Finance staff outlines $3.57 million increase in FY26 expenditures, proposes pay scale adjustments

Winchester Public Schools finance staff presented proposed FY26 expenditure priorities at the Feb. 24 meeting, telling the School Board the district expects a $3,566,938 increase in expenditures driven largely by personnel costs and benefit changes.

Miss McDonald, who presented the budget slides, described required and tiered priorities: an 8.5% expected increase in health insurance premiums was built into the plan (a $500,000 placeholder was noted), but presenters reported receiving news that actual premiums may come in lower than earlier projections and that staff would return with updated figures at the next board meeting.

Key budget figures presented included a projected increase of $860,640 tied to midyear TTT (teacher) wage and benefit carryover and a $559,000 amount representing a 1.5% step increase on the teacher scale; when combined the two items produce an average projected increase of roughly 5% for teachers. Non-TTT (all other staff) average increases were presented at 4.63%, yielding approximately $1,067,477 in additional cost. The overall package presented included $550,000 in nonpersonnel inflation (about 3% average) and a $29,821 increase tied to K–12 billing from Frederick County Public Schools.

The presentation showed targeted scale changes designed to raise starting pay (the “floor”) and lower the ceiling on 35 separate pay scales. Examples highlighted by staff: teacher assistants on the D4 scale would move from a $16.29 starting hourly rate to $19.00 (a roughly 17% increase at step 1); bus drivers’ starting pay was shown moving from $16.70 to $23.00 per hour (a 38% increase at step 1) with an average increase on that scale of 11.7%; 12-month custodians' starting pay would move from $14.16 to $17.00 per hour (about a 20% increase at step 1, roughly 5% on the overall scale).

Board members pressed for additional detail about the distribution of employees who fall above a “hold harmless” point on revised scales and asked for counts of staff approaching the years-of-service crossovers that affect placement. Miss McDonald said she could supply those counts but had not tabulated them for the meeting because the work covered 35 scales across the division.

Miss McDonald summarized that the current FY26 requested increase for required and tier-one items totaled $3,566,938 and that the district expects additional state revenue presented at the prior meeting of $1,960,025, yielding a projected local request of approximately $1,606,913 from the city (figures were spoken on the record and will be finalized once ADM and the governor’s action on the state budget are confirmed).

No formal vote was taken on the FY26 package at this meeting; the presentation served as the district’s request and frame for upcoming budget decisions and personnel postings.