Waynesboro Schools continues budget process to cut $1.9M in expenditures

Waynesboro Schools has a budget for 2026 albeit an unbalanced budget but the school board and staff are early in the process.

Superintendent Dr. Jeff Cassell said the school system has two needs for 2026: employee compensation and retention, and All in Virginia funding for the Virginia Literacy Act. The latter seeks to improve student academic achievement and address chronic absenteeism in Virginia’s public schools.

“We’ve been able to hire some outstanding candidates and it’s only February,” Cassell said of the 2025-2026 school year’s staff.

Of Waynesboro‘s 3,100 students, 46 percent are white, 23 percent are Hispanic and 18 percent are Black.

“We are a majority minority school division,” Cassell said.

Through state funding, all Waynesboro Schools students receive breakfast and lunch every weekday they attend school because of the school system’s high percentage of students who are eligible for free meals.

Cassell said he was unsure of Waynesboro‘s percentage of eligible students in 2025, but he thinks it is approximately 60 percent.

“We are seeing an increasing number of students receiving special services,” Cassell said of the 67 more students than in the last school year and 104 homeless students (36 more than in 2024).

He stressed that all of them require additional resources to have an equitable learning environment and to be successful in public school education.

On December 18, Gov. Glenn Youngkin proposed a budget for public schools. Waynesboro Schools receives 50 percent of funding from the state, which has increased for 2025-2026 by $1,335,643.

“It’s an important part of our funding,” Cassell said. However, he expressed he is disappointed that Waynesboro Schools did not receive more given that Virginia has a surplus of $4.2 billion. “It would seem public education — is woefully underfunded.”

Waynesboro Schools expects an additional $734,773 for at-risk youth over 2024, as well as $576,712 in state funding share for the 3 percent raise for teachers and staff. The state provides approximately 50 percent of the funding for teacher raises.

Waynesboro Schools expects $29,260,926 from the Commonwealth, $2.9 million from the federal government and $20 million from the city which brings funding to $53,416,281. However, the school system’s expenditures total $55,304,000, which puts the budget nearly $1.9 million out of balance.

“That’s not desirable, but that’s not uncommon in the first round of budgeting to be out of budget,” Cassell said.

Cassell said that salaries and benefits are 82 percent of Waynesboro Schools‘ budget, which is normal for public school systems.

The Virginia House and Senate each proposed their own budgets last week, and both included increases for Waynesboro Schools.

“It’s important that we support [teachers and staff], prioritize their needs as they care for the kids,” Cassell said.

Waynesboro Schools staff expect an adopted budget by Virginia on February 22 and Waynesboro School Board will hold a work session on Feb. 25.

New school board member Nigel Stewart asked about possible reductions to Waynesboro Schools‘ expenditures to bring balance to the budget.

Cassell said increased enrollment may bring more funding from the state, perhaps a classroom would be reduced in certain schools or a teacher moved to a different building, or aids would be reduced if someone is planning to leave anyway.

“Our budget is not balanced currently, but we’ll continue to do that,” Cassell said.