Nottoway school board adopts budget after $1 million in cuts; teacher pay increases delayed

The Nottoway County School Board on March 13 voted to adopt the 2025-26 budget as presented and to forward the division’s request for the required local contribution to the Board of Supervisors.

Staff presenting the budget told the board the division based its working documents on the current biannual budget and compared them with a version recently passed by the General Assembly. The presenter said additional state funding shown in the General Assembly figures could allow the division to restore some cuts, but that a final signed state budget and any gubernatorial amendments would have to be known before making changes.

“...we had to cut, $1,000,000 out of the budget,” the budget presenter said, listing vacancies, materials and purchase-service lines among the reductions. The presenter said a prioritized list exists of items to restore if additional funds are available.

The presenter said the division’s current request to the Board of Supervisors is the required local contribution; the figure read aloud during the presentation was $6,161,000. ANTC funding for the joint board was finalized at $318,710.28 and will be presented to the joint board on March 27 for approval, the presenter added.

Chair (speaker 4) moved to adopt the budget as presented; a second was received and the motion passed by voice vote. The transcript records only the voice vote (ayes) and not a roll-call tally.

Board members asked whether adjustments to the teacher-pay scale could be made. The presenter said the division does not have sufficient funds at this time and that a decision about pay-scale changes will likely depend on the final state budget and any additional local revenue.

Next steps: the adopted budget will be transmitted to the county before the statutory deadline and ANTC’s budget will be considered at the joint meeting on March 27.