Superintendent presents $499 million FY2026 budget; gap of about $20.9 million remains
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Summary
Superintendent Phil (Dr.) Mitchell presented a budget matrix that would raise FY2026 operating spending to $499 million, add SOQ‑required FTEs, request CTE and SPED positions, and propose workforce investments including teacher-scale modernization and an ITA reclassification.
Superintendent Dr. Mitchell told the Spotsylvania County School Board that the FY2026 superintendent’s proposed operating budget totals $499,000,000, up from $440,000,000 in FY2025, leaving a local funding gap of roughly $20,900,000 that the division will ask the board of supervisors to fill.
“Our proposed budget equals 499,000,000 versus f y '20 five's budget of 440,000,000 for an overall increase of 58,600,000.0 or 13.3%. Our funding gap this year for the proposed budget is 20900000.0,” Dr. Mitchell said during the work session.
Dr. Mitchell and budget staff described revenue and expense drivers: state operational and sales‑tax funding growth, a $22 million pickup in sales-tax revenue compared with FY2025 projections, federal increases tied mainly to Title I and IDEA, and local contributions that left the stated local gap. On expenses, the superintendent cited $33.7 million in increases (about $29.9 million without debt service) driven by wage and staffing increases, special‑education expansion and career-technical staff additions.
Staff asked the board to approve several state‑mandated and strategic hires. Highlights in the matrix include:
- SOQ-driven positions: 78 additional FTEs in required areas including 46 FTEs for special education (15 additional teaching FTEs and 31 paraeducators) and 25 FTEs for English‑learner programs, with partial state funding noted for some positions. - Career and technical education: 7 additional CTE FTEs to meet the FY2026 SOQ benchmark for CTE positions and a plan to add one career-investigation instructor at each middle school so every middle-school student has an exposure to career pathways. - Workforce investments: a proposal to modernize teacher pay and target steps where turnover is highest; market adjustments for principals and assistant principals; step and merit adjustments for other staff; and consideration of converting ITAs from 10‑month to 12‑month employees and placing them on a technical (Tech 1) pay scale.
Dr. Mitchell said some items were reduced from the division’s full needs-based request to create a prioritized, “tiered” ask aligned with what the county administration and board of supervisors might fund. “If I have to go with order of importance…we have to have someone else in HR supporting ESOL and SPED staffing,” Dr. Mitchell said when board members pressed for prioritization.
Board members and staff discussed timing and funding sources for several items: reading specialists tied to the Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) rollout, use of HILT/Coronavirus relief rollovers for short‑term hires, and federal Perkins and other grants for CTE programming. Several board members asked staff to model alternatives (e.g., 11‑month vs. 12‑month ITA conversion, or phasing certain hires) and to return a ranked matrix of board member priorities before the next session.
The superintendent scheduled a follow-up work session and asked board members to return their ranked matrix so staff could prepare an ask for final approval on Feb. 17, 2025.