The Union County Public Schools Finance Committee on Oct. 21 reviewed the district's 2025-26 budget outlook and voted to forward to the full Board of Education a recommendation to provide a $1,000 annual teacher supplement, to be implemented in the November payroll and paid retroactively to July 2025.

Shauna McLamb, chief financial officer for Union County Public Schools, told the committee the district is operating on a state-authorized continuation budget and a July 2025 General Assembly "mini bill" that allowed step increases for staff on the state salary schedule and authorized some enrollment and implementation funds. McLamb said mandated step, retirement and insurance cost increases absorbed about $1,700,000 of the district's locally requested funding. She said the board originally requested a $14,600,000 local increase; the Union County Board of Commissioners approved $8,800,000. That funding, McLamb said, left roughly $2,700,000 available after addressing mandated increases and higher-than-expected charter-school payments.

"With step increases and the mandatory retirement increase that we had to provide to all employees as well as the hospital insurance contributions, we're looking at of our local dollars that we requested, a little over $1,700,000 that needed to be allocated to address those increases," McLamb said. She said charter payments were expected to rise by $850,000 but the district is now seeing an increase of about $1,500,000 related to charter enrollment and local enrollment declines.

Based on available funding, the committee approved advancing a recommendation that would add $1,000 annually to eligible staff on the teacher supplement schedule, equal to about $100 per month. McLamb told the committee the proposal would cost approximately $3,800,000 and apply to roughly 2,895 employees on the supplement schedule if the board approves.

"The proposed increase would be implemented in November in their November check and would be retroactive to July 2025," McLamb said. She also reviewed other compensation categories the board requested in its local ask, including market-study adjustments for teacher assistants, skilled trades in transportation and facilities, and other operational needs.

Superintendent Dr. Houlihan emphasized the district's priority for teacher compensation while explaining why implementation was paused earlier in the fall. "The teacher supplement has always been the number one priority of the board and staff," Houlihan said. He told the committee the district delayed action because of state-level budget uncertainty and to confirm inaccurate information circulating in the community.

"To date, I, as superintendent, have never received any communication from any current employee about this matter," Houlihan said. "I've not received any concerns on this matter, and I've not had any teacher or any other employee reach out to me sharing those concerns."

Board members also discussed other allocations that affected available local dollars. McLamb said the district is implementing year one of a five-year plan to place a school nurse in each building; the district budgeted to add two nurses this year and has hired a third, with the possibility of a fourth driven by individual student needs. Committee members noted that several required expenditures and past redirects have constrained the district's ability to fund recurring supplements without additional county support.

Chair Ben Shimp asked the county commissioners for clearer communication and said appeals to the public and media were intended to correct misinformation, not to create antagonism between the board and commissioners. "To the chair of the Union County Board of Commissioners and the vice chairman and the other members, we are not desiring an adversarial relationship with you," Shimp said, adding that no member of the school board had claimed the commissioners did not provide any funding.

The finance committee voted to place the salary supplement recommendation on the consent agenda of the full Union County Board of Education meeting on Nov. 6, 2025. The motion was moved and seconded and the committee recorded unanimous assent on the committee's voice vote.

The full board will consider the recommendation at its Nov. 6 consent agenda; the district's next scheduled board meeting is Nov. 25, 2025. McLamb noted the board of commissioners indicated they may consider additional funding if the state enacts later budget allocations and advised the district could request supplemental funds then.

Votes at a glance: The Finance Committee approved forwarding the 2025-26 salary supplement recommendation (one $1,000 annual supplement, retroactive to July 2025) to the full board for consideration on Nov. 6, 2025.