District overview
Wise County Public Schools
How Wise County Public Schools is paid for, who decides, and what is underway.
Where does the money come from?
Wise County Public Schools is funded the way most Virginia divisions are. The state pays the largest share through the Standards of Quality formula, and how much it pays depends on two things the division only partly controls: the Local Composite Index, a state measure of how much local wealth a county has, and average daily membership, the average number of students actually enrolled, counted on March 31 each year. Wise County's 2026-2027 budget of $93,844,500 is built on 5,129 students. State funds are $59,648,300, local funds $21,687,200, federal funds $8,836,700, and other funds $3,672,300. The local share is not a free choice either: $14,800,000 of it is the minimum match Wise County must put in to unlock the state money, with another $6,887,200 coming from sales tax.
Students drive the state check
State money is paid on average daily membership. The division projects 5,129 students for 2026-2027, a 1.9 percent drop, so the check shrinks even though the buildings and bus routes stay the same.
71 cents of every dollar goes to instruction
Of the $93,844,500 operating budget, $66,285,500 is instruction. Transportation is $5,189,600, operations and maintenance $8,994,300, and central administration only $1,424,300.
The county's minimum match is fixed
Wise County's required local match is $14,800,000. Sales tax adds $6,887,200, bringing local funds to $21,687,200.
Costs are rising faster than the formula
The 2026-2027 budget absorbs a 17 percent health-insurance premium increase, a state minimum wage rising from $12.77 to $13.75 an hour, and a 3 percent salary increase, offset partly by a Virginia Retirement System rate decrease.
None of this means the division is in financial trouble. It adopted a balanced budget with a raise for staff, it is one of the top academic performers in Virginia, and it carries a separate $4,881,600 debt service budget it reconciles with the county each year.
Where the division stands
Up from the amended 2025-2026 budget of $92,670,000.
A projected 1.9 percent decrease from the prior year.
Context, not a reported figure: $93,844,500 divided by the 5,129 average daily membership the budget is built on. It covers everything in the operating budget, including transportation, food service and maintenance.
$66,285,500 of $93,844,500.
Includes 335 Pre-K students. Tenth-day enrollment in September 2025 was 5,044, or 5,311 counting virtual students.
Seven were rated Distinguished, the most of any division in Region VII, and none needs improvement or intensive support.
Covers HVAC, a warehouse dock, track resurfacing, bleachers, auditorium seating and windows.
Plus 344 part-time employees and 229 active substitute teachers. The superintendent told the board the division is the county's largest employer.
Only the August 10, 2026 meeting is represented by an agenda alone; its minutes had not been posted when this page was built. The November 10, 2025 meeting was cancelled.
Major projects
2026-2027 building repair program
Funded and underwayA $4,324,400 capital outlay program covering heating and air conditioning, a warehouse dock, resurfacing running tracks, replacing bleachers, auditorium seating and windows, other repairs, and expected changes in air-quality rules from the General Assembly.
- Finance director reports the state biennium increases school construction funds and that the division is working with the Virginia Department of Education on assessments
- Draft budget shows a $2,493,400 capital outlay line
- Board adopts the budget with capital outlay raised to $4,324,400
- Capital projects and facility upgrades placed on the board agenda for discussion
Funding
Local capital outlay budget, with the division also pursuing increased state school construction funds
The April 2026 draft showed $2,493,400; the adopted May budget raised it to $4,324,400.
Replacing the All In tutoring staff
Funding ended, replacement not yet identifiedVirginia's All In grant paid for extra tutors and reading and math coaches in Wise County schools. The finance director told the board on March 9, 2026 that the funding ends this year and that the division is working to make sure students are still supported. No replacement funding source appears in the collected records.
- Coeburn Middle School credits All In tutors and reading and math coaches for SOL gains of about 10 points in reading and 16 in history
- Finance director lists All In grant funding ending among the budget's challenges
- Board adopts the 2026-2027 budget; the amended 2025-2026 budget records All In funding balances being spent down
Funding
State All In grant, ending after 2025-2026
The collected minutes do not state the dollar value of the All In award to Wise County.
Virginia's higher SOL passing scores
State decision, phasing in over four to five yearsThe Virginia Board of Education is raising SOL cut scores, the minimum score counted as proficient, so they match content standards approved in 2023 and 2024. The current passing score of 400 was set against 2016 math and 2017 English standards.
- New, more rigorous SOL assessments aligned to the 2023 and 2024 standards used in spring 2025
- Superintendent briefs the board on the cut score change and the expected four-to-five-year phase-in
Funding
Not a local spending decision; set by the Virginia Board of Education
Recent news
Built from all 27 official board agendas and approved minutes the division published between September 8, 2025 and August 10, 2026, collected from the two public Google Drive folders linked from the division's school board page.
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