Waunakee Community School District

Waunakee enrolled 4,311 students in 2024-25 (September membership). Since 2009-10 its enrollment has grown 18%; the median regional peer grew 8% and the median Wisconsin district shrank 12%. The chart indexes each series to its 2009-10 level. Private schools inside the district's boundaries enroll 12.6% of school-age children (2024-25), against 9.7% in the median district.

Home values against nearby districts

Across the five most recent Census releases (2016–20 to 2020–24), the median owner-occupied home in Waunakee averaged $428,220, 37% above the median of the 21 districts within 25 miles ($313,060). That ranks 2nd of 22 in the area and at the 98th percentile of Wisconsin districts (state median $205,920).

U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, median value of owner-occupied homes (table B25077), in nominal dollars. Consecutive releases share four of their five survey years, so the average is a smoothed level rather than five independent years. Nearby districts are those whose NCES office address lies within 25 miles of Waunakee's: Middleton-Cross Plains Area (7 mi, $457,620); Verona Area (14 mi, $370,260); Monona Grove (10 mi, $358,840); Oregon (18 mi, $358,380); Mount Horeb Area (19 mi, $348,380); McFarland (14 mi, $343,620); Lodi (11 mi, $333,740); Wisconsin Heights (17 mi, $321,400); Madison Metropolitan (8 mi, $318,640); Sun Prairie Area (11 mi, $314,140); De Forest Area (7 mi, $313,060); Deerfield Community (20 mi, $307,700); Sauk Prairie (17 mi, $299,460); Belleville (23 mi, $294,940); Stoughton Area (21 mi, $292,540); Cambridge (25 mi, $282,980); Poynette (15 mi, $273,260); Fall River (24 mi, $266,480); Marshall (18 mi, $266,460); Rio Community (21 mi, $226,860); Waterloo (22 mi, $216,220).

Enrollment and the funding count

Wisconsin's revenue limit, which caps what a district may raise from general state aid and the property tax combined, is set per member using a three-year rolling average of membership: each September's full-time-equivalent count plus 40% of summer-school FTE. Waunakee's revenue-limit membership for 2025-26 is 4,179.

DPI revenue limit worksheets (three-year average membership) and DPI September membership. Years without a membership count show a dash.

In spring 2025, 75% of Waunakee students met or exceeded Forward standards in ELA and 73% in math, against 54% and 57% in the median Wisconsin district.

On a z scale, which puts every year on the same footing across the 2023-24 rescaling, Waunakee averaged +1.43 in ELA and +1.24 in math over the last three tested years, against +1.75 and +1.98 in its first three years on file.

Wisconsin rescaled the Forward Exam in 2023-24. Z-scores standardize each year's result against every comparable district that year (0 = the average district; +1 = one standard deviation above), so years on either side of a test or cut-score change can be compared. Testing was canceled in spring 2020.

Attendance, ACT, college-going and discipline

DPI WISEdash files. Chronic absenteeism = share of students missing 10% or more of enrolled days.

Waunakee's total cost per member was $19,817 in 2024-25, against $19,588 for the median regional peer and $18,324 for the median Wisconsin district. Local property tax paid for 52% of revenue, against 38% statewide.

The revenue limit allows $14,800 per member for 2025-26, above the statewide K-12 median of $13,575 and below the regional peer median of $15,991. The limit counts general state aid and the property tax together, so state aid changes move the levy rather than total revenue. Voters have decided 11 operating questions, passing 7, most recently nov 2024 (non-recurring, passed).

Total district cost per member and revenue shares: DPI comparative cost data. Revenue limit: DPI revenue limit worksheets; statewide comparison is K-12 districts only.

The district's 2025-26 levy is $47.5M, at a rate of 8.60 mills per $1,000 of equalized value (statewide K-12 median 6.90). 18% of the levy repays referendum-approved debt (Fund 39).

The median residential property-tax bill inside the district, all governments, was $6,432 in 2025 (statewide median $2,766). The full bill on the median home comes to 5.6% of median household income, and the school portion on that home ($496,600) is about $4,420.

Property tax on the median home, by taxing authority, payable 2026

A home at Waunakee's median value, about $689,000 at the current assessment, owes roughly $10,040 in property tax for taxes payable 2026. The school district's part is $5,930 (53% before credits); the rest goes to the county, the city, village or town, the technical college district and special districts such as sanitary and lake districts, less the state's school levy tax credit. That bill is $1,270 more than the average regional peer's median home.

Each column is the tax on that district's own median home; peer columns average the districts in the group. The percentage is each authority's share of the bill before credits.

The same $689,000 home at each group's tax rates

Holding the house constant separates tax rates from home values. Taxed at Waunakee's rates the home owes $10,040; at the regional peers' rates it would owe $11,420 on average.

Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Town, Village and City Taxes, 2025 levies (taxes payable 2026): each taxing body's levy over the full value it is spread on. The school rate is the district's own levy over its equalized value; county, municipal, technical college and special-district rates are averages over the towns, villages and cities the district covers, weighted by its value in each, so a home in any one of them pays somewhat more or less. The school levy tax credit is the state-paid credit DOR spreads by municipality; the lottery and gaming credit and first dollar credit, applied per parcel, are not included. Median home value: Census ACS 2024 5-year median for owner-occupied homes, brought to January 1, 2025 values by the change in the district's TIF-out equalized value since 2022. The parcel-based median bill above runs lower because it covers every residential parcel, including vacant lots, condominiums and smaller homes, and is net of the per-parcel credits.

Levy by fund and equalized value: DPI and Department of Revenue. Typical bill: parcel-level residential bills inside the district boundary; school portion applies the school mill rate to the ACS median home value and is an estimate.

Voters have decided 27 referendum questions since 1995 and approved 17.

DPI referenda file, 1993 onward.

94% of Waunakee's teachers stayed in the district into 2025-26, against 91% for the median regional peer and 91% statewide; 3% left Wisconsin public schools. Average teacher salary was $75,594, against $70,891 for the median peer and $61,273 statewide.

Staff by role, 2016-17 to 2025-26

DPI All Staff files: distinct people by role. Peer median change across the regional peers.

DPI All Staff files, person-level, linked year to year.

Wherever this briefing sets Waunakee beside other districts, it uses the group below. A group figure is the middle value across its members (the property-tax tables on the median home use the average instead), each counted equally, so one large member cannot dominate it.

Regional peers 12 districts

The 12 Wisconsin districts of the same type most like Waunakee on four measures: distance and CESA (30% of the weight), total cost per member (30%), the Census child poverty rate (25%) and locale, meaning city, suburb, town or rural (15%). Districts under 400 students are not eligible.

“Wisconsin median” is the middle value across Wisconsin districts; property-tax and revenue-limit comparisons use K-12 districts only, because elementary and union high school districts overlap the same territory.