DeSoto County Schools presents proposed FY2026 budget with $445 million in revenues and planned millage cut

Miss Hadley, a member of the district business department, presented the DeSoto County Schools proposed fiscal year 2026 budget during a budget hearing, outlining projected revenues of about $445,000,224 and a tentative 6.18‑mill reduction in the school millage rate.

"The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations," Miss Hadley said, describing the document as a compilation of input from departments and principals. She told the board the district expects roughly $171,000,000 in local revenue (about 38.5 percent), $233,000,000 in state revenue (about 52.5 percent) and roughly $39,000,000 in federal funds (about 9 percent).

The presenter said total budgeted expenditures for FY2026 are approximately $502,988,494, an increase of roughly $22,000,000 over the prior year. She said the revenue increase compared with FY25 is “a little over $18,000,000.” The state funding piece is driven largely by the Mississippi student funding formula, which the presenter said accounts for about 95 percent of state revenue in the proposal.

Why it matters: the proposed budget funds teacher supplements, additional staff and school projects while the district plans to reduce the millage rate for taxpayers. The proposal also includes both one‑time and recurring investments that affect staffing, classroom materials and facility work across the district’s roughly 34,000 students.

Major items and programs described

- Staffing and compensation: the budget includes a previously approved $1,000 teacher pay supplement and a half‑percentage PERS increase (noted as costing more than $1 million). Hadley said additional teacher units netted about seven positions so far, with further adjustments possible before school starts. The proposal also includes additional nurses, occupational therapists, dyslexia teachers, therapeutic social workers, academic specialists and other student support staff.

- Student devices and technology: the plan sets aside about $5,000,000 annually for device refreshes and includes an E‑rate rewiring project of about $1,300,000 that the district expects to recoup through E‑rate reimbursement.

- School construction and maintenance: capital projects funding declined from the prior year because recent major projects (including building a new high school) depleted prior allocations. The budget lists a $15,000,000 transfer to miscellaneous construction for ongoing renovations and future building work and references issuance of a 3‑mill note to operate a new school unit.

- School safety and services: the budget includes funding for school resource officers and for ensuring a nurse at every school; Hadley noted some of the district’s largest high schools will have two nurses.

Funding caveats and contingencies

Hadley described several caveats: the 6.18‑mill reduction is tentative and could change once final assessed valuations are released in early July, and the district has until August to set the final millage. She also said the state funding proposal sitting with the governor at the time of the hearing had not been signed and that a $5,000,000 reduction in state allocations had been offset by an expectation that local ad valorem revenue would pick up the difference.

Budget priorities and compliance

Hadley said about 71 percent of operating expenditures are related to instruction and that 79 percent of general fund salaries and benefits are expended in the classroom. She noted the district sets aside a budgeted fund balance for district maintenance to comply with GASB 54 and board policy DGA: the FY2026 budgeted fund balance in district maintenance is $134,851,029, and the required 25 percent reserve is stated at about $94,000,000, leaving an excess of roughly $40,000,223.

Process and next steps

The board did not vote on the budget at this hearing. Hadley said the board is scheduled to adopt the budget in June 2025 at 10:00 a.m.; numbers remain subject to adjustment once final valuations and state allocations are confirmed. The hearing concluded with the board adjourning the meeting.

Ending

Board members thanked Hadley and the business department for the work on the proposal; no formal adoption occurred at the hearing and the board will consider final approval at the scheduled June 2025 adoption meeting.