Lexington County School District One members took a look at the first draft of the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The total projected revenue for the fiscal year is $390,373,110. This draft includes federal and state mandates, fixed cost increases, Lexington One standards, salary study committee recommendations and more.

A significant portion of the budget focuses on employee salaries, including the salary study committee’s proposals from a few months ago. In the public document, the district is requesting $346,944,985 for the 2025-26 salary and benefit budget.

Specifically, a step increase for all employees in Lexington One is requested, totaling $3,972,087. A step increase for educators is state-mandated in South Carolina.

Lexington One’s policy states that those who work 152 days or more can recieve a step increase. According to board member Mike Anderson, there have been years where support staff employees did not receive an increase in their salary.

“An objective each year is that if we give increases, we give increases to all,” Superintendent-elect Keith Price said. “That was even one of the recommendations the salary study committee listed. If we do a raise for some, we do a raise for all.”

Some items such as an American sign language interpreter, a board-certified behavior analyst, psychologists, a special education educator, speech-language pathologists and job coaches are also federally mandated and would be new full-time employees.

Price stated that the district is funded at the state level based on the number of students the district has. The district then has to review each student’s individual needs, which may require more resources, so they have to plan accordingly.

The salary study committee focused on teacher salaries and discussed three recommendations back in December: maintain a $2,000 cushion above the starting salary on the state minimum scale, include a steady percentage and examine increases in pay based on years served. Increasing the salary helps to ensure the district is competitive with other schools in the Midlands.

In January, the South Carolina Department of Education requested that S.C. lawmakers raise the minimum salary from $47,000 to $50,000. The House Ways and Means Committee proposed a $1,500 increase rather than the $3,000 increase initially requested.

The House Ways and Means Committee is responsible for writing the state's annual budget as well as creating state tax and fiscal policy.

Price informed the board that this draft has the starting salary for certified teachers with a bachelor's degree at $52,000; however, this number is fluid and can change.

Again, no final decisions were made, and these are projected numbers district officials have predicted based on data.

“From an HR standpoint, I think it's an opportunity to honor what we’ve said to our employees regarding their salaries first, and this is an opportunity to do so,” Devona Price, chief human resources officer, said.

Nicholas Pizzuti agreed, saying, “Making sure our staff and teachers are taken care of should always be a Lexington One standard.”

Additional requests for salaries included in this draft are:

• Support staff salary increase: $2,234,037

• Assistant custodians salary grade increase: $319,446

• Special education certified retention stipend: $1,055,164

• Special education instructional assistant salary grade increase: $427,945

• Administrative salary increase: $253,033