As the current school year winds down, Naperville School District 203 officials are dually ramping up plans for the next one as an intensive review of the 2025-26 budget gets underway.
Mike Frances, Naperville 203’s chief financial officer, gave a bird’s eye view into next year’s preliminary plan amid a presentation at a board of education meeting Monday, May 5. Naperville 203’s administrators are planning a budget that includes a 3.29% increase in revenues and a 6.52% increase in expenses.
Expenses within the Naperville 203 2025-26 budget plan
Expenses for the draft 2025-26 school year budget plan could increase 6.52%, or $23.22 million, in year-over-year comparisons. This school year, a total of $356.28 million in expenses have been earmarked; the 2025-26 school year budget draft reflects $379.51 million.
Attached to the draft budget is a staffing plan for the upcoming school year. Based on preliminary figures, Naperville 203 is planning a 0.5 full-time equivalency increase in classroom staffing this fall.
This school year’s classroom staffing clocked in at a rate of 1,597.37 FTEs, districtwide; in the 2025-26 school year, a total of 1,597.87 FTEs are earmarked across all grade levels. Several factors — including enrollment projections — play into the figure.
On the expense side of the ledger, Frances and other district officials outlined several other factors that play into the increases, including the infusion of 2 new FTE positions into the buildings and grounds department, an overall 4.24% increase in staff salaries and benefits, girls flag football programs planned at the district’s high schools, a support staff mentoring program and funding to support new K-12 literacy curriculum.
Additionally, Naperville 203 officials are planning what Frances described as a “spend-down” of the district’s capital projects fund, as well as one-time construction costs.
Factors playing into revenue projections
Mirroring a figure from prior years, Frances said Naperville 203 again is poised to receive the bulk of its income from local property tax contributions — to the tune of 85.4%. State and federal funds, and a few other line items, make up the remaining 14.6%.
The revenue side of the 2025-26 financial ledger is a proposed $355.57 million, which reflects a 3.29%, or $11.32 million, increase from the $344.25 million in revenue built into the budget for this school year.
Current estimates point to a 3.89% increase in property tax revenue, accounting for a total of $303.68 million for the year ahead.
State and federal funding estimates remain in flux and are subject to further refinement as more details funnel in from Springfield and Washington, D.C., respectively.
On the federal front, Frances said he does anticipate a decrease in financial assistance in yearly comparisons, though one program through the U.S. government — Medicaid reimbursements — could ultimately come in higher than initially anticipated.
“Once we get a chance to better understand the change, we may be adjusting our estimates back to current levels for the final version of the budget,” Frances said of the still-fluid Medicaid information.
Presentation ‘the beginning of the process,’ D203 superintendent says
Frances and Superintendent Dan Bridges each emphasized the recent budget presentation remains preliminary and is subject to further refinement — particularly in the next month-and-a-half, as the board holds workshops and meetings with a citizen advisory group are held to hash over the granular details.
“This is just the beginning of the process,” Bridges said.
Bridges and Frances said their goal is to have the board hold a public hearing and adopt the 2025-26 school year budget June 16. Doing so will have a spending plan in place in time for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.
“By law, the board of education must adopt next year’s budget by the end of September,” Bridges said. “Our practice has been in alignment with the fiscal years.”
Frances said the budget will still remain a fluid document after board adoption and the start of the new fiscal year gets underway as specific pieces of data come into sharper focus.
“Each month, we analyze actual revenues and expenses to make sure that we are on track with the budget plan and, if needed, make adjustments accordingly,” Frances said.
A detailed glimpse into next year’s budget is available in a 53-page budget book that also was officially unveiled at the May 5 board meeting.
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