Washington County Public Schools board adopts revised FY26 revenue scenario; restores Cascade principal to 12 months

Washington County Public Schools Board of Education members on May 20 reached consensus to move forward with a revised FY26 revenue scenario after the district received about $5.52 million in additional state and local aid, and after the county proposed moving the school bus replacement purchase into its capital improvement program.

The agreement would preserve a suite of program additions the board had discussed — including a scaled elementary and middle summer-school/tutoring program, a phased ConnectED virtual option for elementary grades, 70 student apprenticeship positions, and a modest bus-driver hire — and would allocate $2,240,000 identified from the bus replacement shift toward the district’s OPEB/fund-balance options while directing the remaining new revenue into the district’s salary/resource pool pending final calculations and legal research.

Why it matters: district staff described the combination of new state aid and the proposed county CIP change as “historic.” Dr. Spine, speaking for district staff, said the package “is what I consider to be pretty historic increases dating back to nearly two decades,” and presented options the board could use to balance program additions, personnel costs and long-term obligations.

Budget context and what the board considered District staff told board members that at the last meeting the working gap for FY26 had been about $17 million above FY25 levels. New developments in Annapolis and subsequent revenue corrections increased that figure by about $5.5 million, bringing the roughly stated change in resources to about $22.5 million compared with the prior year. Staff broke the expected additional revenue into roughly $12 million from the state and a little over $10 million from local sources, and corrected an earlier bus-replacement figure from $2.4 million to $2,240,000.

Finance staff presented five balancing scenarios developed before the new revenue was confirmed, then a revised scenario that folded the new money into the district’s recommended budget. Mr. Proulx said the combination of the county moving bus purchases into its CIP and the additional state aid meant, "we have an additional $7,760,000 to work with." Staff emphasized that the county’s continued inclusion of bus replacement in the CIP is not yet finalized and that they will follow up with county staff.

Program and personnel changes discussed - Summer school: Principals and staff recommended a targeted elementary and middle program focused on direct instruction and tutoring, not a broad ‘‘camp’’ model. Staff proposed a reduced combined cost of about $455,000 for a targeted program (about half of a larger program cost discussed previously). Staff warned that historically some of the students who need summer help do not enroll, a factor the board asked staff to plan for in outreach and transportation.

- ConnectED (virtual option): Staff proposed restoring a virtual option for elementary students (previously called ABLE/ConnectED), either for grades 4–5 first or phased 1–3 and 4–5, citing higher enrollment at upper elementary levels in prior pilots. Estimated costs for the broader ConnectED expansion were previously shown in staff materials and were included among the options for the board to add back.

- Apprenticeships and substitutes: The board reviewed a proposal to move 35 existing apprenticeship positions into the general fund and expand to 70 apprentice positions (estimated at $672,000). Staff also separated substitute-pay proposals (daily subs vs. resident/long-term subs) with combined estimated costs of roughly $339,000 if both increases were adopted.

- Nursing and pension: Staff identified additional unavoidable cost pressures — roughly $400,000 for school nursing services and $150,000 for employee pension allocation — that the board must cover to balance the budget.

- Transportation: Staff recommended adding five bus drivers in FY26 as a phased start toward a larger multi-year plan to improve routes and reduce long dismissal runs at campuses such as Ruth M. Monroe / Eastern. The long-term plan referenced a target of about 13 additional drivers and buses by FY28, subject to fleet funding and potential waivers to extend bus service life.

Salaries and resource pools Staff estimated how incremental percent increases would translate to dollar amounts: a 1% pool would be roughly $1.43 million for teachers, about $278,000 for administrators, and about $389,000 for educational support personnel (ESP). With the revised revenue, staff presented a baseline staff-recommendation package they said would result in roughly 3.75% total for teachers/administrators and about 6% for ESP when combining the draft budget and the new allocations; at one point staff summarized a likely outcome after certain allocations as roughly 3.5% for teachers/administrators and about 4.5% for ESP depending on final allocations.

Cascade principal and other staffing items Board members discussed restoring a principal position at Cascade from an 11-month to a 12-month contract (the administrative assistant at that school has expressed a preference to remain on the current schedule). Staff said the principal had requested 12 months and noted Cascade previously had a 12-month principal and had been reduced during an earlier budget-tightening year. The board reached consensus to add back the Cascade principal as a 12-month position only; the administrative assistant’s schedule was not changed.

Decisions, directions and next steps - Decision by consensus: Board members signaled consensus to proceed with the revised revenue scenario (the staff’s revised scenario that folded in the additional $5.52 million and the county CIP bus-shift), to add back the targeted summer program and the other program items shown in that scenario, and to restore the Cascade principal to a 12-month position only. President Zimmerer concluded, "We have consensus."

- Funding allocation direction: The board directed staff to allocate $2,240,000 identified from the bus-replacement shift toward the district’s OPEB/fund-balance options (or to the fund balance if legally allowable) and to allocate the remaining new revenue into the salary/resource pool; staff will research whether money can be directly placed into the fund balance versus other OPEB designations and will report back to the board.

- County coordination: Staff will follow up with the county administration to confirm whether the county will keep the bus replacement item in the CIP and whether that arrangement will be recurring.

What the board did not do There was no formal roll-call vote recorded in the transcript on the budget actions; the board’s action was recorded as a consensus. Staff retained direction to present final budget language and legal/administrative clarifications at a later meeting.

Next steps Staff will: (1) confirm legal options for placing funds in the fund balance versus OPEB or similar reserves; (2) confirm with the county whether the bus replacement will remain in the CIP and whether that support is recurring; and (3) return to the board with final numbers for salary pools and program allocations for a formal vote or action at a subsequent meeting.