The Clay County Board of Education on May 8 scheduled a planning meeting for June 12 and moved the regular June meeting to June 17 to finalize the fiscal 2026 budget, board members said.

The planning session is intended to give school finance staff additional direction before the later approval vote and to allow budget preparers more time to refine figures, board members said.

Board members said the schedule change is intended to give Director of Schools Diane Monroe and business staff time to develop the budget before the state deadline. "My proposal would be to have a planning meeting on the twelfth, June," a board member said during the meeting. The board voted to advertise the change.

Board members also discussed the district's student-count threshold. Officials said Clay County likely will remain below the 1,000-student threshold that would change funding calculations and that the district expects to retain the additional funding tied to the lower student count. "I don't think we're going to go over that threshold," a board member said, noting the potential impact if the district lost that funding.

Direction: the board asked staff to prepare the proposed budget for presentation at the June planning session and to advertise the revised meeting dates.

The board did not take a final budget vote at the May meeting; the next step is the planning meeting on June 12 followed by the regularly scheduled June vote on June 17.