Orange County Schools seeks $1.8M continuation, $2.2M in expansions in superintendent’s FY2025–26 budget recommendation

Orange County Schools staff presented the superintendent’s recommended local operating budget for fiscal year 2025–26 at the board’s March 24 meeting and said they will ask the Orange County Board of Commissioners for $1.8 million in continuation funding plus roughly $2.2 million in expansion money to implement pay increases and other staffing changes.

District staff said the recommended budget will be presented publicly at a district hearing on April 7, transmitted to county commissioners on April 14, and that county budget hearings are scheduled for May with a county decision and resolution anticipated in June.

The presentation said the district expects 6,909 students for the 2025–26 school year and that most local operating revenue follows enrollment. Staff described the district’s current spending mix: about 79% of the operating budget supports salaries and benefits, of which roughly 80% is school‑level spending; about 6% is pass‑through funding required by state law for students who reside in the district but attend charter schools; and the remainder covers district operations and central office functions.

On staffing and compensation, the recommendation assumes a 3% across‑the‑board salary increase for staff, an estimated rise in health‑insurance premiums (presenters said $500–$1,000 per employee in the budget estimate), and a 7% retirement cost increase. To maintain current operations under those assumptions, staff said the district would need about $1.8 million in continuation funds from the county.

Separately, the presentation listed expansion requests totaling about $2.2 million. The largest single expansion is a proposed 5 percentage‑point increase in local certified teacher supplements, which staff estimated would require about $1.6 million from the county. Staff also requested a 2 percentage‑point supplement increase for classified employees (about $375,000 estimated) and an adjustment to the bus‑driver pay scale to begin at $20 per hour (estimated $304,000). Taken together, staff said continuation plus expansion would amount to roughly $4 million in additional local support to both sustain current services and implement those targeted investments.

Board members asked about several budget details: how state allocation formulas and class‑size/position formulas influence staffing, the district’s contingency assumptions for construction and maintenance, and the district fund‑balance target. Presenters told the board the district’s undesignated local fund balance is projected at about $4.4 million and that the district’s internal target is 10–12% of the local operating budget. Staff noted the district’s typical monthly payroll is about $2 million and said they would prefer a fund balance closer to $5.5 million for cash‑flow resiliency.

Public commenters at the start of the meeting raised related concerns about equitable uses of new and targeted funds. Kessie Columns, identifying herself as a parent and PTO member, urged the board to use grant or targeted funds in ways that benefit the whole district rather than a lottery‑based program that she said concentrates advantages at a small number of schools.

Next steps: district staff will hold the April 7 public hearing on the recommended budget, transmit the proposal to the county on April 14, and continue clarifying line‑item estimates as the county’s budget process unfolds.