Dorchester School District Two adopts $300.0 million FY26 budget, board approves staff pay increases

The Dorchester School District Two Board of Trustees approved a $300,041,140 fiscal year 2026 budget on June 23, 2025, with the board voting 6 in favor and 1 member absent.

Board chair Dr. Wimberly opened a presentation by Chief Finance Officer Tina Mignet outlining revenue changes since the board’s preliminary proposal, including additional local millage revenue and state conference-committee allocations that the district said together increased available funds enough to balance the budget.

Mignet said the revised revenue picture included extra millage receipts and state allocations, and that the board was able to add funding for personnel raises and other items while balancing the proposed expenditures and revenues at $300,041,140. She told the board officials had built $1 million into the FY26 budget to cover a newly enacted paid parental-leave mandate and employer health-insurance costs tied to recent state action.

The administration said the budget includes changes to employee pay scales. Mignet reported a new district starting teacher salary of $51,500. In the presentation staff also referenced multiple figures for step and scale changes: language in the presentation mentioned an "additional $500" and that the budget would "include $2,500 on each step of the teacher salary scale." Later comments described that eligible teachers would see roughly 4–6 percent increases depending on step; non-teaching classified and certified staff not on the teacher scale were shown a 3 percent increase plus step movement that the district estimated would equal roughly a 4 percent raise for many employees. The district emphasized that exact amounts for individual employees depend on each person’s step and years of service.

Board members and Superintendent Doherty praised the budget as prioritizing people and thanked Dorchester County Council for supporting the millage increase. The board formally moved to adopt the budget; the motion was made by Board Member Guthrie and seconded by Board Member Bates. Powell announced her yes vote; the chair said the motion carried 6 in favor, 1 absent.

The budget package also included a small list of specific expense allocations presented during the meeting: two school resource officers at Fort Dorchester High School (requested by the City of North Charleston) were included at an estimated $134,000; the budget also set aside an estimate for parental-leave costs and reallocated funds to restore prior fund-balance draws.

The board approved the budget in the open meeting; the administration said staff will begin implementation and continue to provide details to school leaders and employees.

Votes and next steps: the district will finalize implementation details for pay adjustments and administer the adopted FY26 appropriations through the remainder of the summer and into the fall.

"We are definitely pouring into our people," Superintendent Doherty said during the presentation, thanking staff and the county for their support.

Details the board provided verbally at the meeting about the precise per-step dollar changes contained some inconsistent phrasing in the presentation; the district provided the fixed total budget figure and the starting salary of $51,500 as definitive numbers in the packet and on the record.