Winchester Public School Board on March 24 adopted a $95,900,000 fiscal year 2026 budget and approved updated salary scales that the district said will raise pay for hourly staff and teachers.

Board members approved the spending plan after a presentation that emphasized personnel costs and operating inflation. Superintendent Jason Van Heukelen (presented as Dr. Van Heukelen in the meeting) told the board the budget focuses on salary, retirement, and typical inflationary costs and includes more than $2,000,000 added to payroll. He said the total requests added to the budget amounted to $3,100,000, with the district projecting about $1,900,000 in additional state revenue and a remaining $1,200,000 ask to the city.

The budget presentation said the FY26 package aims to raise the bottom of several pay scales while “holding everyone harmless,” producing larger percentage increases at lower scale steps. Administrative remarks and staff materials said the overall average raise across staff would be about 4.6 percent. The proposal includes raising the lowest hourly wage to $15 and increasing bus driver minimum pay to about $23 per hour. Presenters said those changes are intended in part to address chronic bus-driver shortages.

Board members also approved detailed salary scales for administrators, licensed professional staff, and support employees. The scales packet included a teacher salary scale that incorporated a midyear increase enacted in March and the scale changes built into the FY26 budget. Board materials and presenters described the scales as noninflationary additions limited to rebalancing top‑to‑bottom step distance and ensuring market-competitive entry wages.

Votes at a glance: the board approved the consent agenda (agenda, minutes, bills, monthly finance report, and facility usage), adopted the FY26 budget as presented, approved the FY26 salary scales, and approved a separate easement resolution for a third-party network contractor. The transcript records motions and seconds for each item; roll-call vote tallies were not specified in the public record provided.

Why it matters: district leaders said the budget would fund pay increases and address staffing shortages while keeping the total FY26 spending slightly below last year’s level after federal COVID-era funding expired. The board will present the request to Winchester City Council; district staff said the $1.2 million local ask corresponds to an 80‑cent tax-rate scenario in council budgeting materials and that full local funding would be significant for staff recruitment and retention.

Board action and next steps: Board member Rothenmel moved to approve the FY26 budget as presented; the motion was seconded and the board approved it. The superintendent said he would present the request to city council the following day. The board also approved the salary scales in a separate vote and directed staff to implement the new scales once the budget processes are complete.

Additional context: presenters told the board federal funding declined year over year as pandemic-era grants expired and a couple of large competitive grants ended, reducing federal revenue and shifting reliance back to state and local funding. The district described the FY26 budget as focused on core operations and personnel rather than new programming.