Winchester board hears FY27 budget preview; staff projects added state revenue, insurance spike and proposed staffing reductions

Winchester Public School staff presented a draft FY27 fiscal picture during the March 9 work session, updating revenue projections and laying out proposed personnel and capital decisions for the board's consideration.

Staff said they are monitoring the state legislative session and had added roughly $516,000 to the division's FY27 state revenue projection. They reported a health‑insurance renewal that came back at 20.6% (staff rounded to 21% in presentation) and described a phased health‑insurance initiative that would absorb part of that increase. Staff said the initiative required reallocating approximately $432,000 to address premium increases in phase one.

The budget preview listed personnel cost items including a step increase and a 3% cost‑of‑living adjustment; transcript language shows the step increase as 'a million5' and the COLA as 'a million705' as presented to the board. Staff reported required tier costs of about $4,220,000 after an internal payroll refinement and a $250,000 decrease from earlier figures. They described proposed cost‑savings that would remove eight positions (five teacher positions and three central/administrative positions), which staff said aligns to enrollment‑driven allocation changes; two of the teacher reductions were described as coming from Hanley school because of lower enrollment there and the intermediate school was noted to gain positions based on its grade‑level cohort.

After accounting for projected new revenue and proposed savings, staff presented a remaining balance the division would ask the city to cover — described in the meeting as about $1.8 million (the transcript records a more precise figure that appears in the record as '1,832,466' but the audio/transcript is garbled). Staff also proposed a one‑time capital request of $800,000 for replacing Patsy Klein theater seats and carpet; the Winchester Education Foundation was reported to be leading a capital campaign expected to raise roughly $500,000 toward that amount.

Trustees discussed whether to include an additional gifted‑education teacher in the request (estimated at about $90,000) versus prioritizing reading specialists or other instructional supports. Board members asked staff to return with a prioritized, evidence‑based ranking of requests (tier‑1 vs. tier‑2 priorities and the expected instructional impact of candidate positions) before the next meeting.

The board was told the next steps include finalizing the request to city council and returning in late May as part of the budget review cycle. No final budget votes were taken at the March 9 work session.

Separately, the board approved the consent agenda earlier in the meeting and later moved to convene a closed session under Va. Code §2.2‑3711(A)(1) to discuss personnel matters.