Lee County Schools board unanimously approves proposed budget that includes classified pay increases

The Lee County Schools Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposed local budget that includes requested increases for classified staff pay and updated supplement structures for school and central-office administrators.

The budget passed after public comment from two community members and a presentation by district staff outlining updated costs. "I appreciate seeing that the livelihood of the adults who take care of my kids and all of our kids in Lee County Schools every day remains a priority," said Kayla Baldai, a Lee County Schools employee and parent, who spoke in favor of the proposal.

Why it matters: The package raises pay for classified staff and includes two additional items the board asked staff to add: updated supplement structures for school-based administrators (principals and assistant principals) and for central office staff. District staff said the supplement adjustments would cost about $122,000 for school administrators and about $271,000 for central-office employees; adding these items changed the district's year-over-year increase to roughly 16.7% compared with last year. When combined with capital requests, district staff said the overall increase represents a 15% rise compared with the prior year and that the total ask is approximately 24.1% of the county's overall revenue.

Presentation and public comment: During the public-hearing portion, Emily York, a Sanford resident, said she was "pleased to see the budget proposal including ... a request for the full amount for the classified staff," and said she and others intended to raise the same point with the Lee County Board of Commissioners. In response to public questions about transparency, district staff explained why a complete pay-scale table is not yet posted online: the district described a long period of frozen pay that left employees at different positions within any final scale, and staff said one-on-one meetings were needed so each employee could be told how far the pending funding would move them toward the target pay.

District staff described two recent capital-related reimbursements that had gone before the county commissioners. One reimbursed part of the cost to demolish a long-vacant site in Jonesborough; staff said asbestos abatement and demolition increased costs and that the county had previously set aside $600,000 but the district ultimately requested a lesser amount and received partial reimbursement (staff estimated the project cost in the neighborhood of $439,000). The second reimbursement related to work on the visitor side of the Lee County High School stadium; staff said repairs were required after the district discovered significant cracks during an insurance review and that some work was funded from existing capital before the reimbursement.

Staff said they removed acronyms from the budget documents to aid public understanding and added a live link to a capital-projects update that tracks project status. On posting a pay schedule, staff said the immediate priority was ensuring the first paychecks reflecting the raises would be processed; after that, staff planned to publish a version of the pay scale showing the full target amounts with an asterisk explaining phased implementation pending full county funding.

Action and next steps: A motion to approve the budget passed unanimously. The board did not adopt additional amendments during the workshop. Staff indicated they will publish updated materials to the district budget page and continue one-on-one meetings with employees; a specific public posting timeline for the pay-scale materials was described as "not that long" but was not specified.

Votes at a glance: The Board of Education moved and seconded approval of the proposed budget; the motion passed unanimously on voice vote.