By Calvin Pynn, contributor
The Harrisonburg City School Board voted unanimously Tuesday for the next year’s school budget that includes a 3% salary increase for teachers and staff, as well as additional funds to hire new special education staff.
The board adopted the 2025-26 budget of about $123 million, which is a 4% increase from the current school year’s budget. In addition to proposing the 3% salary increase for all staff, the budget includes an additional 6% salary scale adjustment for custodians, instructional assistants and nutrition assistants.
The budget also contains funding for additional positions deemed essential to daily operations and student learning, including Special Education staff and various school-based and central office roles.
The board moved forward with the budget, although board members acknowledged uncertainty around state and federal funding. For instance, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has not yet signed a state budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Superintendent Michael Richards presented three options in the proposed budget that sought to balance increases in staff compensation, the addition of support staff positions and the maintaining of day-to-day operations.
The board, citing feedback from district employees, ultimately decided to go with the option that prioritizes hiring additional staff.
“I think that’s also consistent, at least from my perspective, in talking to other members of the board, the kind of anecdotal information we get in speaking with teachers and other staff personnel who seek us out to register concerns,” board member Andy Kohen said during the meeting. “And it’s not so much the concern about the size, it is about the people assisting the process of providing the very best education we can for the kids in the school. So it’s consistent with that.”
Daniel Kirwan, the district’s finance director, said during the meeting that the gradual pay increase proposed in that option would be more sustainable in the long term for the school division.
“I feel like that’s reasonable. I think as a finance person, speaking for myself, it feels like we could sustain that,” Kirwan said. “If we do a big jump, then are we going to be able to continue to sustain that if we stay at a lower rate?”
The adopted budget reflects an additional request from Harrisonburg City Council for $1.5 million, although the current city proposal is $1.46 million. According to the budget proposal, the city holds the debt for six school buildings and contributes to the district’s operating and construction budgets.
Considering factors that affect Harrisonburg’s contributions to the school division’s budget, Kirwan said city revenue growth appears to be returning to pre-COVID levels,
“They would say that’s normal, but doesn’t feel normal when we’ve been fairly fortunate with some of our revenue,” Kirwan said.
He said enrollment in Harrisonburg’s schools is decreasing in the short term, but potential housing developments could lead to higher enrollment in the future.
“If those developments go in, then we would see longer term growth in the future,” Kirwan said.
The city has announced its commitment to no new taxes in the budget for the coming year, which impacts the proposed operating budget for the school system.
Richards, who was out of town and attending the meeting via a video call, said the city has come through for the school division in recent years by approving property tax increases that have helped pay for the high school, among other projects and operations.
“For two years, the city has raised taxes to support our program — and I say “our” meaning the city, meaning they see that as theirs too, which is wonderful,” Richards said. “They raised taxes two years in a row for Rocktown High School — for construction, for staffing it. There’s not much appetite for a third year of tax increases, but I want to thank them for the two years of increased revenue so that we could provide a wonderful learning environment for our students at Harrisonburg High School, and at Rocktown.”
The adopted budget will be presented to Harrisonburg City Council in May.
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