Liberty Elementary board adopts FY 2025-26 budget after public hearing; parents press district on staffing and program cuts

The Liberty Elementary Governing Board adopted its fiscal year 2025-26 annual expenditure budget during its June 14 meeting after a required public hearing. Finance staff Crystal Mosier and Rebecca Williams presented the budget summary at the hearing and told the board the district met statutory public-notice and publishing requirements.

Mosier said the district based the budget on its 100th-day average daily membership (ADM) for 2024-25 (the current student count) rather than projecting additional students. She told the board the state Legislature had set funding at $5,113 per student for FY26, and the district used that figure in its revenue assumptions. Mosier said kindergarten counts as half a student for funding and tuition-based preschool students are not funded by the state.

Mosier summarized changes from the May revised budget to the adopted…