Beloit, WI: District budget: $18M for SPED, 5% increase; "declining enrollments"
The School District of Beloit Tuesday night unveiled a budget for the 2026-2027 school year that calls for $91.9 million in spending in its general education fund and an additional $17.6 million in special education expenses.
If approved by the end of October, that would call for a 2.1% increase in spending compared to last year’s unaudited results in the general fund and a 4.9% increase in the special education fund.
In what has become an annual discussion because of declining enrollments, the board spent the summer months mulling over to a variety of changes to reduce expenses to close a projected budget deficit that ranged from $3.7 million to $5.7 million.
In June, the board passed a preliminary budget that called for eliminating 48 full-time positions, while adding 11. It also voted to close the former Cunningham School for the year and moving the programs housed there, including the Beloit Learning Academy. That move meant fewer administrators and the ability to better share staff amongst fewer buildings.
The cuts didn’t quite close that hole. The budget projects more than $900,000 more in expenses than revenues. But the district has about $4.6 million in a special fund that was created to pay out retiree benefits with no more retirees to pay. If the district runs a deficit, it would be able to draw on those funds.
“In theory this is a balanced budget, but if we have to take money out of savings, is it really balanced,” Beloit School Board President Tia Johnson said. . . .
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