Chesapeake School Board adopts proposed FY 2025-26 budget, approves expulsion and other motions

The Chesapeake School Board on Monday approved the superintendent’s proposed fiscal year 2025-26 operating, categorical and special funds budget and voted on several procedural items, including a student expulsion and the consent agenda.

The board voted to adopt the division’s proposed budget as its submission to the city. During a presentation, staff described the proposed budget as $813,400,000,000 — a figure the presentation said represents about a $9,000,000 (1.1 percent) decrease from the current year — and outlined drivers including compensation adjustments, benefits cost increases, and changes in purchased services and categorical funding. The board also approved the recommended appropriation of one-time funds on July 1, 2025, and endorsed using the governor’s December 2024 budget proposal as the division’s current revenue assumption while the state process continues.

The board returned from closed session and approved the superintendent’s recommendation to expel “student number 1.” That disciplinary action followed a closed-session review of student disciplinary matters as permitted by the Code of Virginia. The board approved other routine items, including the consent agenda.

Why it matters: Adoption of the proposed budget sets the school division’s numbers and priorities for the city’s review and for further reconciliation with the state budget; the expulsion is an immediate, legally consequential disciplinary outcome recorded in the meeting.

Key details from the budget presentation: staff said the proposed fiscal-year 2025-26 budget includes a combined 3 percent average compensation adjustment for teachers (a 1.5 percent base increase plus a 1.5 percent step increase), a proposed new teacher starting salary of $56,012, 42 new positions, and the transfer of 41 positions from grant funding into the operating budget. Staff described roughly $24,300,000 available for one-time use (about $8,300,000 from school-year 2023-24 reversions plus nearly $16,000,000 from city fiscal 2023-24 favorable variance). A vendor selection for school-bus routing software reduced that line-item’s estimate from $4,300,000 to $2,000,000, producing an estimated $2,300,000 in savings the administration recommended moving to turf field and track upgrades.

Board procedure and next steps: staff said the division will continue to use the governor’s December 2024 proposal as its revenue baseline until the governor and General Assembly finalize a state budget. The superintendent said he will present priorities for additional revenue funding on April 7, and the board is scheduled to reconcile and adopt the final budget after the city and state processes conclude on May 19.

Votes at a glance - Adoption of meeting agenda: Moved by Vice Chair Kim Scott; seconded by Norman Poole; motion carried (recorded as all board members voting yes). - Motion to convene closed session under Code of Virginia §2.2-3711 (personnel, student disciplinary and real estate matters): Moved and seconded from the dais; motion carried (recorded as all board members voting yes). - Expulsion of student number 1 (recommendation from Superintendent Dr. Cotton): Moved by Norman Poole; seconded by Kim Scott; motion carried (recorded as all board members voting yes). - Consent agenda (routine items): Moved by Kim Scott; seconded by Elijah Colon; motion carried (recorded as all board members voting yes). - Approval of the superintendent’s proposed FY 2025-26 operating, categorical and special funds budgets, including 07/01/2025 appropriation of one-time funds: Moved by Malia Huddle; seconded by Kim Scott; motion carried (recorded as all board members voting yes).

What the board recorded in closed session: the board stated, on the record, that the only items discussed in closed session were those listed in the motion to convene and other items lawfully exempted from statutory meeting requirements. The board then took the expulsion vote in open session as a formal action.

A note on reported numbers: figures and dollar amounts are stated as presented by division staff during the meeting.