Longview Public Schools unveils preliminary 2025-26 budget and four‑year forecast; board sets Aug. 11 hearing

At a Longview Public Schools board meeting, district finance staff presented the preliminary 2025‑26 general fund budget and a four‑year forecast and the board voted to set a public hearing on the budget for Aug. 11 at 5:35 p.m., with final adoption planned for Aug. 25. The board was told the preliminary budget shows revenues slightly exceeding expenditures by about $387,000 and an ending fund balance that meets the board’s minimum parameter of 7%.

The forecast matters because it is the district’s road map for staffing, contracts and operations through 2028‑29 and because the district faces uncertainties in federal grant funding and active labor negotiations. “We are locked in now for another four years” for school meals under the Community Eligibility Provision, the presenter said, and the district is watching federal and state revenue developments that could require midyear reductions.

Finance staff told the board they made planned reductions of roughly $1,030,000 in preparing the 2025‑26 budget, including classroom relocations for early learning programs, alignment of elementary staffing to projected enrollment, and a central office reorganization. The presenter said the district previously used a one‑time fund balance of $1,600,000 in…