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School staff outline FY26 funding request, proposed reductions and CIP updates at work session
Summary
Budget staff walked the School Board through the draft FY26 funding request, highlighting revenue updates from the county, a $19.5 million increase in expenditures in the draft request, service reductions totaling about $2.7 million and capital improvements included in the county recommended CIP.
At the Feb. 27 budget work session the school division’s budget team reviewed the FY26 draft funding request and related county budget materials, explaining revenue updates, proposed reductions and capital improvement program (CIP) changes.
Director of Budget and Planning Maya Kumazawa said the county executive’s recommended budget raised the local government transfer to the schools to $209.3 million, about $2.8 million higher than the draft request in the board’s packet. She said the transfer increase stemmed from a 4¢ real‑property tax increase (0.4¢ dedicated to ACPS) and a personal property tax‑rate change that restored pre‑pandemic rates. The county’s recommended five‑year CIP was released Feb. 26 and included funds for project management, facilities maintenance and an increased allocation for bus replacement.
Kumazawa summarized net changes in the draft request as a $19.5 million overall increase from FY25, explained across baseline staffing adjustments, nondiscretionary inflation and health‑plan costs, learning investments and proposed service reductions. She listed proposed service reductions totaling $2.7 million: central office and department positions ($476,000), elimination of the FLES program ($690,000), the National Defense Cadet Corps program, restructuring freshman seminar to advisory, reducing planned expansion of Guaranteed Field Experiences (which preserves current elementary GFEs but cancels planned expansion to upper grades), three fewer high‑school student safety coach positions, and halving the furniture replacement budget ($600,000).
Kumazawa said staff will provide more detail on the reductions and on the five strategic “Learning for All” proposals at the next work session. Board members pressed for more concrete numbers: how many students are affected by cuts, per‑pupil cost of programs, which specific schools would lose FLES and associated planning‑time implications, and enrollment and per‑pupil projections. Staff provided a high‑level figure that expanding FLES to all elementary schools would cost roughly $1.8 million additional (on top of the $690,000), and said more detailed data would be delivered in follow‑up materials.
County staff confirmed the county’s CIP includes an increased five‑year total of about $189.6 million for school capital needs, including higher projected costs on Mountain View Upper Elementary and the ACE Academy (Lamb’s Lane), and an increase in school renovation funding.
