The School Board approved a $1 billion balanced operating budget for fiscal year 2025 at a special called meeting on Monday, June 17. The revised budget includes items in the budget approved by the School Board in its Feb. 22 meeting. Additional funding from the state means that priorities beyond the Feb. 22 approved budget can be addressed including paid parental leave for qualifying employees and funding for annual substitutes, school security officers and more.
The revised budget, in part, includes these items:
$17.4 million in compensation and technical updates, including
4% salary increase for employees
Increased costs for services and state-mandated increases
$11.5 million for maintaining service levels and required increases, including
$2.7 million for reading specialists
$1.1 million for bilingual liaisons
$7.7 million to various initiatives to continue the quality education and support services our community values
$31.7 million in additional adjustments, including
$4.5 million for annual substitutes
$4.2 million for school security officers
$3.4 million for high-needs schools bonuses
$2.5 million for paid parental leave for qualifying employees
$2.5 million for major maintenance
$2.2 million for ESL instructors
$2 million for instructional assistant and custodian bonuses
$1.9 million in targeted compensation increases
$1 million for school bus replacement
$1 million for increased substitute pay
$1 million for additional counselors
$800,000 to move assistant principals to 12-month status starting Jan. 1, 2025
$700,000 for additional bilingual liaisons
$100,000 for Communities In Schools expansion
The bulleted items do not represent an exhaustive list of what was included in the FY 2025 budget. See all of the budget materials presented at the June 17 School Board meeting. Additional information about budget initiatives will be shared in the coming days and weeks.
The School Board’s revised budget will be sent to the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors for consideration as part of the Chesterfield County budget at a future Board of Supervisors meeting.