The Lexington School Board has approved a proposed $10.6 million budget for fiscal year 2027, sending the plan to City Council with a request for a significant increase in local funding.
The Board approved the proposal March 11, noting that revisions will likely be needed once the General Assembly finalizes its budget. The proposed budget totals $10,608,748, a 5% increase — or about $541,625 — over the current fiscal year.
However, the request to the city is substantially higher. School officials are seeking $4,472,017 in local funding, an increase of $481,091, or about 12%, compared to the current budget.
According to Superintendent Rebecca Walters, the increase is largely driven by rising personnel and operational costs.
Among the biggest factors are higher health insurance premiums, which are expected to add more than $300,000 to the budget, along with salary increases and adjustments aimed at improving wages for lower-paid staff. The proposal includes raising the minimum hourly wage for school employees to $19.88, described as a “living wage,” along with targeted salary increases for certain positions.
School nurses would see adjustments to their pay scale, while some staff members would receive targeted 6% increases. All other employees would receive at least a 3% raise.
The budget also includes increases to cover higher costs for utilities, supplies, contracted services, technology and other operational expenses, but it does not include funding for new staff positions or additional programs.
As with other local school divisions, Lexington officials are building their budget without a finalized state funding picture. The proposal is based on estimates from a draft state budget introduced in December by outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, along with potential amendments still under consideration by the General Assembly.
Those proposals include funding for at least a 3% salary increase for Standards of Quality (SOQ) positions, as well as a possible one-time bonus for staff that could be paid in FY27.
At the March 11 meeting of the Lexington School Board, Walters said the budget will need to be amended once the state budget is finalized and more detailed guidance is available.
“What we have to do — and it is a strange situation — we have to approve a budget before we know how much money we’re actually getting from the state,” Walters explained. “It’s tricky … we’re really hopeful that when the state approves their budget, we’re going to get additional funds that will make our city request go down.”
The proposed budget includes local funding to continue after-school tutoring and homework assistance programs for kindergarten through eighth-grade students, as state funding tied to the “All-In-VA” initiative is set to expire June 30.
It also adds a stipend for athletic director duties at the middle school.
School officials said they are continuing to work with the city to determine how health insurance premium costs will be shared between the employer and employees, with a plan expected before April 1.
The proposed budget now moves to the Lexington City Council for review and discussion in the coming weeks.
