RCS passes $43.3M budget
RUSSELLVILLE — The city school board has approved a $43.3 million budget for the 2025-26 school year.
Chief Financial Officer Lisa Witt said revenues total $42.1 million and expenditures total $43.3 million — a $1.2 million difference that reflects timing of state funds rather than a loss.
She said the state prefunded some money this year that will be spent next year. That mismatch makes the books show a deficit for the general fund, Witt said, even though the money is already on hand.
Witt said the district’s Foundation Program allocation increased. She said city schools earned one additional teaching position, and is projecting higher employee benefit costs, which the state allocation helps cover.
She said there are no across-the-board raises included in the budget, but step raises remain in place for those who qualify.
Personnel costs make up about 65% of the totalexpenses, Witt said.
She said health insurance through PEEHIP will cost about $100 more per month per employee, which she estimated at roughly $400,000 for the year.
She said retirement contributions are also increasing for both tiers, adding about $150,000.
Witt said the new RAISE Act is providing more money to RCS. She estimated the net gain at about $500,000.
She said the district also receives supplemental allocations for textbooks and for summer and afterschool programs.
She said Advancement and Technology funds, now in their eighth year, continue to support major needs.
“Before those funds, most items on the capital plan just sat there year after year,” Witt said.
On capital projects, Witt said the district recently finished new football turf at Russellville High School, an $837,000 project funded with Advancement and Technology money.
She said the $7.1 million second phase of the Career Technical Center expansion is substantially complete. Witt said the total investment across both phases is about $20 million.
She explained upcoming work includes a $2 million turf project for baseball, softball and the band practice field funded with next year’s Advancement and Technology money.
She said the district also plans to purchase a special needs bus for about $473,000 using local funds.
She said other planned projects include re-roofing the main RHS classroom building; replacing fire alarms at the auditorium and band building; adding campus awnings; reworking the drain and sewer line between the central office and the high school, as well as re-roofing the kindergarten wing at West Elementary.
Witt said the capital plan is prioritized each year but can change if maintenance emergencies arise.
