The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) approved the final budget and millage rate for the 2025-26 fiscal year during a meeting on Tuesday night.
The total budget adopted by the board for FY 2025-26 is $604,094,340. This is a difference of $8 million from last year’s adopted budget of $612,765,789.
In its Executive Summary for the FY 2025-26 budget, Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) cited that the major changes leading to the decrease in the overall budget are the end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding and declining enrollment.
“The budget has been prepared to adjust spending for the continued decline in enrollment due in part to the popularity of the Florida Empowerment Scholarship Program (FES),” the summary said.
Five major funds make up the budget, with the general fund, or operational fund, accounting for the “vast majority of operational expenditures that support” the district’s education system, according to the Executive Summary.
Out of the $300,078,050 for general fund appropriations, $154,603,068 (52%) is appropriated for teacher salaries, $58,294,053 (19%) for employee benefits, $48,764,961 (16%) for purchased services, $10,854,356 (4%) for energy services, $20,695,010 (7%) for materials and supplies, $4,518,031 (2%) for capital outlay and $2,348,571 (1%) for other.
Board members unanimously approved the budget for FY 2025-26 by way of a roll call vote by Vice Chair Tina Certain. The roll call vote was in accordance with board policy 0165, particularly, “Virtual Participation,” which states that “votes taken during a meeting conducted with at least one board member participating through an electronic means of communication shall be by roll call.”
Two board members – Thomas Vu and Sarah Rockwell – attended Tuesday night’s meeting virtually.
Millage rate
According to the Executive Summary, “Millage rates are approved by the school board and applied to the taxable value of property as established by the local property appraiser.”
There are three specific millage levies for operations, according to the summary. These are Required Local Effort (RLE), Discretionary and Additional Voted Millage.
The millage revenue for 2025-26 includes $82,843,200 for RLE, $20,634,936 for discretionary and $27,586,813 for additional voted millage. There is also $41,380,220 for capital outlay, amounting to a total millage revenue of $172,445,169. This is a revenue increase of $9.9 million from 2024.
“At first glance, one might think the district has nearly $10 million of new revenue. Unfortunately, that’s not what happens,” Judith Marte, a financial consultant for ACPS, said during the meeting.
Marte noted that the nearly $5,000 increase in RLE revenue from 2024 to 2025 “reduces the amount that the state provides in the FEFP (Florida Education Finance Program) formula.”
“If the RLE increases, the state naturally decreases their portion to yield nearly the same money as last year, so that $5 million really doesn’t come in,” she said.
The total proposed millage rate for FY 2025-26 is set at 6.251, which is less than the 2024 rate (6.261) and greater than the 2025 rolled-back rate of 5.8402 by 5.07%.
The board unanimously approved the millage rate for FY 2025-26 by way of a second roll call vote.
Board members also expressed their gratitude to Marte and the district finance staff for the time and work they put in.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.