School leaders outline $73M budget, weigh $2,000 teacher-scale increase and millage options
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Summary
District staff presented an early budget recap (just over $73,000,000), described state aid shifts that move CTE funding between lines, estimated the cost of a $2,000 across-the-board teacher-scale increase at about $1.5 million, and said the district has roughly 7.7 mills available to recapture while final growth percentages are pending.
The district's budget for the coming year remains in early stages, Director (speaker 4) told the board, reporting that "this year's budget is just slightly over $73,000,000" and that revenue and expenditure forecasts currently appear on track.
Director outlined near-term drivers: employer health-insurance costs rose about 4.6% this year; the state has proposed changes to the teacher minimum schedule that would add $2,000 per step under a House Ways and Means proposal; and state accounting changes shifted some career-and-technical-education funding between budget lines (a cited $439,000 reallocation), which requires the district to align FTEs and expenses to the new revenue pot.
On the potential teacher-scale increase, Director said she ran scenarios and estimated the combined cost (SEP increase, COLA and step) of a $2,000 increase across the teacher scale to be "about $1,500,000." Director cautioned that the state increase does not automatically require the district to match it, because the state requires only the minimum; local decisions will determine final district steps.
Director also described available millage recapture (the "look back"): the district has approximately 7.7 mills it could recapture from prior years; applying the known CPI of 2.63% today yields about 6.1 mills currently available, with the growth percentage expected to arrive within weeks and affect final available mills. Director said the district will bring more detailed cost scenarios to the April work session once the growth percentage is published and more revenue detail is available.
Board members asked how neighboring districts are addressing scale increases and asked for scenarios that show the impact of different policy choices. Staff said they will return next week with more information and a fuller set of budget options.
