Salt Lake City School District previews 2025–26 budget; officials warn special education and nutrition funds remain strained

Business Administrator Alan Kearsley told the Salt Lake City School Board on May 6 that the district’s proposed 2025–26 operating budget assumes no property tax increase and balances a modest increase in state-funded per-pupil revenue with reductions elsewhere in the state funding formula.

Kearsley said the legislature set the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU) increase at 4% for next year, but changes to the state funding formula moved money previously allocated for advanced-degreed professional staff into a discretionary pot the district will not receive. “What that means for the Salt Lake City School District is we will receive a $1,500,000 decrease in those fundings for the district,” Kearsley said.

Kearsley framed the proposed general fund as a cautious budget: it includes step-and-lane salary increases and a cost‑of‑living allowance, a 10% rise in health-insurance costs and an ongoing effort to absorb special-education costs that continue to exceed state and federal revenues. “Special-education expenditures continue to exceed the state and federal special-education revenue by millions of dollars,” he said, adding the proposed budget shifts an additional $1 million from the minimum-school program to special education to help cover the gap.

Why it matters: The district’s…