Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the District Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves advertisement of 2025–26 tentative budget; timeline constrained by DOE deadlines
Summary
The Highlands County School Board voted to advertise its tentative 2025–26 budget after business operations staff explained state TRIM timing required a rapid schedule. The move starts the formal public-hearing timeline.
Angelica Tenajero, director of business operations, explained the TRIM (Truth in Millage) timetable and the compressed deadlines the district faced this year after the Department of Education provided proposed millage information late in the statutory window. Tenajero said the district's published fund-balance numbers include daycare and carryover amounts and clarified the unassigned (district) carryforward is approximately $910,000.
The board voted to advertise the district's tentative 2025–26 budget and to schedule the first public hearing in accordance with statutory deadlines. Tenajero noted that because payroll and millage notifications follow fixed state deadlines, the timeline allowed only a short window between receiving DOE figures and advertising the tentative budget; the board's vote set the required notices and public-hearing dates in motion.
Why it matters: Advertising the tentative budget begins the statutorily required public-notice and hearing process for adoptions of millage and budgets. Tenajero said overall operating appropriations reflect a roughly 4.9% decrease and that some capital funding rose slightly because of increased property values; shifts will affect the district's operating plan for 2025–26.
Next steps: The board will hold the first public hearing on the advertised tentative budget on the date advertised; staff will present the budget detail and answer public questions at the hearing before the board considers final adoption.
