Pay rise lifted to 5 percent and 17 new special education jobs added

What happened

On July 15, 2026 the School Board approved a revised budget after revenue came in better than assumed in March. The pay increase for all teachers and staff rises from 3 percent to 5 percent, one point above the state's 4 percent supplement, at an extra cost of $4.3 million and backdated to July 1, 2026. Employee health care premiums stay flat. The revision also spends $1.2 million on seventeen new posts for students with disabilities: eight special education teachers, eight instructional assistants and an assistant director. Repurposed retirement money funds three more posts for literacy and mathematics and a dual enrollment teacher shared by Phoebus and Kecoughtan high schools.

Why it matters to families

Seventeen new special education staff is a direct change to how many adults are available to children with disabilities, in a division that already spends over $40 million a year on that programme. For families, the dual enrollment teacher means more college credit available at two high schools. Paying above the state supplement, while holding health premiums flat, is how the division is trying to keep staff in a competitive regional market.

The evidence

The recording of the July 15, 2026 meeting carries the Chief Financial Officer setting out the $5.6 million revenue increase to over $333 million in the operating fund, the recommendation to move from 3 percent to 5 percent for all teachers and staff at an added cost of $4.3 million retroactive to July 1, 2026, the $1.2 million for eight special education teachers, eight instructional assistants and an assistant director, the three further positions and the dual enrollment teacher for Phoebus and Kecoughtan, and the motion moving the item from deliberation to action.

The source