Clark County unveils FY27 draft budget prioritizing staff pay and HVAC repairs
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Rick Bowling presented the initial FY27 budget on Jan. 12, highlighting employee compensation as the top community priority, a $219,633 package of requested new positions, and capital needs driven by HVAC repairs; the board discussed costs per percentage point of raises and next steps tied to state budget developments.
Superintendent Dr. Rick Bowling presented the Clark County Public Schools’ initial FY27 budget draft on Jan. 12, centering the proposal on employee compensation, personnel requests and capital repairs as the division prepares for state budget guidance.
The draft ties the operating budget to the division’s strategic goals and stakeholder feedback. "Overwhelmingly, the number 1 priority that they felt like that we should take into consideration in developing a budget is employee compensation," Bowling said, citing a community survey of parents, staff and residents.
The nut graf: The budget presentation gave board members a line-by-line look at assumptions and risks — chiefly the state Local Composite Index (LCI) and an uncertain health-insurance renewal — and quantified how small changes can swing local funding by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bowling noted Clark County’s recent LCI move from 0.6032 to 0.5542, which the presentation said could equate to roughly $900,000–$1,000,000 in additional state funding compared with the prior biennium.
Key facts and figures: The superintendent said the division currently reports roughly 1,823 students and fewer than 600 students eligible for free or reduced-price meals; the homeless student count was estimated at about 25, down from roughly 32–33 last year. The draft includes $219,633 in new-personnel requests (three full-time positions would require benefits) including math-interventionists, an instructional assistant and a combined history/science teacher. Bowling gave detailed line-item estimates: two math interventionists at $10,765 each, an instructional assistant at about $32,690, a history/science teacher at roughly $81,593 and a behavior analyst at $32,690.
On compensation, Bowling provided a planning metric: each 1% across‑the‑board pay increase would cost about $211,952; a 2% increase would be roughly $423,904, while a 4% increase would cost about $847,000. He warned that a 2% minimum included in the governor’s proposed budget could be below the 2.8% cost‑of‑living increase the division is tracking.
Capital needs and maintenance: The capital executive summary attached to the presentation listed total school capital requests near $1,090,000, with HVAC repairs as the largest single item (about $281,500). Board members pressed for an accounting of emergency break‑fix bills and asked the maintenance liaison to provide contract and bidding information for the division’s HVAC vendor.
What’s next: Bowling told the board the budget is built on the governor’s December proposal as a baseline and that the division will monitor General Assembly activity and a VDOE calculation tool expected by February. Board members requested follow-up materials: average years of teacher experience, three‑to‑five year capital spending history and separation of COVID‑era expenditures for comparison.
The superintendent characterized the presentation as an initial draft for deliberation, with formal motions on personnel or percentage increases to come as the board digests data and state developments.
