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Superintendent presents recommended 2025–26 budget; board hears curriculum and facilities updates
Summary
Superintendent presented a recommended 2025–26 budget showing a modest increase driven largely by personnel costs; curriculum and facilities committees reported new course adoptions and construction progress. The board approved consent and several routine items later in the meeting.
Superintendent Dr. Cook presented the administration’s recommended 2025–26 operating budget to the Madison Public Schools Board of Education and highlighted staffing changes, program additions and projected cost drivers.
The recommended budget reflects personnel and benefits as the largest share of operating costs and a modest overall increase. Dr. Cook told the board the request would result in a small percentage increase over the current year and repeatedly cited health insurance experience as a favorable factor that reduced pressure on the overall request. The superintendent summarized proposed additions and reductions in staffing and programming and said full budget documents and the presentation are posted online.
Key items Dr. Cook and finance director Stacy Novick described: - Personnel and benefits: The administration said approximately 75–80% of the operating budget is personnel and benefits. A contract settlement for teachers and health insurance assumptions were the major drivers described. - Additions: an elementary assistant principal (reorganization), a preschool teacher, two additional elementary teachers and a special education coordinator position to balance district needs. - Reductions: changes to world language staffing in grade 6 (1 FTE reduction), one fewer library media specialist, a reduction of 1 PE teacher, 0.9 music and 0.1 art across the district. - Special education placements and transportation: projected decreases in some private placements offset by contractual increases in transportation costs; transportation rise described as modest (about 2.5% per presentation), lower than reported increases in many neighboring districts. - Facilities and capital: Neck River construction was reported on time and on budget; the building uses geothermal systems and is expected to show higher electricity usage the first year until solar is added. The district will continue to maintain three buildings until Jan. 1, 2026, then transfer them to the town.
Dr. Cook summarized that the district’s requested operating increase is modest given the scale of capital investment underway, and noted the district will not include Title I funding in the budget because it is not guaranteed to return. He said the district piloted a K–3 reading program (GEODS) and recommended continuing it across the district at an estimated cost included in the packet.
Committee reports and curricular items: Curriculum Committee member Steven reported several course adoptions and curriculum items the committee recommended for board adoption, including a CTE sports performance and nutrition course, a high-school acting workshop and several music and chorus courses. Steven also said the committee discussed replacing To Kill a Mockingbird with Just Mercy as a principal novel in a Grade 9 literature unit and reviewed math enrichment pull-out models and world-language curriculum items.
Facilities Committee chair Emily summarized indoor air quality (IAQ) reporting required by state practice and said outside IAQ inspections will be needed every five years at an approximate professional cost the committee estimated could be around $50,000 per school if contracted; the committee also reported advance planning for the Brown School pre-K room conversion, playground work, and the district-wide move-management boxes purchase.
Board action and votes: During the meeting the board approved the consent agenda and several routine items. The board adopted a proposed geometry textbook, accepted a $1,611.68 donation to Jeffrey Elementary School from Steady Photography, approved a minor revision to Policy 9210 (Rules of Board Members) to add board responsibility for adoption of the district vision and mission, and approved the minutes of the Dec. 10, 2024 meeting. The meeting adjourned after the listed actions.
No formal final decisions were recorded on the schedule-driven proposals to change 4th- and 5th-grade related-arts delivery; board members asked administration for a clear written list of reductions and the projected impacts before taking any vote.
Votes at a glance - Consent agenda — Approved (motion carries; tally reported in the meeting as 8 yes, 5 no). - Adopt Geometry textbook (Geometry: Concepts & Connections) — Approved (motion carried; tally not specified). - Accept donation from Steady Photography ($1,611.68 to Jeffrey Elementary) — Approved (motion carried; tally not specified). - Approve Policy 9210 revision (board responsibility to adopt vision/mission) — Approved (motion carried; tally not specified). - Approve minutes, Dec. 10, 2024 — Approved (motion carried; tally not specified).
The administration invited additional questions and scheduled further budget work sessions; board members asked for follow-up documents and data related to schedule-driven curricular changes before the board finalizes any schedule or staffing changes.
