Washington County School Board adopts 2025–26 budget, approves final 2024–25 budget

The Washington County School District Board of Education on June 23 held a public hearing on the district—s budgets and voted to adopt the 2025–26 budget and accept the final 2024–25 budget as posted, with the certified basic tax rate set at 0.001379.

District staff presented an executive summary and multi‑year comparison showing growing expenditures per student and changes to how debt service and capital are reported. At the end of the presentation a board member moved to approve the budgets as posted with the certified tax rate change; another board member seconded the motion and the board voted in favor (ayes recorded; no opposed votes recorded in the transcript). The motion carried.

Why it matters: the budgets reflect several near‑term and structural pressures — higher per‑student spending driven by inflation and technology costs, reallocation of tax levies tied to charter replacement and a rapidly expanding online program that has materially increased district revenues and fund balance. Board discussion focused on how much of the fund balance is one‑time money, how to use surpluses for capital work, and the risk of legislative or policy changes to online program funding.

Key details from the presentation

- Certified tax rate and taxes: staff told the board the legislature—s certified/basic rate for the district is 0.001379; the budget was approved with that addendum. Staff also said a recalculation tied to…