Waunakee budget committee sets goal of net-zero in operating fund, flags special-education and benefits cost risks

The Waunakee Community School District budget committee on Jan. 7 directed district administrators to pursue a plan to end the current fiscal year with a net-zero balance in Fund 10, after staff outlined a preliminary 2025–26 budget showing a modest deficit and larger structural risks.

District finance staff said the district’s current 2025–26 planning shows a “deficit of just over a $140,000,” and identified five highlighted budget issues that together total $1,175,400 and will need to be addressed in coming months. The committee voted to set an end-of-year Fund 10 goal of zero and authorized administrators to reallocate expenditures across accounting funds and identify mid‑year savings to meet that target; the motion passed on a voice vote (all in favor).

The nut graf: the committee framed the vote as a direction to administration to use the district’s unique accounting options — including reallocating referendum-eligible and other expenses into Fund 49 where legally allowable — and to return to the board with concrete mid‑year and 2025–26 strategies rather than wait until late winter or spring.

Staff summarized the revenue and expenditure assumptions guiding the preliminary plan. Revenue assumptions include a $325-per-student state revenue figure, a 5‑year average enrollment (projected growth of 16 students), a 32% estimate for state special-education categorical aid used in current planning, $100,000 lower interest earnings, and continued inclusion of Act 12 personal property tax revenues and the November 2024 operational referendum. On the expenditure…