FPS

Fremont Public Schools Adopts the 2024-2025 Budget

Hearings & Meeting Held

Fremont, Neb. – (Sep. 11, 2024) Fremont Public Schools passed their 2024-2025 Budget on a 5-0 vote during the Board of Education meeting on Monday night. The General Fund budget will increase by 7.59% from $67,370,915 to $72,486,313. At the same time on the resource side, the District is experiencing a 14.07% increase in assessed valuation. The proposed budget includes a property tax levy that is being reduced by 10.9 cents, the levy will drop from $1.138 to $1.028.  

The levy in the General Fund will be reduced to 86.1 cents, down from 91.9 cents. The Special Building Fund will be reduced from 2.5 cents to 0 cents. The levy associated with the Bond Fund has decreased from 19.3 cents to 16.7 cents, down 2.6 cents from where the district projected it to be when the voters approved the $123 million bond issue September 14, 2021.  The 10.9 cent reduction this year coupled with last year’s reduction of 8.5 cents totals a 19.4 cent reduction over the two year period.

 “The levies associated with this budget reflect the growing needs of the district while recognizing the impact of rising assessed values”, stated Dr. Brad Dahl, associated superintendent.  “The reduction in the bond fund levy is a reflection of the assessed valuation growth outpacing the assumed growth projected at the time of the bond issuance.”

Fremont Public Schools General Fund budget covers personnel, instruction, transportation and most operating costs. Personnel costs make up 85% of the General Fund. The District budgets the majority of the General Fund expenditures on classroom instruction – approximately 76%. For the 2024-2025 school year the district added 11 full time teachers and 13 additional support staff to address student growth.

A majority of the budget, 46.99%, is funded by property taxes. The second-largest revenue source is state aid, which funds 30.48% of the budget.

The Board of Education aims to maximize our resources while creating an expenditure budget which meets the district’s needs, all while being sensitive to the needs of the district’s patrons. 

The budget incorporates changes due to the negotiated agreement and increases for all employee groups of 4%. 

Issues affecting FPS finances include increased costs for labor and staffing, cost of supplies and materials, utility rates, insurance and transportation costs. “Essentially, everything impacting our own personal finances is also creating a challenge for the school district budget,” stated  Mark Shepard,  Superintendent.  Additional state sources of revenue were added to help districts be less reliant on property taxes for this fiscal year and helped the district lower their overall levy by 10.9 cents. 

The district continues to be efficient with its spending. Fremont Public Schools is ranked 5th out of 244 school districts in Nebraska in per-pupil spending; only 4 districts in the state spend less per-pupil. The district spends $12,799 per-pupil compared to the state average of $16,214.

Monday evening’s Board of Education action on the budget and tax request were the final approvals in the budget process.  Due to the district staying below the allowable growth threshold set by the state, the district is not required to attend the Dodge County LB 644 Joint Public Hearing. 

Board of Education President Sandi Proskovec noted, “The budget approved tonight accurately reflects the district’s revenues and expenditures and meets the educational needs of the district while honoring the needs of the community.  Budgeting for FPS is a year-long process and one that is taken seriously with intentionality.”

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The mission statement of the Fremont Public Schools is to produce creative, adaptable, productive citizens committed to lifelong learning.