FAIRMONT – The Fairmont School Board approved the preliminary budget for the 2025-26 school year at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Finance and Business Director Jessica Korte said it is preliminary because some numbers could shift in the future.

“This is based on a lot of assumptions on what is going to happen with our federal government and our state government,” she said. “As we learn more, we will make adjustments.”

Korte said a school district’s enrollment is the most important factor in determining revenues. Average daily enrollment dropped from 1,828 in the 2023-24 school year to 1,779 in 2024-25, the lowest since 1,719 in 2019-20. The expectation is another decrease for 2025-26.

The school receives $8,977 for every high school student grades 7 to 12 and $7,481 for elementary students grades K to 6. The fewer students the school has, the less funding it receives.

“If we go down potentially 49 students, it’s over $400,000,” Korte said.

Currently, the Fairmont School District is projected to receive $18,184,004 from the state through this aid formula. The current pre-budget has $21,786,974 planned in total state aid revenue, with a total revenue of $27,424,010. Of this, $595,220 is in federal aid, which is still subject to potential cuts.

The preliminary budget is slightly above the revenue, at $27,688,016. Korte said they have looked to decrease their fund balance by $463,000, doing so in key areas.

“One-hundred eighty-four thousand comes from our food service fund, which we need to spend down,” she said. “The last letter I got from the state said we had about $700,000 of excess fund balance. That will be a deficit for quite a while, and that is okay because we have to spend that down.”

Superintendent Andy Traetow thanked Korte for her hard work and said planning for the future hasn’t been easy.

“We have had to make some difficult decisions,” he said. “Even with decisions that we made, you’re being asked to support a budget that could be another deficit spend. When the dust settles at the federal and state level, we’re hoping that corrects itself to some degree. We need to be continually mindful of that and strategic about our decisions to continue being in a sound financial state moving forward.”

Board Member Michael Edman motioned to approve the preliminary budget, with Board Member Jen Harris seconding. The budget was approved unanimously.

In other news:

— The activities fees for the 2025-26 school year were approved. Fees were standardized to be $130 regular and $40 for those who qualify for the reduced fee. This brings football’s fee down from $135 while increasing cheerleading’s fee from $120. Junior High athletics will continue to be a $70 regular and $20 reduced fee. For fine arts, a $60 regular and $20 fee has been standardized. This brings the speech fee down from $70. Where robotics and debate previously did not have a fee, participation will now cost $60. For those who qualify for reduced fees, these two programs will remain free.

— Ticket prices were also established. They will remain at $7 for adults, $5 for citizens 60 and older, and free for students. Annual passes will also remain at $100 for adults and $55 for seniors.

— The authorization for the district administration to procure ICS and Ehlers services along with others for the building improvements planning was approved following the open house and discussion regarding progress thus far. They will work to submit project narratives to the Minnesota Department of Education for approval.