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Board reviews Washtenaw ISD 2025–26 preliminary budget in first reading; questions about revenue assumptions
Summary
Milan Area Schools board received a first reading of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) 2025–26 budget, reviewed attachments including general and special education accounts, and asked staff to obtain clarifying answers before the board votes on a resolution at its May 20 meeting.
At the May 7, 2025, meeting the Milan Area Schools Board of Education heard a first reading of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) proposed 2025–26 budget and related attachments. District staff presented four attachments (D1–D4) containing optional resolutions and detailed budget tables and asked board members to review the materials and submit questions ahead of the vote at the May 20 meeting.
District staff member Gierbaugh summarized the materials, saying attachment D1 contained two optional resolutions the board could adopt at the next meeting — one to support the WISD budget and one to disapprove it — and that attachment D4 contained a presentation used in a prior Zoom meeting. Gierbaugh told the board he was “comfortable with all of their assumptions for their budget” and noted the special education fund balance had been managed with a $5,000,000 floor assumption.
Board members asked specific follow-up questions. Board member Syslo asked why state revenue projections dropped from $36,000,000 in the amended 2024–25 budget to $21,000,000 in the 2025–26 projection; he also questioned a sharp decrease in projected operations and maintenance spending. Gierbaugh said those differences likely reflected grant carryover assumptions and that WISD does not assume grant revenue that is not yet confirmed. Board member Gutierrez asked whether the preliminary budget reflects contingency plans should federal funding decline; Gierbaugh said the ISD would likely dip into fund balances if necessary and offered to obtain precise answers from the ISD finance director.
The board was told that state law requires formal action on special education budgets but that WISD had provided general education details for district transparency. Board members were directed to submit specific page and line questions to district staff; staff committed to working with the WISD finance director to provide answers and to share responses with all board members in advance of the May 20 meeting, when the board will vote on one of the two resolutions.
This item was a first reading only; the board did not vote on the WISD budget at this meeting.
