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Rochester board adopts balanced budget model to shift funding toward school‑level flexibility
Summary
The school board approved a four‑part balanced budget model that maintains core staffing allocations while channeling more flexible dollars to schools, restructures central budgets into functional cost centers and preserves referendum commitments.
The Rochester Public School Board on Jan. 7 adopted a balanced budget model the superintendent and staff say will preserve the district's core instructional commitments while increasing school‑level flexibility and reorganizing central office budgets around functional cost centers.
Superintendent Kent Pickell told the board the model splits the district general fund into four components: a fixed school staffing allocation, flexible school funding, specialized programs and district‑wide services organized as cost centers. "If you vote to approve the Balanced Budget Model tonight, you are voting to approve [the] model, not the actual budget," he said, adding staff will refine school‑level budgets before the board votes on the 2025–26 budget in June.
Nut graf: The board approved the policy framework to guide budget construction: maintain referendum commitments and…
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