Conway board adopts $108.8 million operating budget and moves $1.9 million to pay for reading, behavior and staffing initiatives

The Conway School District Board of Education approved a $108,800,000 operating budget for 2025–26 and voted to move $1.9 million from the district—s building fund into operating to begin paying for reading interventions, behavior supports and several new staff positions.

Amber Strange, who presented the budget to the board, said the proposal balances revenues and expenditures and is centered on personnel costs. "You see we have total revenue of about 108,800,000.0," Strange said while reviewing the packet. She told the board the budget includes roughly $61.8 million in salaries and $19.8 million in benefits, with the remainder for services, supplies, capital outlay and debt service.

District administrators told the board the separate $1.9 million transfer will fund an initial set of priorities identified during this summer's planning and community engagement. Dr. Bryce Bennett, a district administrator involved in curriculum and instruction planning, described the reading investment as a multi-year effort built around the Take Flight program. He said the district plans a roughly $500,000 one-time purchase in year one to cover training and materials for Take Flight, with ongoing annual costs of about $350,000 to sustain the program. "To get somebody trained, they're going to have to have 10 days," Bennett said, noting much of the training will occur during summer sessions.

Bennett and finance staff also outlined proposed hires and reassignments tied to the budget: a district math specialist, certified interventionists, five special-education "designee" positions to relieve building principals of intensive IEP paperwork, nine registered behavior technicians (RBTs) slated to begin at elementary campuses, and a student-success liaison to address truancy and postsecondary tracking. The administration told the board that initial year costs for staffing additions will be roughly $1.7 million to $1.9 million depending on seniority, with an anticipated sustainable recurring cost of approximately $1.0 million to $1.2 million in subsequent years.

Board members approved the operating budget by voice vote. The board also approved the motion to transfer $1.9 million from the building fund back into operating to pay for the initiatives discussed; the funding motion also passed by voice vote. The motions were moved and seconded on the record and adopted without a roll-call tally listed in the meeting minutes.

Administrators warned that sustaining the new staffing model will affect the district—s capital spending cadence: maintaining $1.0M—$1.2M in recurring costs for personnel could lengthen the schedule for building renovations and other capital projects the district typically funds from the building fund.

The budget vote and the funding transfer were the most significant formal actions on the agenda. Board members and staff said the investment is intended to align operating dollars with the district—s stated priorities in reading, behavior and math.

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Votes at a glance - 2025—6 operating budget (presented by Amber Strange): approved by voice vote; exact roll-call not specified. - Transfer of $1,900,000 from building fund to operating to fund reading, behavior and staffing initiatives: approved by voice vote; exact roll-call not specified.