School District Finalizes Budget As State Funding Stabilizes

COLD SPRING (WJON News) -- Now that the state legislature has agreed on a budget for Minnesota, school's can finalize their funding. The ROCORI School Board will vote on its finalized 2025-2026 budget at its next meeting on June 23rd. Superintendent Kevin Enerson says it doesn't look like there will be any major reductions in the state funding for schools:

"Our budget right now, we didn't make any significant reductions for next year, and we're able to continue to go, our enrollment holds steady, and that's always an important piece of the finance puzzle of a school district."

He says school budgets are fairly complex, so ROCORI started working on it back in February and had a preliminary budget presentation in May, so they are ready now that the state has come to an agreement.

Enerson says having to wait on the state is nothing new, and schools have to constantly make budget adjustments:

"The legislature wraps up in May, our budgets have to be finalized by June 30th, and that's why we do budget adjustments throughout the school year so you'll see budget amendments typically in January in school districts so as we learn more and get things refined but we have to have some type of general budget."

Enerson says the legislature still has work to do for the 2027-2028 school year, and hopefully, things get turned around so the state doesn't have to cut into education.

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