Parkland officials build 2025–26 budget around 4% millage increase, plan to use $5.5M in fund balance

Parkland School District administrators presented a proposed final general fund budget for fiscal 2025–26 that includes a recommended 4% increase in the real-estate millage and a plan to use roughly $5.5 million of fund balance to achieve a balanced budget.

Leslie, the district’s finance lead for the presentation, said the PDE-2028 form submitted with the proposal “does include a 4% increase to our millage rate, generating about $6,300,000 of new current real estate tax revenue, and the proposed millage rate would increase to 17.8 mills for the 2025–26 school year.” She told the board the administration reduced overall expenditures by about $1.5 million compared with figures presented at the April budget seminar and increased projected revenues by approximately $5.8 million, driven largely by local real-estate adjustments and the proposed millage change.

The presentation described offsets and uncertainties: final Homestead/Farmstead allocations from the state were incorporated and will pass through to eligible taxpayers; federal Title funding was budgeted at prior-year levels with some reductions aligned to known allocations; and Title II funding remains uncertain. On capital planning, the administration proposed reducing the planned transfer to capital reserve from $2 million to $1.5 million, with a June 2026 transfer to be finalized only if the budget status at that time supports it.

The administration summarized the arithmetic: before the recommended millage change, the district faced an $11.8 million shortfall; the 4% increase reduced the shortfall to about $5.5 million, which the district proposes funding from its fund balance to present a balanced budget for adoption. Leslie cautioned the board that the district must adopt a budget by June 30 and that any unexpected state action before then could change line items.

Why it matters: Parkland’s board members and administrators emphasized that local taxpayers fund a large share of the district’s budget — roughly three-quarters of total expenditures — and that the proposed millage change would modestly increase the average homeowner’s bill while preserving staff and programs. The administration scheduled the proposed final budget for 30 days of public display before a final adoption vote in June.