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Chisago Lakes board hears FY26 budget outlook, approves preliminary budget
Summary
The Chisago Lakes School District board reviewed enrollment and multi-fund budget details, heard staff project enrollment at 3,200 and a constrained general-fund outlook, and voted to adopt the preliminary FY26 budget and related policy and levy items.
The Chisago Lakes School District board on a regular meeting day reviewed detailed budget assumptions and approved a preliminary FY26 budget after a presentation by the district business office.
Business manager Robin told trustees the district's official June 2 enrollment was 3,213 and staff used a working projection of 3,200 students for the FY26 budget. Robin said auditors will begin preliminary work in September and that the district will collect a September first-day snapshot with a 15-day drop rule to finalize counts.
Robin reviewed fund-by-fund projections. The district estimates an opening combined fund balance of about $7.8 million and staff presented preliminary FY26 figures of roughly $47.9 million in revenue against $48.9 million in expenditures, with the small gap identified as deficit spending limited to restricted categories rather than the unassigned general-fund balance. She said the district expects to remain near — but slightly below — the board's unassigned-fund-balance guideline of 7% to 10% (most recent unassigned balance reported at about 6.6% and projected to be near 6.5%).
Robin flagged a roughly $60,000 decrease in compensatory revenue tied to a state formula change but noted the legislature supplied a $100 million statewide hold-harmless allocation for summer employment that should blunt some short-term impacts. She also described pressure points including inflation on utilities and transportation, the cost-of-living impact on staff compensation, and staffing shortages that many districts face.
Other fund highlights the board heard: the food-service fund begins the year just under $1 million with planned equipment purchases of about $220,000 and a small planned deficit of roughly $30,000; the community-service fund projects about $3.2 million in revenue and $3.1 million in expenses with an ending balance in the mid-hundreds of thousands; and the debt-service fund is projected to end near $2 million.
Superintendent Brian Dees framed the presentation in the district's broader post-bond planning: staff will collect survey data and present findings at a July work study; facilities committee work will continue with the goal of sharpening options for possible future elections. Dees cautioned about tight state timelines for approvals and described the approach as "go slow to go fast" to avoid missing required state steps.
After questions about the compensatory formula, fund-balance policy and community-service reserves, the board voted to accept the preliminary FY26 budget. The board also approved a change to Policy 721 to raise the equipment capitalization threshold from $5,000 to $10,000 to align with Governmental Accounting Standards Board guidance.
The district said the executive summary and budget materials will be published on the district website.
