Fort Atkinson electors approve $21.6 million levy, adopt 2025-26 budget amid funding shortfalls

Electors at the School District of Fort Atkinson annual meeting approved a $21,613,128 tax levy and the district's preliminary 2025-26 budget after a budget hearing that focused on state funding shortfalls, special-education reimbursement rates and rising private-school voucher costs.

The vote followed a presentation by Nathan Knitt, the district's director of business services, who reviewed the budget the school board approved in July and the assumptions behind it. Knitt said the district's preliminary budget projects $43.8 million in revenue and $43.85 million in expenditures, leaving the district slightly in the red under the preliminary figures. He also told electors that auditors were finalizing the 2024-25 fiscal year and that the district was "estimated to be running a surplus of $853,000."

Knitt walked the meeting through key revenue and expense drivers. He said the new state biennial budget included a $325 per-member increase under the revenue limit but left the district short of the special-education reimbursement levels educators had sought. "Special education reimbursement covers just 28 to 38 percent of actual costs," Treasurer Robin Selley said earlier in the meeting, summarizing statewide data. Knitt said the state reimbursement rate was set at 42 percent for the 2025-26 biennium, below previously discussed targets.

The meeting also underscored the growing cost of private-school vouchers. Knitt said…