Dearest reader,

For the final step of our Roseville Community Schools review, we are opening the budget.

And this one needs a little context, because a deficit on paper does not automatically mean a district is in financial trouble.

Roseville's amended 2025-26 General Fund budget projects:

Revenue: $73,193,088
Expenditures: $75,701,704
Operating deficit: $2,508,616
Projected ending fund balance: $21,419,259

For 2026-27, the district projects:

Revenue: $73,017,032
Expenditures: $78,818,840
Operating deficit: $5,801,808
Projected ending fund balance: $15,617,451

Put those two years together, and Roseville is budgeting to use approximately $8.31 million of its General Fund balance.

That sounds dramatic until we follow the receipts backward.

Roseville ended 2024-25 with an audited General Fund balance of $23,927,875, up from $22,909,554 the year before.

And the district's own audit provides some important context: management described the district as being in "strong financial standing," with a fund balance exceeding 35% of General Fund expenditures, and stated that it plans to carefully spend down that balance over the coming years to maximize the impact of COVID-era grant funds.

So no, dearest reader, I am not going to wave a $5.8 million projected deficit around and declare a financial crisis when the district's own records tell us there is more to the story.

But the trajectory is still worth watching.

If the budgets play out as currently projected, Roseville's General Fund balance would move from $23.93 million at the end of 2024-25 to approximately $15.62 million at the end of 2026-27.

That's a planned drawdown of about $8.31 million in two years.

The receipts don't always uncover a scandal.

Sometimes they simply tell us what to keep an eye on.

With receipts and respect. 🪶

#LadyBudgetdown #RosevilleCommunitySchools #RosevilleSchools #SchoolBudget #SchoolFinance #FundBalance #TaxpayerDollars #SchoolTransparency #WithReceiptsAndRespect