Petersburg schools outline $6 million in savings, propose capital work, staffing pay and new curriculum

Superintendent Yolanda Brown told the Petersburg City Public Schools board on Feb. 18 that the division has identified roughly $6 million in unspent funds for fiscal 2025 and recommended using the money in three phases: immediate building and technology repairs, one-time staff retention payments and a later purchase of new ELA and math curriculum for grades K–12.

Brown said the proposal would prioritize “exterior power washing and painting of all nine schools, restroom renovations and auditorium work at Petersburg High School, window and exterior door replacements at two elementary schools and server and network upgrades” as the first phase, then direct funds to staff retention and a later curriculum investment. “I am proposing that we use a portion of these funds or the majority of the funds to, number 1, do exterior power washing and painting of all 9 of our schools,” she said.

Why it matters: The money the division now plans to redeploy stems largely from salary vacancies and budget conservatism built into last year’s baseline. The board’s decisions will affect school safety and learning environments before the FY26 budget is finalized; they also come as the state budget remains in flux and city funding is unchanged from FY25, officials said.

Details from the work session - Calculation of savings: Dr. Matthias Greenwood, the division’s chief financial officer, told the board that the savings are a mix of unspent salary lines and reserves left from the rapid budget build last year. “Some of it is gonna come from salaries. Some of it is just gonna come from the inherent budgeting process ... part of that is that the savings from that reserve and the salaries is gonna result in about $6,000,000 of money in excess that we would have to spend before the…