Fulton County Schools proposes $1.48 billion FY2026 budget, highlights 2.5% staff pay plan and $95M glide to avoid 2027 cliff

Fulton County Schools on April 24 presented a superintendent's FY2026 budget recommendation that totals roughly $1.48 billion in appropriations and emphasizes school funding, personnel costs and a multi‑year plan to close an anticipated revenue gap.

CFO Marvin Dureef told the Board that the district's general‑fund request budgets about 78% of dollars for schools and that salaries and benefits account for approximately 84.56% of the general‑fund recommendation — about $1.25 billion. The presentation lists proposed FY2026 general‑fund revenue at $1,377,571,164 and proposed expenditures near $1,475,171,002; the recommendation shows a plan to balance using up to $97.5 million in fund balance while aiming not to spend the full amount.

Why it matters: district leaders said a combination of higher local fair‑share obligations to the state, rising special‑education and health‑insurance costs and a new senior tax‑exemption expected to take effect in FY2027 mean the district faces a substantial shortfall. "We're going to have to come up with some combination of savings and additional revenue of $95,000,000 in the following budget year to make that goal," Dureef said.

Key elements of the recommendation: the proposal includes a compensation package presented by Chief Human Resource Officer Doctor LaCava that recommends a 2.5% salary increase for all staff, including step increases, at an approximate cost of $42,267,063 (salary plus associated benefits). Other pay‑related items include continued funding for summer learning (~$6 million), continuation of the Fulton program (~$1 million), mileage reimbursement adjustments (from 58¢ to 70¢ per mile; roughly $50,000), and modest coaching supplement increases (roughly $35,463). The net of some position removals (RTI/SST chairs and device coordinators) produced an estimated $1.233 million reduction to the general fund in the compensation slide.

Board questions and clarifications: members pressed staff for clearer cross‑references in the printed budget book after some figures were presented with different line‑item treatments (for example, Dureef and LaCava clarified that a $31.9 million salary figure presented on one slide excluded benefits, while the $42.2 million figure did include benefits). Dureef agreed to add clearer references to the budget book.

Enrollment, benefits and special education: staff told the board they budgeted enrollment at 86,031 students for FY2026, a decline of 444 from the prior basis, and described a rising general‑fund contribution to special education from roughly $189 million to $213 million (about a $23–24 million year‑over‑year increase). Health‑insurance costs featured in the presentation as a key driver of rising benefits expense.

Next steps: Dureef said the district will present budget hearings May 6 and May 13, seek the board's tentative vote on May 13 and aim for final adoption on June 10. Board members urged plain‑language materials for the public that clearly show how the senior exemption and other forces affect classroom programs and reserves.

The board did not take a final budget vote at the April 24 work session; staff asked board members to review the full budget book for line‑by‑line clarifications to be returned at the May hearings.