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Adams 12 outlines FY2026–27 budget plan and $38.6M mill-levy override spending priorities
Summary
District finance staff told the board that enrollment declines and state finance changes are squeezing resources; the proposed plan estimates $38.6 million from a 2025 mill-levy override, prioritizing staff compensation, student supports and charter allocations while projecting a 4.8% unassigned fund balance for FY2027.
District finance staff presented the proposed FY2026–27 financial plan and stressed the legal and operational need to adopt a budget by June 30.
Gina (chief finance officer) reminded trustees that state law requires adoption by June 30 or the district would be held to 90% of the last official adoption, which would force across-the-board reductions. She said the proposed budget uses the amended budget as its baseline and preserves one-time resources for one-time needs.
Key numbers and assumptions presented by finance include: a funded pupil count decline of 1,352 students (a 4.1% drop vs. the amended budget); a statutory base per-pupil increase of 2.4%; an estimated $38.6 million in revenue from the 2025 mill-levy override (based on a working assumption of a 2% decline in net assessed valuation); and a projection that unassigned fund balance will be about 4.8% for FY2027.
Gina also said the district is budgeting to receive 30% of a new School Finance Act allocation in its revenue assumptions and cautioned that a recent change in how the state applies cost-of-living adjustments will drive future uncertainty. Health premium increases were forecast at 12.8%, and one-time expenditures (transportation and safety upgrades among them) added about $4 million to one-time spending needs.
Override tracking: staff proposed allocating the override revenue largely to staffing (approximately $26.3M), with targeted funding for student-support programming (CTE, dual enrollment, safety and mental health) of about $1.5M, nearly $4M to district-authorized charter schools, and a $3.4M reserve to cover implementation items such as elementary specials tied to bell-time changes.
What comes next: trustees will be asked to adopt formal appropriation and budget resolutions at a later meeting; staff said they will return in January with an amended budget after October count and mill-certification data are known. Finance also noted one substantive policy change for tracking: the district will move Medicaid reimbursements into a separate special revenue fund for greater transparency.
Quote from finance: "If you as a board do not adopt the budget by June 30th, we as a district are held to 90% of the last official adoption," Gina said, describing the fiscal consequences of delay.
The board asked questions about state grant timing, the new smoothing factor used for student-count calculations, and the likelihood of future state cuts. Staff noted that next year’s state budget remains uncertain and that some federal and state grants remain estimated.
