Superintendent proposes FY26 budget emphasizing teacher pay correction, staffing and services; seeks large locality increase

Superintendent Doctor Hornick and finance director Lisa presented a proposed FY26 budget to the board on Feb. 24 that would significantly raise employee compensation, add classroom and student-support positions and expand selected programs to meet growing needs.

Hornick said the single largest element of the proposed budget is a correction to the teacher pay scale: "This is the money right here, this is the big impact … this is a $3,700,000 and change correction," he told the board, describing the effort as an attempt to bring the division’s pay scale much closer to the regional median plus an additional 7 percent to remain competitive. The proposal would increase pay for instructors and try to reduce turnover linked to teachers leaving for neighboring divisions.

Other major elements in the proposal include requests for a first-grade teacher and a reading specialist at the Locust Grove primary campus to maintain class size and reading supports; special-education self-contained teachers and two instructional assistants for Unionville and Locust Grove Elementary; two additional English-learner positions to meet state ratios; a criminal-justice instructor and a reading specialist at the high school; and a dedicated school psychologist at the division level. Hornick also noted plans for additional safety staffing (a school security officer at the high school and grant-contingent officers at middle schools) and new middle-school athletic offerings such as volleyball and soccer.

The budget would also increase nonteacher wages: the division seeks to raise starting pay for custodians to $16 an hour and head custodians to $18 an hour, enhance administrative assistant starting pay (building-level secretaries were cited as starting near $14.23 per hour), and adjust instructional-assistant pay; the package includes a 3 percent across-the-board raise for other full-time employees in the plan. The presentation included a $165,000 line item referenced for custodial adjustments and a roughly $560,000 figure for instructional-assistant salary adjustments.

Hornick said the division’s revenue outlook showed a net gain of roughly $970,000 in current-state projections but noted the proposal still requires a substantial local increase to fund all items. "In order to accomplish everything that we are looking at at the moment, without any additional revenues, this would require us this would require an ask from the locality of $6,800,000 in addition," he said.

Staff also reviewed one-time and capital needs, including bus lease proceeds and a potential CTE building design and construction phase. On technology, staff noted $203,000 of remaining Category-2 E-rate funds available in the division’s five-year cycle; staff proposed using part of those funds for a network switch refresh, which would carry a 70 percent federal discount.

Board members thanked staff for the presentation. The superintendent said the budget and related documents will be refined in the coming weeks as the General Assembly finalizes its budget actions and the division prepares for the public hearing and subsequent deliberations.

No action was taken Feb. 24; the proposal is the starting point for the next phase of public hearings and budget work sessions.