Goshen County School District #1 board warned of budget squeeze amid state funding-model changes

The Goshen County School District #1 board held a special meeting and work session on April 7 to review a preliminary 2026–27 budget that trustees were told contains “more unknowns” than any the presenter has seen in 18 years.

Marcy, the presenter at the board work session, said the legislature changed how school funding is calculated and that the district’s two-year average daily membership (ADM) is projected at 1,576 students versus an actual projection of 1,570; its prior-year ADM was 1,581 and a three-year average had been 1,603. “The reduction that we will see in funding based upon students, as of right now, is 27,” Marcy said, adding that each student is worth between $15,000 and $18,000 in the funding model.

The legislature also created an "instructional silo," a categorical allocation limited to certain instructional salary objects. Marcy listed staff categories covered by the silo — elementary, middle and secondary instruction, gifted and talented, ELL, CTE instructors and instructional facilitators — and emphasized that some roles (special education positions, nurses, librarians and counselors) are not funded in the silo. She said the silo can cover regular and temporary salaries, FICA and insurance for those…