District finance director warns state aid cuts, federal grant delays will reduce near-term revenue

At a school board meeting at the District Service Center in Cottage Grove, Chris Blackburn, director of business services, told the South Washington County Schools Board of Education that changes from the 2025 state legislative session and a June 30 federal notice will reduce several revenue lines the district uses for 2025–26 budgeting.

Blackburn said the K–12 combined policy and funding bill passed in a June special session left the basic formula inflation factor unchanged, maintaining the multi‑year minimum/maximum increase set in earlier legislation. He said the district receives a large share of its unrestricted per‑pupil funding from that basic formula and that the lack of a change “does provide stability for us as we budget and project out for future years.”

The presentation then detailed cuts and shifts Blackburn said will lower district receipts: a delay in a compensatory funding formula change (which gives the district roughly $6 million now and delays a new…