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Kenosha Unified projects $4.3 million preliminary shortfall; electors approve maximum tax levy
Summary
Kenosha Unified School District staff presented a preliminary 2025–26 budget showing a $4.3M projected deficit driven by a roughly $7M drop in state aid and declining enrollment; the district recommended and electors adopted the maximum allowable tax levy to cover revenue-limit capacity.
Tara Kamden, chief financial officer for Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD), told electors the district’s preliminary 2025–26 budget shows $261.4 million in projected revenues against $265.7 million in projected expenses — a $4.3 million snapshot deficit if all expenditures occur as currently budgeted.
Kamden said the district closed 2024–25 with roughly $270 million in revenues and $268 million in expenses, leaving a positive change in fund balance of about $2.2 million, but that roughly $3.0 million of required grants and donations were authorized for 2024–25 and remain unspent and will be requested to carry over into 2025–26. “We had a change in fund balance, a positive change in fund balance of just over $2,000,000,” Kamden said.
She attributed most of the pressure on KUSD’s budget to the state biennial budget and declining enrollment. Using Department of Public Instruction July 1 estimates, Kamden said 277 of 421 Wisconsin school districts are projected to see decreased state aid this year; KUSD’s estimate was a roughly 4.6% reduction, which she said translates to about a $7 million loss in state support. Kamden warned that special-education reimbursement increases in the state budget are funded from a fixed pot and may be prorated.
As an immediate personnel impact, the snapshot showed a reduction of about 49 full-time-equivalent positions for 2025–26 (approximately 2% of staff), including roughly 33–34 teacher FTEs and smaller reductions across administrative and support groups. Kamden said the district expects vacancy savings, new-hire benefit-selection variability, and other variables to reduce the projected deficit before the board adopts a final budget in November.
Kamden outlined KUSD’s revenue-limit authority process: a projected revenue-limit cap of roughly $234.5 million composed of about $148 million in state aid and an allowable levy capacity near $86.6 million. She emphasized that non-operational passthroughs — energy-efficiency debt service (~$6.3M), private-school vouchers (~$5.2M), special-ed voucher payments (~$1.5M), and independent-charter payments (~$1.4M) — reduce the district’s operational resources.
On the tax-impact example Kamden presented, a preliminary mill rate estimate of $5.49 per $1,000 of assessed value produced an average homeowner increase of about $127 on a $350,000 house; she cautioned those figures will be recalculated in October after the Third Friday student count and updated property valuations. “We will be updating property values that will be released from the state in October 1,” Kamden said; the board must adopt the final levy by November 1.
The district also reviewed its OPEB trust and reserves: an unassigned fund balance near $74.5 million as of 6/30/2025 and an OPEB trust funding ratio shown at approximately 92% funded on the snapshot. Kamden noted the district is projecting to avoid short-term borrowing in 2025–26 and expects some interest income benefit from higher prevailing interest rates.
Next steps: KUSD will update student counts and property values in October, adjust the revenue-limit calculations, rebalance staffing and budgets, and the Board plans to adopt a final budget by November 1 at the October 28 board meeting.
