St. Vrain introduces superintendent's proposed $663 million all‑funds budget for FY 2026; public hearing set for June 11

St. Vrain Valley School District RE-1J officials introduced the superintendent's proposed FY 2026 budget for all funds at the May 27, 2025, board meeting, presenting a $663,000,000 appropriation and a multistep timeline that includes a public inspection period, a public hearing on June 11 and an anticipated adoption on June 25, 2025.

Justin Petrone, executive director of budget and finance, presented the proposal after Tony Whiteley, the district chief financial officer, summarized the April financials and highlighted a yellow-triangle concern in the nutrition services fund tied to uncertainties in the state's Healthy School Meals for All program. "This is the proposed budget for the superintendent's proposed budget for fiscal year 2026," Petrone said, noting the document reflects extensive work across departments.

Key budget figures Petrone and Whiteley presented or summarized include:

- Total appropriation (all funds): $663,000,000 (appropriation reflects all available resources; it does not represent actual expected spending). - Projected general‑fund beginning balance at 06/30/2025: $174,000,000 (includes outperformance from current year). - Projected general‑fund balance at 06/30/2026: $145,000,000 (initial conservative projection prior to any outperformance). - Proposed general‑fund spend‑down for FY 2026: $28,900,000 (driven by $5.2 million in additional revenues and $16.0 million in additional expenses). - Proposed increase in total compensation: $16,600,000, representing an average increase of approximately 4.19% that includes a $2,000 increase to teacher base pay (reported base increased to $64,500 in presentation) and parallel increases for classified and professional‑technical staff; administrative increases were presented at a lower rate (3.86%). - Projected increase in Mill Levy Override (MLO) revenue: roughly $1,800,000 (an approximate 3% assessment‑year increase). - Increase in total program funding (state funding formula impact, net of charter deductions): $6,200,000; Petrone said this reflects a roughly $314 per‑pupil increase tied to state COLA and partial implementation of the New School Finance Act.

Petrone explained the budgeting process and uncertainties that remain: enrollment projections, legislative changes to state funding formulas, net assessed value estimates from county assessors and programmatic requests from schools and departments. He noted the state enacted a new school finance formula and this year the district expects to receive about 15% of the difference between the new and previous calculations; the presentation also referenced four‑year averaging that will change to three‑year averaging in later years per state action.

Whiteley pointed to an item of concern in the nutrition services fund related to potential changes in the state's Healthy School Meals for All funding and how that could affect schools that do not qualify under the federal community eligibility provision.

Petrone said the proposed budget would be posted online for public inspection and copies made available at the district office, beginning the public comment period before the June 11 hearing. The board did not adopt the budget at the May 27 meeting; the introduction starts the public comment and adoption process.

The finance and audit committee reviewed April financials and the budget in advance of the meeting. Petrone and Whiteley said staff will continue monitoring revenue and expenditure performance and report updated projections in monthly sessions and at the finance and audit committee meeting on June 23, 2025.