Dearest reader,
This is the final stop in our regular Plainwell Community Schools workup, and this one is about where the General Fund is projected to go next.
Plainwell finished FY2025 with an audited General Fund balance of:
$7,222,435
And FY2025 itself was actually a good year for the fund balance. It increased by $1,061,524.
But the next two budgets tell a different story.
For 2025–26, Plainwell's final budget projects:
Revenue: $38,508,217
Expenditures: $39,327,499
Budgeted deficit: -$819,282
Projected ending fund balance: $6,403,153
Then comes the district's original 2026–27 budget:
Revenue: $37,505,605
Expenditures: $39,198,859
Budgeted deficit: -$1,693,254
Projected ending fund balance: $4,709,899
Put those two budgeted deficits together, and Plainwell is projecting a $2,512,536 decline in General Fund balance from its audited FY2025 ending balance.
That's about 34.8% in two budget years.
There is another number tucked into the budgets that caught my attention.
Plainwell's Food Service Fund projects an $864,319 deficit for 2026–27.
Revenue is budgeted at $1,906,804, while expenditures are budgeted at $2,771,123.
For comparison, the 2025 audit shows Food Service ended that year with a $1,310,299 fund balance and actually added $136,713 during the year.
So what happened?
I don't know.
The records Plainwell posted don't give me enough to answer that question responsibly.
And one distinction here is VERY important:
The FY2025 number is an audited actual result. The FY2026 and FY2027 numbers are budgets.
Budgets change. Revenues change. Expenditures change. A projected deficit is not the same thing as an actual year-end deficit.
But budgets also tell us what a district currently expects.
And right now, Plainwell's own budgets anticipate two consecutive General Fund deficits and a substantial reduction in fund balance.
That's where I'll leave this ledger.
The numbers are the receipts.
What they mean - and what Plainwell does next - is the question. 👑📖
Sources:
Plainwell Community Schools - Audited Financial Statements, year ended June 30, 2025.
Plainwell Community Schools - 2025–26 General Fund Final Budget.
Plainwell Community Schools - 2026–27 General Fund Original Budget.
Plainwell Community Schools - 2026–27 Food Service Fund Original Budget.
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