Buncombe County Schools presents 2025-26 "maintenance" budget as state funding shifts and costs rise

Buncombe County Schools presented its 2025-26 operating budget proposal Friday, with Chief Financial Officer Tina Thorpe telling the Board that the plan is intended to maintain current services amid rising costs and uncertain state revenue.

"This is our sixth budget work session that we've been working through different scenarios," Thorpe said, outlining assumptions on pay, insurance and utilities and warning that a midyear $3.9 million reduction in 2024-25 and a lower county starting appropriation have tightened planning.

The proposal includes targeted pay increases the district modeled for local budgeting: a 3% certified staff increase (which Thorpe said, with step movement, equates to roughly 4.13%) and a 2% increase for classified staff plus step (presented as roughly a 3% impact after steps). Thorpe also told the board she is building in an employer retirement projection of 25.02 percent (the system is currently at 24.04) and a hospitalization assumption of $8,340 per employee for planning.

Nut graf: The budget matters because state and federal funding account for a majority of the district's revenue flows but are tied to average daily membership (ADM), which has been pressured by charter enrollment, virtual programs and other trends. Thorpe told the board the state provides about 56% of district expenditures while local funds cover roughly a third and federal grants about 8 percent—figures…