The Clinton School Board approved its amended budget for fiscal year 2026 earlier this week, noting sharp increases in operational deficits, driven primarily by rising health insurance claims.
At the Tuesday night Clinton Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Drew Goebel detailed a worsening deficit in the district's education fund. The fund is currently facing a negative balance of $3.89 million, a significant drop from the $2.3 million structural deficit originally anticipated when the budget was approved earlier this year.
According to Goebel, the district operates under a self-funded model where the district covers its own medical claims up to a stop-gap threshold - Clinton schools ran $1.15 million over budget this year alone.
Minor deficits were also logged in the operations and maintenance fund, which finished $22,000 in the red due to escalating utility rates and ongoing athletic facility upgrades. Goebel notes those expenses included tree removal, stadium fence repairs, drainage improvements, and lighting adjustments on the baseball fields, coming on the heels of the district's recent $5 million multi-sport facility project.
To balance the shortfalls, Goebel indicates that a $5 million fund transfer was made. He adds the adjusted tax levy allocations to pull accumulated surplus funds out of the district's tort and transportation funds, transferring that revenue into working cash bonds to support the education fund.
Board member Tammie Ennis urged the community not to view the amended budget as cause for panic, emphasizing that despite the heavy operational deficits, the district maintains a healthy overall ending fund balance. Additionally, she highlights that long-term fiscal relief is on the horizon, pointing to the power plant expansion projected to be larger than expected, which will make the facility a massive property tax revenue asset for the school district moving forward.
While the reserves of the district have fallen off in recent years, Goebel and Ennis point to the fact that the district has been able to use bonds to maintain its operations as a good thing.
The district Fiscal Year 26 budget ends on June 30.
