Romulus Community Schools board approves amended 2025–26 and projected 2026–27 budgets

The Romulus Community Schools Board of Education on June 30 unanimously approved both the district's final amended 2025'26 budget and its projected 2026'27 budget after a detailed presentation from consultant Josh Dyer of Raymond CPA.

Dyer told trustees the district's final 2025'26 budget rose from roughly $43 million (amended) to just over $45 million (final), an increase of about $2,040,000 driven largely by late federal grant awards and carryover amounts plus roughly $980,000 in summer-discovery funding. He said the district's revenue mix remains unusually local-heavy for Michigan: about 43.5 percent state funding and roughly 36.5 percent from operating millage, reflecting Romulus's status as a "hold-harmless" district under the 1994 Proposal A framework.

Dyer outlined several expenditure pressures that informed the amended numbers. Instruction and instructional support account for the largest share of spending (about 67.7 percent), while salaries and benefits represent roughly 70 percent of object-level costs. Title allocations rose on the federal side because of carryover; Dyer warned that using carryover to support current staffing reduces the amount available in later years, potentially pressuring general funds if federal allocations do not increase.

Special education spending increased during the year because the district needed additional paraprofessionals and related services; Dyer said special-education reimbursements are lagged by state processes and may return to the district in a later year. Transportation costs rose in part because of McKinney-Vento obligations to provide transport for homeless students, an unpredictable but legally required expense. Food-service estimates were adjusted up by about $166,000, producing an ending food-service fund balance near $449,000. Dyer also noted the debt fund balance of about $3.7 million and an anticipated sinking-fund balance just under $2.3 million, with a parking-lot project to carry into the next fiscal year.

On 2026'27 assumptions, Dyer said the board is budgeting conservatively amid incomplete state information: he included a 100-student decrease scenario (about 93 fewer than the spring count) as one planning case. He reported a recalculated homestead operating mill of 1.3115 for the year, a sinking-fund mill of 2.988, and a reduced debt mill near 4.3 as bonds roll off. He advised trustees that the district will likely need to present the hold-harmless mill renewal to voters to preserve locally collected revenue.

Trustees asked for additional breakout detail (legal and board expenses, fund-balance percentage), and Dyer offered to supply more granular schedules. The board then moved and seconded both budget measures. The motion to approve the 2025'26 amended budget passed (voice vote), followed by a unanimous vote to approve the 2026'27 projected budget.

The approvals establish legal spending authority for the coming fiscal year; Dyer and trustees said an amendment will follow when final state allocations and consolidated-application awards are formalized over the summer.