10,000 from Lee Hollaar for the High School for 3D printing supplies; $5,000 from Lee Hollaar for Litchfield Schools photography equipment; $15,000 from Lee Hollaar for Litchfield Schools for future projects; $300 from the Women’s Study Club Lake Ripley School for boards for the wax museum; $269 from Barb Piepenburg for Lake Ripley School for boards for the wax museum; $298.48 from Central Counties Cooperative for the Litchfield High School FFA; $4,000 from the LDC Hockey Boosters for the High School for HUDL for Boys Hockey; and $1,000 from the Litchfield Eagles Club for the High School for the dance program.