The Milan Area Schools Board of Education on June 4 approved a slate of budget amendments for the current year and preliminary budgets for 2025‑26, and adopted the district’s General Appropriations Act that sets millage levies for the coming tax year.

Board motions that passed unanimously (7‑0) included approval of 2024‑25 amendments to the general fund, debt funds, food service and student activity funds, and the preliminary 2025‑26 budgets for the general fund, debt funds, sinking fund, food service and student activity funds. The board also approved the General Appropriations Act and set mill levies for the operating and debt levies.

Assistant Superintendent Ryan McMahon and Finance Director Krista Hendricks briefed the board on key assumptions used to build the 2025‑26 preliminary general fund. The administration used a conservative estimate of $10,000 per pupil for the foundation allowance in its projections and said the district is currently anticipating roughly a $3.3 million reduction in state revenue depending on the state budget outcome.

Board members and administration emphasized the timing mismatch between the district’s June 30 budget deadline and the state’s budget process. Board member Farrow and others urged residents to contact state legislators because state decisions on school funding remained unsettled at the time the district had to adopt a local preliminary budget.

The board also discussed and approved the sinking fund millage preliminary budget. Superintendent Gearbaugh and board members explained the Headlee rollback (state property tax rollback) effect, which can reduce a voted mill rate to the dollar amount the district is allowed to collect based on taxable value growth; the sinking fund millage was set at 1.4943 after the rollback calculation. The board said the rollback change reduced revenues for the sinking fund by an amount the administration estimated to be less than $10,000 in actual tax collections.

The General Appropriations Act adopted by the board set the operating millage at 17.9694 (as presented), the debt levy at 9.75, and the sinking fund millage at 1.4943 after the Headlee rollback calculation. The board packet explains those rates together with the budget summaries and supporting documentation required for municipalities and tax assessors to prepare tax bills.

The board’s actions followed public hearings and required first‑readings earlier in the month. All budget‑related votes recorded in the meeting minutes showed unanimous approval by the seven board members on those motions.