Fort Mill administration proposes $271.7 million budget, seeks 10.5-mill increase to fund teacher raises

Miss Lourdes, presenting the administration's recommended 2026-27 budget at the April 14 Fort Mill School Board meeting, said the proposed total is $271,683,005 and that the plan the administration recommends would be financed in part by a 10.5-mill property tax increase and a $3.5 million contingency transfer to open Flint Hill Middle School.

The proposal centers on teacher compensation as the budget's primary driver. Miss Lourdes said the district would incorporate a $2,000-per-cell increase (the state's proposal) into the district scale and raise the district's starting teacher pay to $54,500, while applying a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment to other pay scales. "This is our number 1 funding priority in this budget plan," she said.

Why it matters: administration officials told the board they cannot fully fund the proposed teacher-scale increases from state aid alone because state formula shifts and the reallocation of some funds reduced the district's state aid-to-classroom allocation. Presenter analysis showed a reduction of roughly $605,773 in one state aid line and a net gap on the order of the low six figures once other…