Berkeley County Schools begins FY26 budget work with focus on timeline, reserves and board initiatives

BERKELEY COUNTY, W.Va. — Berkeley County Schools finance staff opened the district’s first round of fiscal year 2026 budget work sessions on procedural timing and an early look at projections, saying the general fund balance is expected to decline and asking board members to submit project priorities by March 1.

Finance staff member Mr. Butts told trustees, “Tonight, we're gonna start with the 1st of many budget work sessions for fiscal year 26,” and presented a timeline that includes employee notification windows in early March, statutory levy hearings in mid- and late March and April, a proposed final budget at the May 5 board meeting, and a public hearing May 19 before the district submits the budget to the state by May 30.

The district is still waiting for several key state and county inputs that affect the budget timetable, including legislation outcomes, personal property assessed values, and state computations, speakers said. Butts told the board the district will focus this cycle on the general fund, which holds operating revenue and spending authority; capital projects, debt service and special revenue funds are “pretty much restricted,” he said.

Why this matters: the general fund supports staffing, textbooks, summer programming and day‑to‑day operations. Trustees will be asked to set priorities and consider tradeoffs while staff finish state and county revenue figures.

Projected reserve use and new costs

Butts presented a fund balance history and a projection showing the district will end fiscal 2025 with a lower fund balance than in previous years. He said roughly $9.1 million was drawn from reserves in FY25 for a variety of items, and identified several new or higher costs likely to appear in FY26, including: - A $1.9 million projected state allocation under a separate program (described by staff as restricted) tied to staffing/mentor funding; staff said that the money is restricted and cannot be used for general compensation. - About $1.9 million estimated for child nutrition and Universal CEP expansion (staff estimate for next phase; staff labeled the figure approximate). - Higher fire protection fees passed by county voters that staff expect will increase costs by about $500,000. - New sheriff’s office charges for game security and other contracted services.

Butts also listed district cost drivers still to be finalized: student transfers (out‑of‑district movement into charter/virtual programs), a K–5 reading initiative (LQRS) with a variable district cost depending on staff signups, and the state’s pending pay‑table adjustments.

Board schedule and requests

Staff asked trustees to deliver written initiative requests by March 1 so the administration can price proposals before the March 12 work session. "That'll give us enough time to be able to crunch the numbers so that we know exactly how much a certain initiative or a certain project or activity might cost," Butts said. He added that the district may schedule an extra board meeting in May if needed to meet legal notice requirements before the public hearing.

Superintendent initiatives highlighted

Superintendent Dr. Sachs described proposed priorities that could be priced into the FY26 general fund: an expanded summer program with half‑day offerings for enrichment and credit recovery; growth in career and technical education (CTE) and workforce certifications; expanded school safety officers (targeting intermediate schools); HVAC upgrades at several middle‑school gyms; and targeted HVAC/geothermal connections at Martinsburg High School, which staff estimated could cost about $3.2 million to connect five classrooms to the existing geothermal system (staff attributed the figure to early engineering work and marked it as an estimate).

Discussion points and constraints

Trustees and staff discussed staffing shortages, mentoring and substitute staffing costs, restricted state funding formulas and the limits on applying certain state restricted funds to general compensation. Board members raised concerns about class coverage, certification gaps and the need to prioritize direct classroom instruction versus support costs.

Next steps

Staff requested board priorities by March 1 and said a March 12 work session will be the next chance to review priced initiatives. If the board approves a proposed final budget at the May 5 meeting, the district would publish the legal notice and hold a May 19 public hearing before formally submitting the budget to the state by May 30.

Ending

Trustees did not take any final votes on budget items during this session; staff characterized the meeting as an initial planning step to gather board priorities, refine cost estimates and incorporate state and county revenue figures as they become available.