Triton Schools adopt cost-cutting measures

Luke Lutterman said it wasn’t what he envisioned for his first year as superintendent of the Triton Public School district, but after four straight years of deficit spending and declining enrollment, he presented the school board with budget alignments at its April 20 meeting.
After Lutterman’s presentation, board members unanimously adopted his recommendations. “None of this is easy… We need to make some adjustments so we can recover financially,” said Lutterman.
Other budget impacts such as state aid not keeping up with inflation and the increase of underfunded and unfunded state mandates have hit local schools’ budgets.
A capital project levy approved in November 2025 helped, but with the district currently at a -3.4% fund balance and under Statutory Operating Debt (SOD), Lutterman said deficit spending needed to be corrected.
To that end, the board adopted two tiers of budget alignments:
Tier 1 consists of $42,000 in reductions; $6,000 from technology, $6,000 by changing speed and strength program provider, $10,000 by reducing the supplies and equipment budget of the athletic director, $3,400 by having students pay for ACT testing, $10,000 by reducing mowing, and $7,500 by reassigning Professional Learning Community (PLC) duties.
Tier 2 consists of increasing middle school activity fees from $100 to $110, high school fees from $100 to $125, and family caps from $400 to $500 for a budget impact of $10,500. School Resource Officer (SRO) services will be changed to part-time, or other resources will need to be secured for a budget impact of $14,000.
Between the two tiers, the district will see a budget decrease of $639,442 in fiscal year 2027. Lutterman and school administration have been working on budget alignment proposals for 2028 and 2029 that will be brought to the board later.