Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
MMSD projects balanced 2025'26 budget, begins planning for 2026'27 amid state funding uncertainty
Summary
MMSD reported a balanced 2025'26 budget and a fund balance of about $100.7 million while opening planning work for the 2026'27 budget.
District budget staff reviewed the preliminary steps for 2026'27 budget development and reiterated that the 2025'26 budget is balanced, but cautioned the board that state and federal funding dynamics will shape next year's choices.
Budget director Bob (presented in the session) said the district closed fiscal 2025 with a fund balance roughly at $100,700,000 and has a balanced 2025'26 budget. He described the near-term timeline for 2026'27 planning, saying staff will dig into assumptions and three- to five-year enrollment and revenue projections beginning in January.
Staff noted the state's biannual budget included higher special-education reimbursement assumptions (listed in the budget at 42%), but warned that final appropriations may be less than that figure in implementation and that the district benefits most when the state increases categorical aid rather than general equalization aid. The finance team said changes in appropriations and federal funding timing (including potential federal disruptions) represent the largest external revenue uncertainties.
On enrollment, staff reviewed the district's full-time-equivalent counts and three-year rolling averages and said the district's revenue limit timing creates a lagged effect: enrollment changes take time to flow fully into revenue calculations. Staff also highlighted that voter-approved increases in prior years materially improved the district's revenue base but that projected new revenues for 2026'27 are smaller than those in 2025'26, requiring careful prioritization of expenditures.
Board members asked about anomalies in recent count dates and whether staff would analyze lower third- or fifth-Friday counts; staff said an enrollment-strategy meeting was scheduled to do that analysis and the team would return with findings.
Next steps: staff will refine enrollment and revenue-limit estimates and align budgeting with the district's strategic priorities and program-evaluation work in preparation for more detailed budget deliberations in January and beyond.
