Rapid City Area Schools board approves preliminary FY26 budget after wide-ranging finance presentation

The Rapid City Area School District 51-4 Board of Education approved a preliminary fiscal year 2026 budget after a detailed presentation by Chief Financial Operations Officer Sean Sasse outlining revenue and expenditure projections across the district's major funds.

Sasse told the board the district's general-fund ongoing revenue is essentially flat for FY26 after excluding federal program dollars the state requires be reported inside the general fund. "When we back all the federal programs out and we look at our regular ongoing revenue sources ... it looks basically flat," he said, adding that projected general-fund revenue of about $103 million would not cover projected general-fund expenditures of roughly $105.9 million, producing a preliminary deficit of about $2.8 million.

Sasse said two district priorities shaped the draft: a conservative enrollment estimate…