Waynesboro Schools‘ budget for 2025-2026 is officially balanced at $54,718,971 and approved by the school board.
A month ago, the school system’s budget was unbalanced by nearly $1.9 million, and Superintendent Dr. Jeff Cassell said cuts were made to balance the budget by reducing positions through attrition and eliminating classrooms that will be unnecessary.
“We were able to balance at $54 million, 718,” Cassell said.
Some projects were postponed also to balance the budget, which the school system may consider again later if funding becomes available.
The school system expects “a little bit more than we had projected” from the state, which is $2.25 million as well as $839,000 more in local funding than in 2024. Federal funding remains at $2.9 million.
“We’re very concerned about school nutrition. The reimbursement rates from USDA have not increased in quite some time, in several years,” Cassell said of the increased cost of food and salaries for cafeteria staff. The school system has high student participation, but is barely breaking even with funding. Federal law prohibits school nutrition programs existing in a deficit. If necessary, Waynesboro will have to fund nutrition from its operating budget. “So, our reimbursements are just running way behind on that.”
Cassell said he will send the balanced budget to the city of Waynesboro and at the end of March will present it to Waynesboro City Council.
In balancing the budget, Cassell said that staff attempted not to cut services for students, but they were not able to add services either.
“I would not call this a needs-based budget,” Cassell said.
Related stories:
Waynesboro School Board approves balanced budget for 2024-2025 school year
Waynesboro Schools continues budget process
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Rebecca Barnabi
