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District finance staff brief board on federal grants and potential budget uncertainty for 2025-26
Summary
Finance staff summarized how federal funds flow through the state to the district, which federal grants are stable for the remainder of the 2024-25 year and why the district is monitoring potential changes that could affect next year's budget.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Operations Jared Rosing and district specialist Erin summarized the district's federal funding portfolio and explained which funds are reasonably secure for the 2024-25 school year and which remain uncertain for 2025-26.
Erin told the board the packet included a list of federal funds budgeted for 2024-25 and clarified that the district often incurs expenses and then submits quarterly claims to the state, which serves as a pass-through for many federal grants. She noted two exceptions: USDA meal reimbursements are claimed monthly based on meal participation, and Medicaid reimbursements (through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services) are based on eligible services provided with parent consent.
Erin said the district has already received and spent the ESSER III COVID-relief funds that ended in September and an EPA grant for an electric bus that is expected to arrive between April and June. She said the district's roughly $4 million in federal funds in the current budget are mostly reimbursement-based and that she is not "worried about the funding for those specific grants for the rest of the school year." The uncertainty is focused on the 2025-26 school-year appropriations at the federal and state levels.
Rosing told the board the district will continue to develop the 2025-26 preliminary budget under the assumption it will receive expected funds, while also preparing contingencies: possible use of one-time fund balance, program adjustments, or a future operating referendum if reductions materialize. He emphasized cash-flow monitoring in case state processing delays affect reimbursements.
Board members pressed administrators on timing and budgeting strategy. One member urged caution about dipping into fund balance now because uncertain federal funding could require deeper fund-balance use next year; Rosing and Erin said they will monitor the federal budget process and report back as state and federal appropriations solidify.
No budget action was taken at the meeting; the board will receive updates as federal and state decisions become clearer.
