New Kent superintendent outlines FY26 budget priorities, flags county funding dependence

Miss Mordheim presented the superintendent's recommended FY26 budget at the March 3 board meeting, outlining revenue assumptions, personnel proposals and next steps.

She said the division included approximately $586,000 in additional state basic-aid funding in the recommended budget and noted both House and Senate proposals aligned on that revenue component. Local revenue adjustments included modest increases for bus-sales receipts and transportation fees; the county has proposed an additional $1.2 million in operating funding in support of the division's requests.

On expenditures, the recommendation contains a 3% staff-wide increase and an additional 1% teacher step increase tied to an equalized teacher scale. Position requests presented to the board totaled $2,035,387 (the transcript listed health-care impacts separate), and the capital-improvement recommendation was about $4,200,000. The presenter said health-care line-item increases in the recommended budget reflect staff plan elections and described the district's self-funded insurance approach.

Miss Mordheim cautioned that the budget as presented likely depends on county action and said the board would hold a work session on March 17 and a public hearing that evening; contracts for employees were targeted for late April pending revenue certainty. Board members asked for per-student cost breakdowns and clarification about tuition and program accounting; staff said they would provide more detail at the work session.

The presentation did not include final adoption; the superintendent and budget staff asked the board to review the proposal ahead of the scheduled public hearing.