Lynchburg board sets $5.53 million local ask, calls for joint working meeting with city

Lynchburg City Schools on Tuesday presented an initial FY26 local funding request of about $5,531,644 focused on employee compensation and critical staffing needs and authorized the district finance officer to send those figures to the city as part of the budget process.

The board’s finance chair and CFO outlined the components behind the ask: a $17 minimum hourly wage for hourly employees, a $50,000 starting teacher salary, a 3% across‑the‑board increase, step increases, 10 bus aides and 16 building substitutes, plus inflationary adjustments for contracts and materials. The administration said the total operating ask that will go to the city is roughly $44.9 million; including state adjustments the budget increase is closer to $6.9 million.

Board members debated whether to submit a pared‑down, “bare bones” number to encourage negotiation or to present a more comprehensive package that shows the full set of school requests. Several members urged a working joint meeting with the city council so both bodies can “roll up their sleeves” and negotiate details rather than limit the discussion to presentations.

The board approved a motion directing the superintendent (via the CFO) to deliver the initial numbers to city staff and voted unanimously to ask the city council for an early joint meeting to discuss the budget. Board members also discussed contingency planning if the council’s final allocation falls short, including scenarios that would reduce personnel costs; administrators cautioned that roughly 81.5% of the district’s budget is payroll and that cuts would likely affect people rather than facilities.

Next steps: the CFO will transmit the initial budget numbers to the city and the board will pursue scheduling the joint working meeting with city council to negotiate funding and outline contingency options.