Montgomery County officials will meet Monday to discuss a proposed county schools
budget that seeks roughly $5.2 million in additional county funding.
The county Board of Supervisors and the School Board will hold a joint meeting March 17 to
discuss the proposed fiscal 2025-26 schools budget and the proposed county budget. It is scheduled to take place 7-9 p.m. at the county government center, 755 Roanoke St., Christiansburg, in multi-purpose room 2.
The school board will hold a work session March 18, starting at 6 p.m., to discuss and vote on the proposed schools budget. It too will take place at the county government center.
According to school system documents, the next fiscal year’s planned budget calls for nearly $154.2 million in spending — nearly $7.6 million more than in the current budget.
Along with seeking about $5.2 million of increased county funds, the school division anticipates getting roughly $2.2 million more from the commonwealth in fiscal 2025-26.
The draft schools budget includes a 3 percent raise for all employees, with an anticipated cost of about $2.68 million. Also, the school board wants to adjust the salary scale for teachers, at an additional cost of $455,000, and make salary scale adjustments for other employees, at an additional cost of $520,000.
The budget projects a roughly $6 million spending increase overall for the instructional category.
Of that, the budget for classroom instruction is expected to increase by nearly $3.95 million, while the budget for improvement of instruction is expected to grow by nearly $1.43 million.
Other sections of the instructional category projected to spend more include guidance services, nearly $199,000 more; social worker services, about $157,400 more; homebound instruction, about $1,800 more; media services-library, $54,000 more; office of the principal, about $238,800 more; and technology-instructional support, nearly $48,900 more.
The schools budget also projects cost increases in: Administration, attendance and health, nearly $326,300; transportation, nearly $266,000; operations and maintenance, more than $870,200; and non-instructional costs, about $30,100.
Supervisors aim to agree on a proposed county budget when they meet March 24. On March 31, they intend to discuss tax rates and proposed spending again during a special meeting. On April 10, they will hold a public hearing on the county budget.
You can find the full agenda for the March 17 joint meeting at https://go.boarddocs.com/va/montva/Board.nsf/Public. You can find the full agenda for the March 18 school board work session at https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/mcps/Board.nsf/Public.
