Sun Prairie schools staff previews 2025-26 fixed budget inputs; no action taken

Phil Fry, director of business and finance for the Sun Prairie Area School District, told the school board the district is preparing the 2025–26 budget using several “fixed” inputs that are largely outside local control, and that the presentation was for information only.

Fry said the district is building the budget assuming an enrollment decline of eight students based on a University of Wisconsin APL projection and will update that figure after the district’s third-Friday count in September. “So the budget is built on that decrease of 8 students,” he said.

The update outlined other key assumptions the district is treating as fixed or constrained. Fry said the district’s debt levy is set at just over $9,000,000 and noted the Nov. 5 referendum included a large transfer from Fund 10 to debt service to reduce the mill-rate impact. He said equalized aid is unknown until the state budget is finalized but that a forecast from Robert W. Baird shows an estimate of about $64,000,000 (an increase of roughly 6.6%); the district expects a first estimate from the Department of Public Instruction on July 1 and will update aid figures then if needed.

On property valuation, Fry said the district is currently estimating a 6% increase in total equalized property value, which would put the district’s property value at about $9,000,000,000; he noted final property values are not available until Oct. 1. The district is also tracking open-enrollment movement in and out and will adjust those budget lines after the third-Friday count.

Fry said the district is using a $325 per-pupil revenue cap increase for 2025–26 (the same amount most districts received the last two years) while noting this figure could change when the state budget is finalized. He described federal funding as another significant variable and said the 2025–26 budget is being built assuming federal funding will be similar to the current year; if federal aid were to drop materially, the district would consider drawing on fund balance on a short-term basis.

Fry told the board a more detailed budget review will be presented at the first-draft budget meeting on Jan. 23, 2025, and that district staff will provide updates later in the summer and after official counts and state estimates are released. He emphasized the presentation summarized items that are largely controlled by external factors — state or federal actions, property valuations, and community demographic changes — and reiterated the item was for information only and required no board action at that meeting.

Questions about the numbers and timing were invited; Fry asked board members to contact him with follow-up questions.