Marion County board backs central office staffing revisions and five budget moves as district faces funding gap

Marion County Public Schools leaders laid out a package of staffing changes and budget recommendations at a June 5 work session aimed at closing a large projected shortfall for fiscal year 2025–26, and the School Board signaled consensus to implement the plan and five targeted reductions.

District finance director Kayla Boston Ellis told the board the district currently estimates a general-fund ending fund balance of about $66,000,000 and projected revenues of roughly $483,000,000 under the third state funding calculation; staff also warned the third calc could change when the fourth is released. Boston Ellis said the district’s unadjusted gap — before the staffing and program recommendations discussed at the work session — was in the tens of millions of dollars and that staff currently calculate a needed reduction near $64.3 million prior to other adjustments.

Whitehouse and staff proposed a suite of actions to reduce that gap. Chief recommendations presented at the work session are: release 50% of the district’s committed ("rainy day") fund balance (estimated at about $7.4 million); eliminate the 7-period day at three middle-school sites (roughly 13 teaching positions, about $1.2 million in savings);…