GCS 2025-26 Budget

Student Success, Safety and Salaries Prioritized in GCS Budget Proposal

March 11, 2025 –

“We are a people-driven organization, and without them, we are without purpose or product,” Superintendent Whitney Oakley shared while presenting her budget recommendation for the 2025-2026 school year.  

The proposed plan, which totals $947,210,364, features the following highlights:  

• Investing in Educators: A $10 million increase in local teacher supplements to help recruit and retain high-quality teachers. 

• Competitive Pay for Classified Staff: $15.3 million allocated to increase the pay scale for non-certified employees. 

• Strengthening School Safety: $3 million dedicated to enhanced security measures, including middle and high school scanners, emergency radios, and security cameras. 

• Facility Improvements: Capital investments of $10.8 million including $7.9 million for emergency HVAC replacements, $952,000 for building repairs, $1.4 million for equipment and vehicles and $504,000 for roof repairs. 

With the completion of ESSER funding this year, GCS expects federal funding to decrease from approximately $82 million to about $54 million. Additionally, the district projects an increase of $8 million in legally required and sustaining operations costs. 

More than $46.6 million of the district’s total local operating budget is required to be diverted to charter schools. A more than $7 million increase from last year. This money does not have to be spent in the same ways that GCS does. For example, the $535,391 that goes to charter schools from the GCS safety and security budget does not have to be spent on safety and security at charter schools.  

Overwhelmingly, families choose Guilford County Schools to educate their students. The district’s work to stop the downward slide after the pandemic has been recognized across the country. The district has seen a 13.2% decrease in low-performing schools over three school years and initiatives like High Dosage Tutoring and Learning Hubs are helping students recover at rates higher than the state and national average.  

The proposed budget reflects the resources needed to sustain and improve academic achievement. 

“The purpose of our work as a public school district is to invest in people. Educating our students is in fact an investment in their future and the future of Guilford County,” Oakley said. “For far too long we have struggled behind the rest of our competitors, both in the public and private sectors, to pay our employees fairly and appropriately for the work that they do. And yet, as one of the largest employers in Guilford County, a pay increase for our employees would be felt in every other sector of the local economy.” 

The budget now moves to the Board of Education for review. A public hearing is scheduled for April 8. If approved, the proposed budget then heads to the Board of County Commissioners who will hold a public hearing on June 5 and a scheduled budget adoption vote on June 18.