Bedford County School Board approves FY26 preliminary budget, adds remote participation per policy BDD

BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. — The Bedford County School Board approved a preliminary Fiscal Year 2026 budget and added a motion allowing remote participation at the Feb. 6 special call meeting.

Board Chair (name not specified) opened the meeting and asked the board to add a motion permitting board members to participate remotely “in accordance with BCPS policy BDD.” The board approved that addition by voice vote.

The board then approved the FY26 preliminary budget as presented. Board member Mister Knight moved to approve the preliminary budget; Missus Purvis seconded. After a voice vote, the board approved the budget.

The board’s preliminary request includes an additional funding ask of about $4.29 million over the prior year, intended to cover teacher pay increases, step increases and several program additions the board discussed during finance committee meetings. The chair said the $4.291 million shortfall is a working estimate based on current assumptions and that the district has not yet received final state or county funding numbers. "Facts over emotions," the chair said, urging the public to wait for formal notices from the board or the superintendent before assuming cuts have been finalized.

The chair outlined how teacher raises are funded under the state formula, saying the governor’s announced 3% increase is only partially covered by state funds (the chair described that as the state covering roughly 1.5 percentage points and the locality covering the remainder). He also referenced Standards of Quality (SOQ) funding rules that cover positions up to set staffing levels; positions beyond SOQ estimates would require local funding.

Board members and the chair described items the board has discussed as potential options if funding falls short — including a possible closure of "Susie G" (referenced in the meeting as an option), adding middle school sports, and combining a rebuilt bus garage with a diesel mechanics program at the Susie G site. The chair emphasized that no decisions to close schools or implement cuts were made at the meeting and that some reporting in the community that Susie G had been decided was incorrect. He said the figure he had seen on the Susie G option was $1.1 million (the chair earlier referenced $1.7 million in public discussion then corrected to $1.1 million during the meeting).

The chair said the finance committee — including board member Chris Daniels and the chair — had met with the Bedford County Board of Supervisors’ finance committee and described that conversation as productive; he said the supervisors were complimentary of receiving the budget earlier than in past years. The chair said the district has already cut 53 positions during the current planning process and reiterated that some of the district’s fixed costs remain because the system still operates 21 schools while state funding covers positions for only 19 principals and a smaller number of assistant principals than the district currently staffs.

Budget detail read into the record by the board included a total operating fund of $124,607,562, school maintenance projects of $6,589,650 and a textbook fund of $1,232,226. Nutritional fund figures were read aloud during the motion but portions of the audio were garbled; the board chair read a grand total at the motion that was not fully clear in the transcript. The board approved the figures as the preliminary FY26 submission; the chair directed staff to share the approved submission with county administration and to keep the board updated as state numbers are finalized.

Superintendent Mister DuPair and staff member Mister Hagler were identified during the meeting as the administrative contacts; Hagler was asked to share the approved budget with county administration. The chair said final state funding will depend on the General Assembly’s budget process and the governor’s signature and that the district may receive partial state funding that reduces the local ask.

The meeting ended after the approval; a motion to adjourn carried by voice vote.

Votes at a glance - Motion to add remote participation under BCPS policy BDD: approved (voice vote). mover: not specified; second: not specified; outcome: approved by voice vote. - Motion to approve FY26 preliminary budget as presented (operating fund and supplemental funds): approved (mover: Mister Knight; second: Missus Purvis; outcome: approved by voice vote).