Amherst County schools ask board for $1.2 million to cover 3% pay increase, add nine staff; board holds health cost steady

Doctor Wells, a school division official, presented Amherst County Schools' proposed FY2026 operating budget to the Board of Supervisors and asked the board for an additional $1.2 million to cover a required 3% pay increase and other personnel and inflationary costs.

Wells said the division will set its enrollment in the budget on the state projection of 3,615 students even though local projections are higher (3,684), because using the state's lower projection reduces the risk of a midyear shortfall. "If we budget higher than that and it does come in low, then we're in a deficit," Wells said.

The presentation listed $65,769,290 in total requested revenue across all funds, an increase in state funding the division expects to be $947,381, and an operating funding ask of $1,200,000 from the county to meet a net personnel and cost gap. Wells said the $1.2 million "gets us to where we can fund the things we need to fund which mainly funds — no matter how you slice it — it mainly funds a 3% pay increase." He added that the biennial state budget calls for a 3% compensation increase for FY2026 and reiterated that the legislature also approved a one‑time $1,000 bonus for certain SOQ‑funded positions that will pay in June and not affect next year's budget.

Personnel changes: Wells said the division's FY2026 request adds nine net new full‑time equivalent positions (FTEs) and folds roughly 19 existing positions into the operating budget that had previously been paid from other funding sources. The nine new…