The Lexington School Board July 8 unanimously approved an amendment to the budget that would include a 4% raise for nearly all teachers and staff as well as a retention bonus for returning staff.
In late June, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed into law the long-awaited state budget for the new fiscal year that gave 4% raises for Standards of Quality (SOQ) teachers, which account for a portion of all teaching positions in many divisions. The raise was an increase from the 3% raise originally approved by the General Assembly. The raises are part of a $205 billion statewide budget that also gives 3.5% raises for state employees.
The bonus was actually included and approved in the state’s FY26 budget but the state gave flexibility for school divisions to award the bonus as part of their FY26 or FY27 budgets.
Many school boards had approved their yearly budgets before the General Assembly completed action on the 2027 state budget, which sent a lot of divisions scrambling to figure out how to come up with the extra money for the additional 1 % pay raise for teachers.
In Virginia, the state funds a large chunk of the education budget, which is then matched by local divisions. The new budget resulted in some school districts challenged with asking local governments to increase their match.
Lexington City Schools business manager Erin Gregg said the last-minute state budget presented a challenge, but one that Lexington City Schools and the city of Lexington were able to rise to meet – and even go a step further.
Superintendent Rebecca Walters said that while the state budget only required the increased raises for certain employees, Lexington City Schools wanted to make sure all of their employees benefited. The new state budget also had an added benefit: allowing the division to dole out a $1,500 retention bonus for returning teachers that they had planned to award in 2027 later this year instead.
“We’ve said this many, many times, we’re beyond grateful for our teachers and support staff,” Walters said. “They work so hard and they don’t ask for a lot. Any time that we can offer additional compensation we are so grateful for that.”
Walters and Gregg worked together to make tweaks to the initial March budget, pulling some money from a contingency budget to be able to offer all employees a minimum 4% raise starting on Aug. 1. Some staffers that are already above that 4% raise due to costs of living increases or targeted salary scale increases will stay where they are. Full-time staffers who are returning next year will also get the $1,500 bonus at the end of the month and part-time staffers will get a pro-rated bonus based on hours worked.
Walters also gave credit to the city of Lexington for helping make the increases happen: Technically, because the state is providing more funding to the school district to support salary increases and to reflect higher enrollment numbers, the city could have offered less of a local match. However, the school district is only requesting that the city fund the originally approved local match to the budget.
“We are very grateful for the collaboration and communication we’ve had with the city manager and finance director and City Council,” Gregg said. “They’re very supportive of our schools, and we are very, very grateful.”
All-in-all, Lexington City Schools had to make up just $10,000, which is only a fraction of its more than $10 million annual budget.
The Board easily passed the amended budget, and teachers were notified of the bonuses later that night.
Walters said they are still working to rewrite employee contracts and salary statements for those employees who are affected by the increase to a 4% raise, and staffers will be formally informed of their raises soon.
“That is a true blessing, and it’s always incredible to be able to share good news like this,” Walters said. “We’re so glad the state recognizes the hard work of our employees.”
