Hudson School District board approves $62.36 million levy and preliminary 2025–26 budget

Hudson School District trustees approved a tax levy of $62,360,784 and adopted a preliminary budget for the 2025–26 school year at the district's annual meeting. The motion to set the levy was made by Treasurer Megan Rozalski and seconded by Molly Powers; it passed on a voice vote.

The levy approved in the motion included $53,035,784 for the general fund, $8,900,000 for debt service and $425,000 for the community service fund. Treasurer Megan Rozalski told the meeting the preliminary budget projects that expenditures will exceed revenue by roughly $15,000,000 this year because the board has designated that amount from the district's fund balance to pay for construction projects tied to the 2023 capital referendum.

Rozalski said the district ended the 2023'24 year with a clean outside audit and that the district maintains roughly $30,000,000 in fund balance, which she likened to a household's emergency savings that allows the district to pay salaries and benefits while state aid arrives. "This referendum provides much needed funding to maintain the educational offerings of our district and provide pay and benefits that attract and retain fantastic staff," Rozalski said, thanking voters for the nonrecurring operational referendum passed in April.

Board finance director Bonnie Stegman detailed revenue and expense drivers underlying the preliminary budget. She said local property taxes are projected to supply about 67% of general fund revenue and described a $325 increase in per-pupil revenue for the year that she said still falls short of increases in the consumer price index. The district projects a $13.7 million operating deficit for 2025'26 that she attributed principally to the timing of construction spending and designated fund balance use.

On special education funding Rozalski said the district moved about $9,500,000 from the general fund into its special education fund last year to cover costs the state did not reimburse. She noted the state's special education reimbursement rose to 42% for the current year, and the district now projects an $8.5 million transfer from the general fund to special education.

Rozalski explained a longer-term funding problem the district faces: she said Wisconsin's per-pupil revenue limit was decoupled from inflation in 2009 and that, using rough math for Hudson's roughly 5,000 students, the district would receive about $15,000,000 more annually if the revenue limit had tracked inflation since then. She also described a roughly 15% decline in enrollment compared with a decade ago.

The board opened a hearing on the proposed budget and invited public comment; no members of the public spoke. After the hearing Rozalski moved the resolution to set the levy; Powers seconded. The board approved the levy and the preliminary budget by voice vote.

Discussion versus formal action: board members discussed funding pressures, audit results, and staffing changes during the presentation and public hearing; the formal action taken at the meeting was approval of the tax levy and adoption of the preliminary budget. The board noted final state aid and certified property values expected in mid-October to early November could change final numbers before the budget is adopted in final form.

The board also voted to set the date for the 2026 annual meeting at Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, at 6:30 p.m.