Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Madison board approves $100,000 reduction to 2026-27 budget, trims security hours at one site
Summary
The Madison Public Schools board approved a $100,000 reduction to the 2026-27 budget after administrators said new state funding and internal savings allowed cuts without layoffs; the plan includes reducing an armed security officers schedule at one campus to part time while relying on shared SRO coverage and Madison PD support.
The Madison Public Schools Board of Education voted to reduce the districts 2026-27 budget by $100,000 after administrators told the board that recent state funding details and internal savings made the reductions possible without staff layoffs.
Superintendent Dr. Cook said the district discovered the $100,000 reduction after guidance from the legislature and subsequent review: "we found out a couple months ago that we were going to have $100,000 reductions from the the board of finance," and that additional state information and negotiated savings made it possible to avoid further staff cuts.
Administration presented a set of targeted reductions and offsets: confirmation that certain state funds must flow through the state, a negotiated lower rate with the adult education provider, school security scheduling adjustments, central office reconfiguration after a midyear webmaster resignation, a reduced outflow to choice programs since the pandemic, and stronger pre-K enrollment and collection methods that improved revenue. The superintendent said these items together allowed the district to meet the $100,000 target without cutting educational programming.
On security, administrators proposed moving one armed security officer at Brown School to a part-time schedule while continuing to use the districts school resource officer (SRO) and shared staffing across nearby sites. A board member asked whether parity between Brown and Neck River would remain; administration said Brown would have more on-site coverage because of its campus layout but that staff cross-coverage and Madison Police Department assistance would be used as needed. Dr. Cook noted about the officer: "I believe he is. It's Officer Bull. He's been up there for a long time. He approached me and said he was going to go part-time or retire. I was thrilled to hear he wasn't retiring."
The motion to adopt the recommended reductions was made, seconded and approved by the board by voice vote.
The board recorded no public comments during the meeting. Administrators said they would return to the board if the reduced security schedule proved insufficient once the school year begins.
