School board narrows FY 2025–26 budget: board signals support for free breakfast, salary compression and staffing adjustments

The Montgomery County School Board directed staff to revise the proposed FY 2025–26 budget after a multi-hour discussion in which members prioritized staff pay compression, free breakfast for students, and targeted staffing changes.

Angie Bland, director of finance, and Trevor Bennett, budget and finance manager, presented the district’s revenue and cost picture and said the school system faced a gap of just over $1.6 million after the county’s newly approved 1¢ tax increase and updated state revenue estimates. Bland said the total proposed additions in the draft budget amounted to just over $8.9 million.

After questions about program costs and operational impacts, the board coalesced around several guidance items: keep free breakfast districtwide but not a free lunch program for all students in the coming year; pursue a salary-scale compression that moves the teacher/classified salary scales toward 20 steps (rather than the more expensive 15-step compression originally proposed); and reduce the number of new special-education teacher positions originally proposed from 10 to 8. The board also placed the proposed dual-language immersion program on hold for a year and urged staff and trustees to press the town of Blacksburg for school resource officers (SROs) rather than immediately funding a separate school security-officer (SSO) program.

Why it matters: The board’s guidance narrows the gap between proposed spending and available revenue but leaves a mix of controversial tradeoffs: adding salary compression money to retain staff while limiting an expansion of universal free lunch. Board members repeatedly framed decisions around available county revenue and the district’s obligations to protect positions central to instruction and student safety.

Key figures and trade-offs discussed

- Revenue and shortfall: Bland said total proposed additions were about $8.9 million; state revenue rose by roughly $3.3 million during the budget process; county contributions plus the 1¢ tax brought about $3.9 million. The district faced a shortfall “just over $1.6 million.”

- Free meals: The board debated universal free breakfast and lunch. Administration estimated offering both would require roughly $1.2 million beyond current funds; providing breakfast only would cut the gap substantially (Bland said the deficit dropped to about $690,000 when the proposal was trimmed to breakfast only). The board directed staff to proceed with free breakfast only as the preferred option this year.

- Salary compression: The board discussed compressing the salary steps to improve recruitment and retention. Members weighed 15-step and 20-step condensing approaches; the board settled on guidance approximating a 20-step compression (a compromise between a 15-step proposal and the status quo).

- School security: Administration proposed a School Security Officer program as a stopgap because town police departments, particularly Blacksburg, reported difficulty assigning SROs. Some board members urged the district to fund SSOs; others worried that creating a district-funded security force would be expensive to scale and recommended pressing towns to provide SROs. The board did not authorize a permanent new security department; members directed staff to continue talks with local police jurisdictions.

- Dual-language program: The board discussed a proposed dual-language immersion program at Prices Fork Elementary School and the risks of an initial rollout that serves a concentration of Spanish-speaking students; members asked to defer the program for at least a year given current budget constraints.

- Special education staffing: The administration asked for 10 additional special-education teachers to change the model away from strict inclusion; several board members proposed trimming that to 8 positions to reduce cost while trying to preserve service levels.

Board guidance is not a formal vote. The board did not adopt a final budget at the meeting; it asked administration to prepare a revised proposal reflecting the guidance so members could review formal adoption at a later meeting.