Hamblen County board approves $140.2 million budget, authorizes county funding request

The Hamblen County Board of Education on Tuesday approved its 2025–26 budget and authorized Superintendent’s staff to request $1,365,000 from the county commission to cover pay raises, a special-education teaching assistant and technology needs.

The board approved a general fund budget of $119,141,223.66, a federal fund budget of $6,647,276.22 and a school nutrition program budget of $14,431,352, for a total program budget of $140,219,851.88. Board members voted unanimously to approve the budget and contingency at the meeting.

Board approval followed a lengthy presentation by staff explaining a small shortfall found in earlier drafts had been removed. “We found another way to do some attrition, so we’ve got that zeroed out,” staff member Mr. French said as he summarized adjustments that balanced the draft budget.

Why it matters: the package includes a 2% across-the-board pay increase built into the approved budget and a contingency plan that, if the county commission provides the requested local funding, would allow the district to raise total compensation for staff further. The contingency request would fund an additional 1.5 percentage points (bringing the raise potential to 3.5% total), $43,000 for an additional CDC teaching assistant, $99,000 for a combined grant-writer/communications position, and additional funds for technology refreshes.

Details and debate: board members and staff discussed the single change added since the working session: funding one additional CDC teaching assistant (TA) at a cost of $43,000 to be initially covered from one-time outcome funds if the county does not provide the requested local contribution. “We will cover it in next year’s budget as needed,” Mr. French said of the TA, adding that the district would ask the county commission for the local share so the position can be funded in the general fund rather than from one-time reserves.

Mr. French described the county request calculation as tied to the state base increase and the district’s local share: “When you add all those numbers up, that is an additional $1,365,000 that I would like to ask the funding body to provide us.” He said the first $1,125,000 of that request would fund the additional 1.5% pay increase if approved by the county, with the remainder allocated to the TA, the communications/grants position and technology needs.

Superintendent Mr. Bunch described the approved 2% raise and related compensation changes included in the budget: an additional $500 step on the master’s pay scale, $500 added to family health insurance plans, a $500 annual longevity bonus for certified staff after 30 years of service, and a $500 attendance bonus for certified staff who use no more than two comp or personal days during the year.

Board procedure and vote: the motion to approve the budget with the contingency was moved and seconded and passed unanimously on a roll-call vote in which board members Denton, Wing, Kinder, Harville, Smith, Workman and Claussen voted yes. After the vote, Mr. French said he would present the request to the county commission at its Saturday morning meeting and provide board members with his presentation materials.

What’s next: the superintendent and staff will present the funding request to the county commission. If the commission approves some or all of the requested contribution, the board will return to allocate funds according to the priority list the staff outlined.