Hamblen County school leaders present near-final budget, propose 2% pay raise and minor teacher reductions

An official from the Hamblen County Department of Education presented a near-final fiscal plan to the county commission, saying the board expects to finalize and approve the budget within days. The presentation detailed completed capital work at Lincoln Elementary and Medivview, a new middle-school annex, and plans to start a roughly 365-day renovation at John Hay Elementary on June 15.

The district said it would cover several projects using previously approved bond proceeds and ARPA dollars, and that it expects to return approximately $2.356 million to the county after reallocations. The presenter asked the commission to allow the district to retain $300,000 of those savings to address sparse topsoil and landscaping at Lincoln Elementary, describing the request as a relatively small holdback to improve the school's exterior.

On staffing, the district proposed a 2% across-the-board pay raise that officials said would meet the state's teacher-salary mandate and bring the starting teacher salary to roughly $50,767. "We hope to finalize and approve that budget next week," the presenter said during the briefing. Officials said the raise is the minimum required to comply with state rules and that, combined with enrollment-driven attrition, the plan includes about a 15-teacher reduction implemented through normal turnover rather than layoffs.

District leaders described how federal and state program shifts have affected local budgets: the state designated the system as having a finding of significant disproportionality in special education identification in one subgroup, which requires set-aside state funds and prompted the district to propose funding four and a half teacher assistant positions from the general fund. Officials also said they had retained roughly $1.63 million in outcome funds pending fiscal stability and that sales-tax performance is outpacing projections, which should help replenish fund balance by July.

Commissioners pressed for details about ESSER-funded positions and whether any teacher job losses would be immediate; district staff said they are managing reductions through attrition and reassignments, and that core services such as school nurses and intervention staff had been prioritized. The district also described safety investments, including Raptor ID security systems in elementary schools and wider telehealth services for student care.

The board scheduled a working session and a special meeting in mid-May to finalize the budget and agreed to follow up on detailed capital and personnel line items. The district emphasized it is not seeking additional county dollars at this time but requested flexibility on turning back unspent project funds into a small reserve to complete final landscaping and minor punch-list items.