District administrators presented a detailed grants briefing and warned the board of potential federal reductions that could create a roughly $400,000'$500,000 shortfall for FY27.

Administrators said consolidated federal programs (Titles 1, 2 and 4) show an allocation of $1,681,387 this fiscal year and about $410,000 in carryforward across the titles, leaving roughly $2,000,000 in investable funds for the current year. They said Title 1 and IDEA-B appear likely to be level funded, while Title 2 and Title 4 funding is projected to disappear in the coming fiscal cycle. The 21st Century/after-school program currently brings about $147,000 a year to the district; presenters said that program may be cut by roughly $72,000 a year, part of a broader potential loss in grant revenue.

"Is it the desire for us to manage the deficit of federal funds without transferring the costs to a local budget?" asked a presenter, asking the board whether administrators should assume the loss and make cuts inside grant-funded programs or plan to move some services onto the local budget.

Board members probed what "manage" would mean in practice: using local general funds to backfill services, identifying which services or positions would be retained, or cutting grant-funded programming outright. Several board members urged prioritizing student-facing services and asked administration to preserve the most essential supports.

Views among board members diverged. Some members said they would prefer not to use local funds to cover the full $500,000 gap and urged administrators to identify priorities; others said the district could find the money in a large overall budget to sustain programs. One board member summed up the direction to administration: "figure it out the best you can. We'd like these programs. Bring us back a budget that does that." The administration left with direction to prepare budget scenarios that reflect different levels of local coverage and program reduction and to return to the board with options.

Administrators cautioned that federal funding remains uncertain until state allocations are finalized and said further conversations will be necessary if actual awards differ from current projections.