School leaders present FY26 budget draft, propose targeted hires and weigh 3–5% pay increases

Superintendent Dr. Bowling presented the Clarke County Public Schools’ first draft of the fiscal 2026 budget at the Jan. 27 meeting and recommended a narrow set of new positions while warning of uncertainty in state funding and health‑insurance costs.

The nut graf: The first-draft budget reduces an earlier list of more than $1 million in new-staff requests to a prioritized package estimated at $264,747, calls for two bus replacements and a $40,000 increase in HVAC capital reserves, and sets salary-cost parameters for the board: a 1% pay raise for all employees would cost about $206,000. The superintendent and finance chair urged the board to consider scenarios for 3%, 4% and 5% increases ahead of a Feb. 10 budget workshop.

Dr. Bowling told the board the finance committee reviewed updated state and local revenue estimates. Committee chair Ms. Bennett reported the division expects about a $209,000 reduction in state funding for FY25 driven in part by a lower average-daily-membership (ADM) count and changes in several state lines; that netted an estimated $190,000 reduction overall for FY25 in the committee’s review. For FY26, state calc files currently indicate a modest net increase of about $45,000, and the projected FY26 revenue picture was described overall as close to flat (an estimated $17,000 reduction compared with the FY25 estimate), pending further action by the General Assembly.

Dr. Bowling walked the board through prioritization of personnel requests. Recommended additions (estimated total cost and benefits included in the draft) included increasing contract days for an operations/transportation secretary, a 10‑month behavior analyst assignment prioritized for Boyce Elementary, an instructional assistant in kindergarten at Cooley Elementary, an additional English and math teacher at Johnson Williams Middle School, extending the high‑school athletic trainer contract from 10 to 11 months, and modest technology and special‑education adjustments. She said she had trimmed the original list to $264,747 to reflect budget constraints.

The superintendent emphasized the cost of raises: “The cost of a 1% salary increase for Clark County Public School employees is $206,000,” she said. Board members discussed whether to model budgets that assume 3%, 4% or 5% increases; several members said a 3% floor would be needed to access some state funding while 4–5% would better preserve competitiveness with neighboring districts.

Capital requests were limited: Transportation staff described the bus fleet and urged replacement of two buses to keep the fleet within industry norms. “Our current fleet is 33 total buses. We run 22 of those on daily routes,” said Randy Trenary; he said nine are spares (six considered roadworthy for out-of-county trips, three for county-only use) and two buses are out of service. Repair bills rose from about $19,004 for 2022–23 to about $29,001 so far this year, he said. The draft requests two bus purchases (roughly $135,000 each as state-bid estimates) and an increase to the HVAC repair reserve to $150,000 (the superintendent noted a $40,000 restoration to a prior request amount). Trenary said some rooftop HVAC units have repair costs in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Board and staff also discussed a rising cost in regional special-education placements: the division had budgeted $40,000 this year, recorded about $108,000 actual cost in FY25 and was forecasting a materially higher cost for FY26 (the draft reduced an initial FY26 estimate of roughly $290,000 down to about $240,000 during the finance review; the division said the line is calculated as a three-year rolling average of students placed in the regional program).

Dr. Bowling noted other FY26 budget drivers: costs tied to implementing the expanded Virginia Literacy Act (grades 6–8 materials), ongoing payments for a world‑language curriculum (payment two of three), and credentialing costs for Career and Technical Education exams required under the new Virginia accountability framework. The presentation also described the local composite index (LCI) impact on state funding: the division’s LCI rose to about 0.6032, which Dr. Bowling said reduced state aid in the prior year by roughly $606,000.

The board discussed next steps. Members asked staff to prepare three executive‑summary scenarios showing total cost and the requested county general‑fund transfer assuming (a) a 3% raise, (b) a 4% raise and (c) a 5% raise, plus side-by-side teacher‑scale comparisons under those percentages to illustrate competitiveness. Staff said the Feb. 10 budget workshop and a later public hearing will be used to refine requests; health‑insurance premium changes were not yet available and will be included once insurers provide final numbers.

Ending: The board did not adopt a final budget on Jan. 27. It instructed staff to move draft items into budget scenarios for the Feb. 10 workshop, and to return with comparison scenarios for 3%, 4% and 5% salary increases, plus historical tables showing prior-year requests and county appropriations.