Washington County school board amends budget to remove proposed raises, restores maintenance increases; shortfall narrowed

At a called meeting, Washington County school officials approved an amended fiscal‑year budget that removes the proposed across‑the‑board raises while preserving scheduled step increases for certified staff and restores three maintenance line‑item increases totaling $516,533.

The changes were presented to the board by a staff member who walked the group through line‑by‑line figures. The staff member said the initial package had included a $2,095 flat raise for certified personnel, a classified raise originally proposed as $1 per hour (about $660,000), an equivalent hourly adjustment for bus drivers (about $108,000), and a $125,000 reduction after removing a previously proposed $2,000 flat raise for management positions. The staff member also said identified positions reserved for possible early‑year hires (about $700,000) had been pulled from the reduction list and held in reserve. After those changes, the staff member said the reduction total reached roughly $3.98 million and that the remaining gap in the budget is about $86,633, excluding a $2 million fund balance amount already…