Lexington County School District One board members are making progress on the 2025-26 general fund budget, having approved the second reading, which does not include a millage increase as of now.

While the district does not plan to increase millage for taxpayers, board members were presented with two options that would require them to use money from the fund balance. 

Option 3A includes a base teacher starting salary of $52,000.

It also includes federal mandates, state mandates, ESSER cliffs, fixed cost increase, Lex One standards, salary study committee recommendations and all would-like-to-dos.

Option 3A requires an estimated amount of $11 million from the fund balance to be applied in order to balance the budget.

Option 3B includes a base teacher starting salary of $52,000.

It also includes all federal and state mandates, ESSER cliffs, fixed cost increase, Lex One standards, salary study committee recommendations, and some would-like-to-dos; however, items in the would-like-to-do category include the ones that have already received contingency funding approval, such as middle school academic interventionists and assistant principal positions.

Option 3B would require $9.7 million from the fund balance.

During the discussion, board member McKenzie Flashnick expressed concern about using money in the fund balance.

“The only concern that I have with doing everything [in option 3A] is that we’re talking about not raising taxes right now, which is great and not adding any more to the taxpayers' burden, but at some point that fund balance will deplete itself eventually,” she said. 

Flashnick further said that when the fund balance depletes, board members will have a hard decision to make: raise mills or pull back on some of the items they have given resources to.

Board member Beth Shealy agreed, saying that the board should be mindful of how they are paying for things, but believes 3A is the better option. 

“Education nationwide suffered a great deal [since COVID-19] and we’ve been trying to pull that back together,” board member Mike Anderson said. “Our test scores have suffered, math has suffered and reading has suffered. Whatever we need to do to get those scores back on track and get those numbers up, I’m in favor of.”

Anderson urged other board members to take caution in cutting positions such as the math coaches and interventions.

With some members showing hesitation on approving option 3A, which again includes all items in the would-like-to-do category, board member Shealy said a possible solution would be to approve 3A this time around, but if they don’t receive an ROI, which shows they’ve improved the schools, then they won’t approve it next year.

To that, board member Chris Rice said, “I’m willing to support 3A because the educational leaders that I see when I go to their buildings and look at them, I know that they demand excellence of themselves and their staff. I know they want to put students first.”

Rice further mentioned the possibility of implementing key performance indicators, also known as KPIs, which will track the performance of programs. 

The total general fund budget for option 3A totals $401,427,479. Board members approved the second reading and will meet again in an upcoming meeting for the third and final reading of the budget.

The next scheduled board meeting is Tuesday, June 10, at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the Lexington One Central Services Building One, located at 100 Tarrar Springs Rd. in Lexington.