Cave Creek USD board approves proposed fiscal 2025–26 budget after presentation on enrollment, carryforward and federal cuts

The Cave Creek Unified School District governing board voted to approve the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget after a presentation by district staff that highlighted lower student counts, reduced federal grant funding and new budget-form lines for carry forward.

Dr. Plutnik, the district presenter for the budget item, told the board the proposed budget “sets the budget capacity limit. It's not actually how much we spend, it's how much we can spend.” He explained the proposed budget will be posted on the district website for 10 days and that a final adoption will occur at a later board meeting after required revisions.

The presentation emphasized enrollment uncertainty and how that drives the district's spending capacity. Plutnik said the district is estimating average daily membership using multiple scenarios — a full rollover of current students, expected grade‑level losses tied to recent school closures, and a scenario that adds new enrollment packets. He noted the district used a per‑pupil base of $5,013 on the preliminary forms but said the amount could change if the state budget action in the summer raises funding.

Plutnik described a major change to the state budget forms: additional explicit lines for budgeted carry forward, which he called a transparency improvement. He said the forms now allow districts to budget a carry forward amount — the money left unspent at fiscal year end that can be carried into the next year — instead of having to allocate every…