Orange County Public Schools previews large pay-scale increases and new staff in FY26 budget outline

ORANGE COUNTY, Va. — The Orange County School Board heard a detailed preview of proposed priorities for the FY26 budget during its Jan. 27 meeting, with Superintendent Doctor Hornick urging the board to prioritize competitive pay and to shield employees from rising health-insurance costs.

Hornick told the board the division’s top priorities are raises for classroom teachers, targeted increases for instructional assistants and administrative staff, and a range of new or expanded positions the division says it needs to meet instructional and special-education requirements. “If at all possible and at all costs, try to absorb health insurance increases to not pass those along to our employees,” Hornick said during the presentation.

The proposal would rework the teacher salary scale to move Orange closer to the regional median. Hornick’s presentation showed a model that attempts to align steps with the median plus an additional buffer and described an overall targeted increase for teachers of roughly the low double digits on some steps; the presentation included a slide that described a 13.32% increase for part of the scale and an administration estimate that the teacher-scale salary impact would be on the order of about $3.1 million (administration cautioned that the number is preliminary and will depend on state funding and final step structure). Hornick…