Forsyth County schools propose $750.5 million FY26 budget with no millage increase

Superintendent Dr. Young and district finance presenter Larry Hammel outlined a proposed $750,500,000 budget for Forsyth County Schools for fiscal year 2026 at a special called meeting May 27, saying the plan would increase the systemwide budget by about 5% while keeping the local millage rate unchanged.

The proposal would hold the millage rate at 15.208 and include a 1.54% increase in locally controlled spending, Dr. Young said, while a larger 3.46% of the total increase reflects state-mandated costs such as health insurance and the Teacher Retirement System. “The short summary of this budget is that we’re proposing a $750,500,000 total budget this year,” Dr. Young said.

The budget document presented to the board breaks major impacts into local versus state and federal revenue. Hammel said roughly 53.3% of revenue is expected to be local, with the remainder from state and federal sources; the package assumes a net property tax digest increase and a projected local tax collection rate of 99.84%. Hammel summarized revenue and expense detail and said the proposed budget shows about a $35.7 million increase over FY25, driven primarily by local increases and by state health and retirement costs.

Why it matters: board members and district leaders said the plan…