JPS finance team outlines FY26 budget assumptions as state appropriations remain unresolved

Chief Operating Officer Earl Burke told the Jackson Public School District board that state and federal uncertainty is shaping the district—s FY26 budget work, and he recommended conservative assumptions while the Legislature had not passed an appropriations bill.

Burke said the regular session closed without a finalized FY26 state budget and that House Bill 1630 and House Bill 1768, measures discussed during the session, did not produce a completed appropriations act. He said department guidance and draft proposals suggest a modest proposed increase in the base student cost and an estimated total education appropriation that the district is modeling into its budget scenarios. "As always, we start with our Jackson Public Schools vision and mission," Burke said during…