Washington County schools outline draft 2025-26 budget goals with focus on pay, programs and capital projects

Superintendent Dr. Perrigan presented the Washington County Public Schools draft budget goals for the 2025–26 fiscal year, saying the recommendations will prioritize employee compensation, student programs and targeted capital projects.

Dr. Perrigan told the board the division has improved competitiveness on pay and benefits and that the health-insurance reserve balance “was over $6,200,000,” which staff may draw on to support additional compensation and benefits changes. He said recommendations to the board would propose raises above the 3% the governor’s budget contains for Standards of Quality-funded positions and that one approach would be to give a uniform dollar increase across teacher salary steps rather than varying percentages by step.

The draft goals tie to the board’s previously adopted strategic goals and include multiple strands: recruiting and retaining staff through pay and benefits, expanding career and technical education (CTE), developing capital plans for school auditoriums and safety vestibules, and rethinking use of one-time pandemic-related funds. The superintendent also outlined enrollment and revenue changes resulting from a virtual program partnership: the division currently counts 514 out-of-division students in the Stride K12 program and retains 5% of the associated state average-daily-membership (ADM) revenue; that enrollment pushed the division’s virtual head count above 5,000 and produced an estimated $50,000 revenue increase and some per-student discounts.

On CTE, Dr. Perrigan said staff are exploring a heavy equipment operator course and a possible dental-hygiene or dental-assistant partnership with a local provider (named in the presentation as Appalachian Dental Center). He said student drafting classes produced designs for a technology-office renovation at the diesel shop, and those student designs were passed to the architect, Thompson Litton, for use in the project.

Capital priorities cited for the coming budget cycle include installing additional security vestibules (projects are planned or under way at Watauga and Ray Valley), renovating high-school auditoriums (new seating and flooring were mentioned), paving and tennis-court improvements, next rounds of band-uniform purchases, and playground equipment replacements at elementary and middle schools. Dr. Perrigan said some auditorium lighting and sound systems are newer at certain schools, but overall seating and flooring across the four high schools are original and in need of replacement.

Dr. Perrigan described how the division has used one-time pandemic funds for remediation, tutoring and enrichment programs and said with those funds running down the division will re-evaluate how to spend remaining allotments—potentially shifting some toward new positions or reading supports in schools that still need score improvements. He also noted the state budget discussions include potential additional funding for English-language learners and special education, but final details were not yet available.

Student services and noninstructional staff were part of the discussion: the superintendent said the division moved attendance-clerk funding into recurring dollars because administrators reported the positions are essential, and that the division has added an expanded dependent-care benefit and increased employee HSA participation (about 180 employees). Dr. Perrigan asked board members and the community to suggest creative benefit ideas to further improve the division’s recruitment and retention posture.

The presentation closed with an invitation to board feedback before the formal public hearing and later adoption steps. No final budget was adopted at the meeting; the item proceeded to a public hearing that had no registered speakers.

Ending: The board scheduled further discussion and a public hearing on the budget; staff and board members said they will refine proposals and present a recommended budget after public input and as state funding details become final.