Coeur d’Alene School District trustees voted unanimously this week to adopt a $107 million budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, a slight increase over the current year’s budget that includes a little more than $2 million in increased revenue. 

Trustees convened Monday to adopt the budget, following a public hearing on the matter earlier this month. The budget includes $93 million for salary and benefits, an increase of about $375,000 over the previous budget. 

Tyler Morton, director of finance for the Coeur d’Alene School District, said staff focused on several priorities when developing the budget, including providing competitive salaries and cost-of-living increases to attract and retain staff, ensuring fiscal responsibility and maximizing academic return on investment. 

“Everything we do is focused around student achievement,” he said. 

Enrollment is expected to remain steady in the coming school year, with the district anticipating 9,675 students.

Idaho’s formula for funding schools is based mostly on average daily attendance, rather than the total number of enrolled students. Average daily attendance in a district is converted to “support units,” which are in turn used to calculate salary and benefit apportionments from the state, as well as discretionary funds. 

The Coeur d’Alene School District funds more than 160 positions beyond what the state funding formula provides. Many of these positions are supported by the levy. 

For example, the state allowance for instructional staff, calculated using the district’s support units, covers 463 such employees. The district employs 511 instructional staff, leaving a $3 million funding gap. 

“Being a lean district for the staff we have, we are essentially underfunded from what the state provides us by about $8.6 million, which comes from the general fund to supplement that or levy dollars from this great community,” Morton said. 

The district anticipates about $2.1 million in additional revenue for the coming fiscal year, about half of which comes in the form of discretionary dollars from the state that will offset increasing health insurance costs. 

According to the district, healthcare costs have increased 19.5% and dental insurance costs have increased 6%. 

“To put that into perspective, the medical renewal alone would increase district healthcare costs by approximately $2.6 million next year,” the district said in a statement. “The significant increase in healthcare costs prompted the district to carefully consider changes to health benefits that will continue providing strong employee benefits while also investing in employee compensation and maintaining long-term financial stability.” 

Morton said cost-saving efforts have generated about $300,000 in savings for the coming fiscal year. These efforts include purchasing rebates, utility audits and finding operational efficiencies. 

Trustees also approved an amended budget for the current fiscal year. The adopted budget was $103.4 million, while the amended budget is a little more than $105 million, a difference of about $1.5 million. 

Increased flexible funding helped offset rising insurance costs, according to the district, resulting in about $1.6 million in additional revenue. 

Higher-than-expected property tax relief funding reduced reliance on supplemental levy funds and eliminated the need for the 2017 bond levy this year. The district’s overall tax rate decreased as a result, saving the average property owner about $50 annually, according to the district.