Provo School Board approves FY25 final budget and votes to seek higher tax rate for FY26

Provo City School Board of Education members on June 24 unanimously approved the district’s final budget for fiscal year 2025 and approved a tentative budget for fiscal year 2026 that includes a proposed increase in the district’s property tax rate.

Devin Daley, the district’s business administrator, presented the budgets and told the board the final FY25 budget is $273,851,099 and that the net change to fund balance — about $43,000,000 — represents planned expenditures “mostly in our capital and our municipal building authority fund,” which together account for a little more than $36,000,000 of that change.

Daley said the state’s 4% increase to the weighted pupil unit produced roughly $2.5 million in unrestricted funding but that district costs grew faster in other areas: “We had a 30% increase in our insurance cost. That was a significant amount,” he said. He also reported a 150% increase in substitute costs over four years and described a mix of approaches to cover those increases, including raising employee share of insurance costs, using interest income and making transfers between funds.

Board members voted unanimously to approve the FY25 final budget and to approve the FY26 tentative budget, which Daley said would total $260,246,191 (as stated during the meeting) and is lower than FY25 mainly because the district expects less construction activity. Daley said the district’s proposed tax rate for FY26 is 0.007017 (stated at the meeting). The board noted county-assessed residential values rose about 0.094% on average, and Daley summarized the county’s estimate that an average home would see roughly a $34 decrease in its school-district property tax bill if valuations average out across the city.

Board president Jennifer Partridge praised district leaders’ fiscal stewardship and said retaining experienced teachers is a priority: “We really want to retain experienced teachers here in Provo. That's a priority,” Partridge said.

The board will hold a truth-in-taxation hearing on Aug. 12; Daley and board members reminded the public that the hearing is the forum for additional input on the FY26 tax increase. No members of the public provided budget comments during the June 24 hearing.

Questions and clarifying discussion at the meeting focused on how the district balanced competing priorities — employee pay, insurance and capital needs — while trying to limit the tax impact on homeowners.