Board approves 2025–26 budget assumptions; enrollment and formula projections cited

The Mounds View School Board approved the district's budget assumptions for fiscal year 2025–26, a framework the district will use in creating the final budget to be adopted in June 2025.

Bernice Humnick, executive director of business services, presented the assumptions. The district projected weighted pupil units at 12,189 (based on October 2024 enrollment adjusted for expected grade-level changes) and total enrollment at 11,128. Nonresident students for 2025–26 were stated in the presentation as 726. The presentation projected the general education formula allowance at $7,426 — described as a 2% increase, or $145 per pupil, over the 2024–25 basic formula.

The assumptions specified pupil weighting (1.0 for kindergarten–sixth grade; 1.2 for seventh–twelfth grade), continued use of the existing special education revenue allocation and the special education cross-subsidy, and that operating referenda would be adjusted for inflation (the presentation included an operating referenda rate reference but a precise per-pupil figure in the transcript was not clearly stated). Instructional allocations and class-size ranges were said to remain aligned with board-approved assumptions. The superintendent's proposal included 9 full-time-equivalent positions for targeted instructional interventions and an allocation of $30,000 for the superintendent to address emerging board priorities and initiatives.

Board member discussion noted the district receives a significant portion of funding from the State of Minnesota and that final revenue figures typically become clear in late May or early June after legislative action. The board approved the 2025–26 budget assumptions by voice vote; the final budget will be adopted in June 2025 once state funding decisions are finalized.

Details from the presentation will be allocated to building principals for development of building-specific budgets in subsequent phases of the budget process.