Richland One board adopts FY27 budget, approves new operations and assessment specialist

The Richland One Board of Commissioners approved the fiscal 2027 budget and added a full-time operations and assessment specialist during its April 15, 2026, meeting held via Microsoft Teams.

Britney Sloan, the district's finance representative from Prestige, told the board the budget's revenue assumptions result in a proposed total just over $2.1 million and that the plan, as presented, would leave the school with a projected net income of about $18,000 for fiscal 2027. "We're looking at our days cash on hand. It's showing us a 400 409 actual. 340 is our average for the last 12 months," Sloan said, and added the school has roughly $242,000 in operating cash and designated reserves near $1.7 million.

Sloan and school leadership flagged a recent legislative change that reduced the weighting for vocational-coded students from 1.2 to 1.0, which Sloan said created roughly a $125,000 difference in the calculations. Leadership decided not to include that uncertain amount in the initial budget, saying the district expects to receive a share later; Sloan characterized the estimate as conservative and noted the board could amend the budget after the 45-day reconciliation if the revenue is confirmed.

On the expense side, the FY27 proposal includes a 3% across-the-board pay increase, conversion of a special services interventionist from part-time to full-time and a reduction in planned computer replacements to about 25% of devices in a given year. The removal of one-time furniture expenses also helped create budget capacity for new staffing. Sloan told the board the school had been underspending in several categories and recorded a March profit of roughly $60,000.

Dr. Brabom, the school's principal, described the new operations and assessment specialist as a certified, non-instructional position that would "be primarily responsible for running our school's MTSS program" as well as managing technology and coordinating college- and career-readiness assessments including ASVAB, SAT and ACT testing. Board members asked whether the role would be certified or classified, how it would affect salary-and-benefit benchmarks, and whether existing staff could absorb the duties; Brabom said the role is intended to be comparable to an assistant administrator and that its salary was included in the FY27 proposed budget.

A number of board members asked for a clearer line-by-line comparison between the proposed budget and the current year; Sloan offered to distribute a PDF with side-by-side figures. Directors also discussed fund-balance "spend-down" thresholds and sustainability if enrollment were to decline, and requested an updated staffing list showing recent additions and returning positions.

The board voted to approve the FY27 budget (recorded responses: three "I" votes) and later voted to approve the recommended returning staff positions and the creation of the operations and assessment specialist. The board set its next meeting for May 13, 2026, and then adjourned.

Notes: dollar amounts and percentages are drawn from the financial presentation to the board; the transcript records the state-aid weighting change as producing about a $125,000 difference and the leadership estimate that approximately 80% of that amount might be realized later. The board asked staff to provide a side-by-side comparison of the proposed and current budgets and an updated staffing schedule for review.