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Greendale board hears budget update showing $769,000 baseline deficit; governor's proposal could flip to $1.28M surplus
Summary
Finance staff told the board the district's initial 2025-26 projection shows a $769,000 deficit, but incorporating the governor's proposed special-education and per-pupil adjustments would produce a $1,283,000 surplus; board asked staff to model a zero-federal-funds scenario (~$2M).
Greendale School District finance staff briefed the board on updated budget scenarios after the governor's proposal, which could materially change the district's projection for 2025-26.
Jonathan (Speaker 19) presented the analysis and said an initial projection showed a $769,000 deficit for 2025-26. He described three elements of the governor's proposal that were modeled: a 60% reimbursement for special-education excess costs, a per-student increase slightly above the $325 baseline, and an additional $160 per pupil weighting for economically disadvantaged students. Taken together in the staff's scenario, those items would convert the projection to a $1,283,000 surplus for next year.
"So when we talked about this prior, we had shown an initial projection showing a deficit of $769,000 for 25-26," Jonathan said. "With those items I had mentioned, we would actually go to a surplus of $1,283,000 for next year."
Board members pressed on downside risks. One board member (Speaker 18) asked for a scenario that assumed zero federal funding. Administration said it could prepare that baseline and noted roughly $2,000,000 of federal flows the district currently receives, including food-service reimbursements, e-rate, Medicaid/Medicare therapy reimbursements and Title funding. Staff emphasized that some services are directly tied to federal funds (for example special-education flow-through and Title professional development) and that eliminating federal funds would require assumptions about which services continue and which would be cut or shifted to the general fund.
Jonathan said the original Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) commitment called for the federal government to fund 40% of excess costs but current federal funding to local districts is under 10%, and that the governor's proposal would increase reimbursement closer to 60% in the modeled scenario.
The board asked for further analysis, including a zero-federal-funds scenario to understand the district's exposure and where reductions might be drawn. No formal vote or budget decisions were made at the meeting; staff said they would continue developing scenarios and share them with the board.
