Canon McMillan Budget Includes Tax Hike

The Canon McMillan School Board will finish up the 2025-2026 school year next week. In their voting meeting next week, they will be passing their budget for the 2026-2027 school year. The budget will be a $126,854,777 spending plan and will include a tax increase to residents of .423 mills. According to Business Manager Dr. Joni Mansmann the district could have raised millage up to .699 mills. Mansmann did say that unanticipated revenue from the earned income tax allowed her to apply a conservative revenue increase to the budget of approximately $500,000. She also credited the Canon McMillan Cyber Academy for being able to keep the tuition of 120 students in the district. The approximate cost to educate a student at Canon McMillan is $19,000. That means Canon McMillan was able to keep approximately $2 million in their own bank. Dr. Mark Abbondaza reviewed results from this year’s structured literacy program. He reported substantial gains for kindergarten through fourth grade students from the beginning of the year. Fourth grade students wound up having a 95% reading proficiency level at the end of the year. In the buildings and grounds department, Director Jurdon Maier reported that the new Wylandville Elementary School is progressing with much of the underground infrastructure complete and steel framing being installed. He said contractors are estimating a June 2027 completion date for the construction. The School Board will meet on June 25 to vote on the budget.