Public input sought as District 191 begins developing 2025-26 budget

Over the course of the first months of 2025, District 191 will develop a budget for the 2025-26 school year.

As always, District 191 will take a values- and priorities-based approach to creating next year’s budget, including achieving the district’s Strategic Directions and its commitment to be a PreK-12 Pathways district. 

In a presentation to the School Board Dec. 12, Superintendent Dr. Theresa Battle outlined the upcoming budget process timeline and shared key factors that will affect the district's budget. These factors included:

• continued gaps in state and federal funding for special education and English Learner education,
• an expected decline in enrollment
• stable local tax revenue, thanks to voters' renewal of the tech levy this fall and the existing voter-approved operating levy,
• increase in state aid of 2.4% for general education
• anticipated single-digit inflationary increases in costs for transportation, food, supplies and utilities,
• a trend for smaller kindergarten classes in future years, as birth rates have declined.

Along with aligning spending toward the district's strategic plan, Dr. Battle said the district's goals include thinking long-term and ensuring the district's budget is sustainable.

"As a district, we are in a strong financial position thanks to the work we've done over the past few years and the support of our community," Dr. Battle said. "But as we look at the state of Minnesota's budget and what's on the horizon, we must continue with our strategic budget planning to ensure we can provide our most important services and achieve our goals."

Community members can help District 191 achieve its budget goals by providing their input into the budget process, sharing their priorities and ideas for how the district can be more efficient.

Learn more about next year's budget process and submit your input at www.isd191.org/budget.