ELLSWORTH — The Ellsworth Community School District presented a balanced budget at the Oct. 14 annual meeting, expecting to levy about 7.25% less in the 2026-27 school year than the 2025-26 year.

The district went to an operational referendum vote in April for $2.185 million annually over a four-year period. An expiring $1.3 million operations levy caused the decision to return to referendum, but a failed vote meant cuts for the district.

After a total school levy increase by 5.84% from 2024-25 to 2025-26, the district is levying just shy of $900,000 less, a 7.25% decrease. The approved preliminary budget shows $11,428,165 in total school levy. The mill rate of 6.28 would be the lowest in the 20-year history presented at the meeting. Ellsworth’s mill rate has been below the state average in 30 of the past 42 years.

State equalization aid is down $304,870 at $11,823,005. Total revenues are projected to be down from $24,465,474 to $22,921,231. Total expenses are projected to be down from $24,149,784 to $22,729,091. The district does not expect deficit spending this fiscal year but does in the future if a referendum is not passed.

“We planned really well, and when we had done those estimates on what we needed to cut, we were very accurate it looks like. It’s for this year. It’s already a projected deficit for next year and a larger one for the next year,” ECSD Finance Director Traci Lewis said. “It was a lot of cuts and it hurts.”

As of the meeting, there were still some budget unknowns, including official student count. Those numbers become finalized in late October.

State revenue is also down about $800,000 due to a handful of grants from a year ago not being replaced, including a CTE equipment grant, an opioid prevention grant and a mental health grant. The district is projecting an increase in special education reimbursement. The state is budgeting an increase from 42% reimbursement to 45%; however, districts did not receive the full 42% this year, so many are conservatively budgeting the increase.

Open enrollment out is 103 students, with 66 students coming in.

At the regular board meeting following the annual meeting, the board approved a one-time HSA contribution for employees enrolled in the district’s health insurance based on savings from last year’s renewal process. The savings came from increasing deductibles, which led to a reduction in the renewal increase from 18% to 7.3%. Because of the higher deductibles, the board approved a one-time payment of $400 for single coverage and $800 for family coverage from the savings.

Personnel

The board approved the following personnel changes:

Hires: Jeremiah Johnson, custodian; Katie Childers, speech language pathology assistant.

Resignations: Kendyl Horn, eighth grade volleyball coach; Anne Pechacek, prom advisor.

Extra/Co-Curricular: Omar Coulson, seventh grade boys basketball coach; Nash Kuhl, middle school assistant boys basketball coach.