The Fox C-6 School District cut more than $6.4 million from this fiscal year’s budget compared to last fiscal year as it braces for potential reductions in local, state and federal funding, and combats rising costs due to inflation.
The district reduced projected costs for services, such as using a firm to supplement the custodial staff, and slashed projected spending for supplies, such as purchasing new Chromebooks, Chief Operating Officer Tracy Schmidt said.
“It is a balancing act to provide students and staff needed resources while also staying within our spending limitations amidst an environment of limited education funding,” he said.
Fox C-6 is projected to collect $180 more than it spends on operating costs for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, which begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2027. The district anticipates collecting $143,319,512 in revenue for its operating budget and spending $143,319,332, according to Board of Education documents.
The operating budget covers costs such as salaries and benefits and purchased services and supplies.
Along with operating costs, the Fox C-6 budget includes funding for debt service and capital improvement projects.
Overall, the district is projected to collect $154,060,156 in revenue and spend the same amount.
Fox C-6 is projected to spend more on capital improvement projects than it collects in that fund’s revenue. The district plans to spend $3,407,529 on capital improvements after collecting $2,585,306 in capital improvement revenue.
Fox C-6 anticipates starting the 2026-2027 fiscal year with $5,867,082 in its capital projects fund and finishing with $5,044,859 in the fund.
“The only place we are deficit spending is capital projects, but we are still maintaining a balance of $5 million,” Superintendent Paul Fregeau said.
Fox C-6 is forecasting a balanced budget not only because it had a reserve in its capital improvement fund, but the district also anticipated collecting $101,223 more in revenue than it spends in its debt service fund and $721,000 more than it spends from student activities fund.
The district anticipated collecting $5,825,338 in debt service revenue and spending $5,724,115, and it is projected to collect $2,330,000 in its student activities fund, which is money raised by organizations such as athletic teams and school clubs, and spending $1,609,000.
On June 16, Schmidt said Fox C-6 benefited from voters approving Proposition M, a $48 million bond issue, in April.
Because the bond issue was approved, the district is able to pay a $6,225,000 lease-purchase agreement owed for building Antonia Middle and buying several buses earlier than projected. Those agreements are scheduled to be paid for in 2028.
By paying off the lease-purchase agreement, Fox C-6 will be able to transfer 22 cents per $100 assessed valuation from its capital projects fund, which may only pay for capital improvement expenses, to its operating fund.
He said that move will generate about $3 million for operation costs.
Board members voted 6-0 on June 16 to approve the budget. Vice President Curtiss Frazier was not at the meeting.
Cuts
Fox C-6 is projected to spend $6,415,808 less on services and supplies this fiscal year compared to last year. It anticipates spending a total of $21,451,017 on services and supplies in the 2026-2027 fiscal year after spending $27,866,825 last fiscal year.
The district reduced its services spending from $14,380,338 to $10,021,653.
“The district was able to end our agreement with HES, which provided temporary custodial services, by fully staffing our custodial department,” Schmidt said. “Our finance team also worked with our directors to examine vendors, services provided and where we could make adjustments to maximize service contracts and bulk ordering. If revenues remain flat or reduced, some maintenance projects could be delayed.”
Fox C-6 cut spending on supplies to $11,429,634 this fiscal year after spending $13,486,487 during the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Schmidt said the district reduced supply costs by purchasing some items such as rubber gloves, mops, paper and technology supplies during the 2025-2026 budget cycle in order to avoid higher costs due to inflation.
He also said the technology department identified items, such as ordering new Chromebooks, which could be delayed by a year as a contingency in case revenues do not reach full funding levels.
“We are very wary of rising costs with custodial goods; tariffs items like rubber gloves and mops have increased 30 percent,” Schmidt told the board on June 16. “Inflation, through this month is a little over $800,000 in water, electric, utilities, gas and insurance. After next month, that will probably be close to $1 million in inflation.
“We tried to factor that into next year. Hopefully, gas prices will go down. Hopefully, some other things will happen, but we had to budget conservatively.”
Fox C-6 officials said the projected cuts were necessary due to projected revenue losses.
Schmidt told the board that the district lost $359,261.96 in local revenue because of the senior tax freeze during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and that loss is expected to rise this fiscal year.
He also said the district is preparing for the effects of Jefferson County voters in April approving property taxes be frozen at 2024 levels in 2028. A lawsuit has been filed challenging Senate Bill 3, which outlines the tax freeze, which may invalidate the election result.
Schmidt also said Amendment 5, which is on the August ballot and asks to phase out the state’s income tax by replacing it with other forms of revenue, such as sales tax, would impact state funding for school districts.
Schmidt said Fox C-6 is anticipating only receiving $6,760 per student from the State Adequacy Target (SAT) instead of the possible $7,145 per student if the foundation formula was fully funded.
Fox C-6, like all state districts, has lost state funding as enrollment has declined. The district reported enrollment dropped to 10,453 students in 2026 from 11,408 students in 2016.
Schmidt also said Fox C-6 expects to lose some federal funding for Title II, III and IV, and that the district has already started paying for some programs that were previously paid for with federal money.
Schmidt said Fox C-6 now funds interventionists and behavior specialists that were previously paid for with ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds, which were available during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the district is paying for items that were previously purchased with federal grants.
“Items such as curriculum, software licensing, tech components, food items that were previously paid for by grants, and contracted counseling services are now all funded entirely by the district’s local funds,” he said.
The largest expenditure for Fox C-6 is salaries and benefits, which accounts for 86 percent of the budget, according to board documents.
Schmidt said the district is projected to spend $123,477,492 on salary and benefits during the 2026-2027 fiscal year. He said Fox C-6 estimated paying $124,455,375 in salary and benefits for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, but the final cost would not be known until next month.
“There are variables such as overtime, substitute pay, new hires and employee turnover that vary from year to year and month to month,” he said.
Schmidt said Fox C-6 anticipates employing 865 teachers and certified staff members for the 2026-2027 school year after having 873 teachers and certified staff members for the 2025-2026 school year.
He said the district will employ 82 exempt employees, a group that consists of administrators, directors and other professional staff members, and it anticipates employing 648 support staff members.