Beloit board narrows April referendum options, leans to three-year ask with higher staff pay and supports for academics and behavior

The Beloit School District Board of Education spent the Jan. 13 special meeting narrowing options for a proposed April 2025 nonrecurring operational referendum, with board members coalescing around a three-year proposal that would increase staff compensation and direct new funds toward academic and behavioral supports. No formal referendum vote was taken at the meeting; the board scheduled additional meetings and a tentative vote for Jan. 16.

Board President Tia Johnson opened the session by asking for options and scenarios that could preserve a stable mill rate while addressing the district's budget gap. Dr. Garrison framed the choice as a tradeoff between mill-rate stability and the size of salary and program investments; finance staff later presented modeled scenarios showing the mill-rate and projected surplus impacts of several packages.

Why it matters: district officials said the district faces an approximate $6.2 million deficit for the 2025-26 school year. The board's choice about referendum length, salary increases and additional program funding will determine both how much revenue the district seeks from property taxpayers and how much additional funding the district will have to pay staff and add academic and behavioral services over the next three years.

Board deliberations and key figures

Dr. Garrison described two earlier scenarios the board had reviewed and then summarized five additional midrange scenarios built around a $7.15 gross mill rate. Finance staff (Mr. Chaney) said scenario G from an earlier packet was roughly a $6.80 mill rate and scenario H about $7.50; scenarios labeled I through M were built around the $7.15 midpoint and varied the size and timing of compensation increases and whether an additional $1 million would be added for program needs.

Mr. Chaney told the board that the district used conservative…