Feb. 25, 2025 9:40p
(WGTD)---Kenosha Unified Superintendent Jeff Weiss gave a strong indication Tuesday night on how he plans to close a projected $19 million budget deficit for the next school year. The deficit has come about in part because of voter disapproval last week of a proposal to allow the district to exceed state-mandated levy limits.
During his report to the board at Tuesday's regularly-scheduled board meeting, Weiss ticked off nearly a dozen possible steps. They included leaving some vacant administrative positions unfilled, adjusting class sizes, evaluating staff pay, reviewing the ‘academy’ concept at Indian Trail High School and Academy, deferring some maintenance and technology improvements, and scuttling, for now, school safety enhancements and teacher prep time improvements.
"While these are challenging times, our commitment to our students, families and staff remains strong," Weiss said. "We will continue to explore solutions that balance fiscal responsibility with the needs of our students. In the coming weeks, we'll be working on solutions to balance the budget for the next school year."
Weiss repeated his contention made in the wake of the referendum loss that the vote, in his opinion, does not equate to a softening of support for the school district. Instead, the proposed solution, he said, was not right for the current times. The referendum lost by an eight-point margin.
It’ll be up to the school board to make the final decisions on the budget.
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