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Cherokee County recommends 3% pay increase, shifts $1.4M to schools and keeps millage at historic low
Summary
Superintendent staff presented a FY2026 budget recommendation that preserves the district's 17.95‑mill rate, proposes a 3% salary increase plus step increases, reallocates $1.4 million to school budgets, and reduces central office operating expenses by 5.2%; board to consider tabling and hold hearings before final vote.
District finance staff presented the Cherokee County School District’s recommended fiscal year 2026 budget at the March 20 work session, proposing a 3% increase to teacher and support‑staff salaries (in addition to step/ longevity increases), added staffing for schools, and preservation of the district's millage at 17.95 mills.
Chief budget presenter Mr. Owen told the board the package addresses a projected $14 million revenue shortfall caused by the senior exemption expansion by cutting central office operating budgets, reallocating funds to schools and moving eligible spending to other revenue sources. "Superintendent asked all the divisions to cut their central office operations by at least 3%. That netted us about $2,400,000 in savings," Owen said.
Key components of the FY26 recommendation include a 3% salary increase for teachers and support staff plus normal step increases; full funding of employer increases for the State Health Benefit Plan and Teachers Retirement System (estimated at $5.2 million in local funds); a plan to lower fourth‑ and fifth‑grade student‑to‑teacher allotments by hiring 20 additional teachers; adding two school psychologists (FTE); and equipping school police with body cameras. The recommendation also reallocates $1.4 million from central offices to school based budgets and realigns approximately $9.1 million from the general operating budget to other eligible sources (grants and similar funds).
Owen described conservative revenue estimates and explained the recommended millage: 16.45 mills for maintenance and operations and 1.5 mills for debt service (combined 17.95), the same rate as the prior year. He noted the calculated rollback rate is 16.163 mills; the recommended maintenance‑and‑operations rate of 16.45 mills would represent a 1.78% increase for the average homeowner—about $55.39 per year as presented in the budget documents.
Mr. Owen summarized the district’s fiscal priorities: invest resources as close to classrooms as possible; invest in direct student supports; enhance school safety and security; and maintain conservative stewardship of taxpayer funds. He highlighted that instructional services will represent 69.1% of the general fund budget and that salaries and benefits now account for roughly 92.2% of general fund spending.
Board members asked for clarifications about the school allocations and guardrails for new school budgets. Superintendent Davis and staff said district leaders will provide guidelines and quarterly reviews to help principals use increased allocations and will return to the board with detailed calculations of class sizes related to the 20 new teachers. "Give them some guidelines, some guardrails on how to use that money. And then we'll go back and continually through the next year go back quarterly... Here's what's going well," Superintendent Davis said.
Other notable points in staff materials: the budget reduces central office operating expenses by 5.2% (target was 3%), increases school based budgets by 34% compared with the prior year, projects a modest increase in school nutrition costs driven by salaries and benefits but preserves student meal prices for the fifth consecutive year, and projects an all‑funds total that is lower than FY25 primarily because construction spending on Cherokee High School reached its high watermark in FY25.
Mr. Owen outlined the public timeline: staff will ask the board to table final approval at the March business meeting, hold three public hearings (April 9 at 11:30 a.m., April 17 at 11:30 a.m. and April 17 at 6:30 p.m.), and bring the budget back for consideration April 17.
No final millage or budget adoption vote was recorded in the work session transcript; the presentation set parameters and public hearings ahead of the April vote.
The board complemented staff on aligning budget choices with prior board priorities and asked staff to return with additional details and guardrails for school‑level spending and class size calculations.
