School board debates cuts and deferral of raises to address $4.1 million FY26 budget gap

The Washington County School Board spent the bulk of a special meeting debating how to close an almost $4.1 million gap in the proposed FY 2026 general-purpose budget after the district’s funding body declined to provide additional funds.

District staff told the board that the budget documents the board approved June 3 included using $2,000,000 of fund balance but still left a shortfall “just under $4,100,000.” The presenter said the last night’s funding hearing for all county government entities produced no additional funding for the schools, leaving the board to decide how to balance the FY 2026 budget.

Board members and staff traded proposals that emphasized minimizing classroom impact. Options discussed included preserving the annual step increases already built into the salary schedule (which staff said account for about $560,000 of the teacher-salary line) while deferring the additional $2,095-per-employee pay increases proposed to help reach a state-mandated $50,000 starting salary for teachers until next year. "If we don't make any progress this year, it will be doubled next year," a staff…