The Sterling School District is on track to finish another year with a budget in the black.

“It’s been a very good year for us financially,” Superintendent Tad Everett said prior to the April 22 school board meeting.

The board voted to approve the preliminary amended budget for fiscal 2026, which ends June 30. The board will host a public hearing on the amended budget on June 24.

Everett said the amended budget reflects the $30 million bond issue that the district approved, along with capital expenditures for three major construction projects.

“Most definitely, our expenditures and capital outlay are more significant and abundant than last year. Last summer, we passed our three-year facility plan and bonded $30 million in order to fund that. That is a three-year facility plan, but we bonded all of that up front,” Everett said.

Everett said the three-year span covers the current fiscal year that ends June 30, and fiscal years 2027 and 2028.

The bond issuance is good news for taxpayers, he said.

“The significance of that is that we were able to do all of the work without any increase in taxes to our local taxpayers. That was our pledge to the community, and we wanted to be able to make that promise and we’ve kept it,” Everett said.

The three projects in the capital plan include major remodels at Franklin Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School and the $11 million multipurpose student center that is under construction at Sterling High School. Everett said some work has started on the elementary schools and will begin in earnest in May.

“Phase 1 of those remodels has already started. We’ve done some playground work. We did some asbestos work over spring break. We are gearing up to really start those the very first day of summer break,” he said.

At Sterling High School, work continues for the multipurpose student center.

“That is well underway, and we will do quite a bit of pavement work and parking lots this summer. It’s a huge summer for us in terms of facilities,” he said.

Everett said the board and district are on track to see a balanced budget and budget surplus for the 12th year in a row when the budget year ends June 30.

With projected revenues for 2025-26 of $52,210,636 and projected expenses of $51,690,037, the district is on track to see about a $520,000 surplus.

“We started the fiscal year on July 1, 2025, with a projected surplus, and we’ll continue to have that, now that we know actual expenditures all the way through the end of March,” Everett said.

The 2026-27 budget process will start in late fall.