The district recently made budget adjustments of $2.1 million for its 2025-26 budget and is using $2.3 million in reserves to cover a $4.4 million funding gap.

The next step in the process will include review of possible levy scenarios by the district's Finance Committee in April. Information from the committee's discussion could be brought back to the School Board on April 14, according to Superintendent Jason Berg.

The board's discussion on March 10 was preliminary in nature. They discussed the current financial state of the district and the need to generate additional revenue to meet rising expenses.  

School Board Chair Kyle Christensen said he thinks community engagement and feedback can help the board determine how to frame a levy question and amount. 

"I got an idea what it looks like for me, but I think I'm trying to outline the conversation for the first meeting in April. I think it's what does this look like if we just renew. What does this look like if we don't do anything else with no referendum in November. Well, we already know, and there's not enough revenue," Christensen said.

School Board Member Hannah Johnson suggested the board could have a decision by its June 9 meeting to give the district a head start on informing voters. 

Board Member Maggie Storlie suggested the district develop three scenarios – renewal of the existing levy, a "scraping by" option, and then another that would say "here's what we could build if we had enough capital."

Berg said if the board seeks additional revenue, it would be good to ask for enough funds to cover the potential deficit for the next few years. 

Johnson said the district's financial situation has not improved.

"It's worse, we have more unknowns," she said, adding that renewal of the existing levy would not be enough to prevent additional significant cuts that affect students.

Board members Kelsey Jezierski and Melissa Gorman agreed the district needs more funds beyond the levy renewal.

"It's been obvious for a while that the current operating levy is not sufficient to meet the needs of the school district," she said. 

Christensen said" "We've cut two or three million dollars between the enrollment adjustment and then the actual costs. We've also done some reinvestment with the idea that some of these things would pay off in career pathways at the high school or reinforce educational supports at the middle schools.

"If the conversation is the current operating levy enough, it's a heck no. Do we need to ask for more? Yes. What I want to see in a conversation around is how much. What are the investments required to drive demonstrable improvements in academic performance, and what are the investments we need to provide readiness opportunities that are under our district control," Christensen said.

Christensen said board has cut programs at Farmington High School, and the board should look at investments needed for students.

"We have started to cut back on some of the things that I think are gems," he said. "We have to improve academic performance so we need to continue to align the resources that way, but we are at a place where, yeah, I just want this conversation not be about how far can we get down the road before we have to start cutting stuff again."

"I'm great to add more funding and will be on board with that if the focus is increasing academic achievements," said Board Member Becky DeWilde said.

She resurfaced the idea of forming a district Finance Advisory Committee that would include District 192 constituents. 

"We need to know what the community thinks," she said. "I really want to work toward just kind of increasing community morale and like support around this because I don't know that we're gonna be successful unless we do."

Berg said he and Jane Houska, district finance director, have developed a charter for a potential Finance Advisory Committee and how it would work with the board and the district's internal Finance Committee.