Fredericksburg's Proposed School Budget for Next Fiscal Year is "A Great Start"
"I want to dive a little deeper," School Board member says.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
Employees of Fredericksburg City Public Schools would get a 7% compensation increase in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, but to at least two School Board members, that’s not enough.
“I want to share with my constituents that I definitely support the 7% raise, but I did my own analysis, and what I found is that [the school division] needs to increase salaries by 9% in order to be competitive with Spotsylvania and Stafford,” said Andy Wolfenbarger, a longtime educator who works currently for Loudoun County schools and was elected in November to represent the city’s Ward 1. “If we’ve gotten behind on salary, which I think we have, I think we need to invest more.”
Superintendent Marci Catlett and Chris Sorensen, the division’s interim finance director, presented the proposed $68.4 million operating budget for next fiscal year at a special meeting before Monday’s regular School Board meeting.
The budget includes $39.9 million in funding from the city, which is an increase of $2.7 million, or 7.4%, over the local transfer for the current fiscal year (FY26). It also assumes $22.5 million in funding from the state, which is based on former Governor Glenn Youngkin’s outgoing budget and is an 11.4% increase over FY26.
Overall, the proposed operating budget is 5.8% greater than the current budget.
In addition to the 7% compensation increase, it would fund 15 new full-time equivalent positions—two English learner teachers; one gifted education teacher; four general education teachers; a special education coordinator and three special education instructional assistants; a school nurse; and a school security officer.
It also funds two advisors for English language learners, one at the elementary and one at the secondary level. These positions are funded now by a grant but would be funded going forward by the operating budget.
“These positions have been very successful,” Sorensen said. “They work primarily with Hispanic and Afghan students.”
The number of English language learners enrolled in Fredericksburg’s schools has increased 41% since 2021, according to information presented on Monday, and the number of special education students has increased 18%. The performance of these student groups on standards of learning assessments also affected how city schools scored on the Virginia Department of Education’s new School Performance and Support Framework.
Sorensen stressed that the proposed budget is designed to support all the division’s students, but also makes targeted investments in these populations.
Wolfenbarger said he’d like to see the operating budget include a bigger pay raise for school bus drivers. According to the school division, a shortage of bus drivers was one reason for the transportation delays that plagued the beginning of the school year and, Wolfenbarger said, continue to affect his neighborhood.
“We need to pay our bus drivers about 23% more in order to be competitive,” he said. He also asked about increasing stipends for teachers with master’s degrees.
Sorensen noted that while the city provides increased funding every year, its overall contribution to the schools’ budget has remained steady at about 58%.
Wolfenbarger highlighted this, saying that, “It’s really the same percentage of the pie that we’re asking for, unless we do a few other things I’m asking folks to consider. I think it’s worth the investment.”
Annie Langdon, Ward 3 representative who was also elected in November, said she agreed with everything Wolfenbarger brought up, and also asked for more information about what percent of an anticipated health insurance cost increase would be passed along to staff.
The School Board’s budget calendar includes time this month for work sessions, and Wolfenbarger said he’d like to schedule one.
Monday’s budget presentation also included the proposed 10-year capital improvement plan for the school division. The plan calls for $817,000 to be spent in fiscal year 2027 on “buses, technology, and capital maintenance;” $2.8 million in fiscal year 2029 on a new “bus and maintenance facility;” and $16.6 million in fiscal year 2030 for the expansion of James Monroe High School.
In addition to the 15 new full-time positions that would be funded by the proposed operating budget, the division is creating 12.5 new positions now with $1.5 million in hold-back funds that City Council released last month.
This money was approved as part of the budget for FY26, but kept in reserve while the city’s finance staff monitored sales tax to ensure it stayed in line with previous years.
Among the 12.5 new positions are one special education teacher, one English learner teacher, one math content specialist, one literacy content specialist, one custodian, one maintenance worker, one technology technician, and one transportation office manager.
Of these positions, the only one that has been filled so far is the English language teacher, deputy superintendent Matt Eberhardt said Tuesday.
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