District finalizes budget moves that fund teacher raises and creates new supplemental-pay structure for staff, bands and dance

Lexington County School District Five officials said a recent operating-budget adjustment allowed the district to give teachers a raise and to fund a stepped supplemental-pay schedule for support staff, athletics and arts programs.

Superintendent Dr. Akil E. Ross and district finance staff described moving meal costs from debt service into the operating budget as a deliberate shift that increased general-fund revenue available for pay adjustments. CFO Heather Tucker briefed the board on revenue trends earlier in the agenda, saying March collections were about 80.9% of projection and April collections were roughly 88% for the fiscal year to date, with year-end projections expected to end near the adopted budget.

Human Resources presented a new three-tier supplement schedule designed to provide more market-competitive pay for district extracurricular staff and to lift lower-paid support staff. Dr. Turner (Human Resources) said the administration moved to a model that preserves job classification while increasing pay values; the transcript notes a rise in support-staff pay values and a restructuring of the supplement scales.

Cassie Young, a coordinator in HR who worked directly with band and dance directors, explained how the districts' supplemental system will operate in three funding "pots": district-funded supplements (including an additional $6,000 for band staffing flexibility), school pupil-activity funds (three high schools each have a $30,000 pupil activity account to use for staffing, travel, equipment or a combination), and booster/grant funds. Young said band seasons will determine staffing: a band coach one position is $1,500 and a band coach two position is $3,000; schools can mix and match across seasons to meet staffing demands.

"If you need a humbling experience, hang out with a high school band director," Young told the board, describing the heavy staffing demands of marching season and the need for flexible pay and timely onboarding.

Implementation details

HR said the supplements take effect July 1; the district has been working to build spreadsheets and onboarding processes so returning staff can be pre-loaded into payroll and new hires can be expedited. The administration also noted that uniform purchases remain managed separately through capital rotation buckets for equipment and instruments.

What was decided

The budget-related decisions that enable these pay changes were presented and placed into the public record. The board voted earlier in the process to adopt the annual operating budget (discussion in the meeting explained parts of that implementation), and the HR team was authorized to proceed with the phased supplemental-pay rollout and the principal-level guidance for using pupil activity and booster funds.

Why it matters

The changes are intended to address recruitment and retention by increasing base and supplemental pay across the district and by providing principals and program leaders more budgeting flexibility for seasonal staffing needs.