Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees held a work session to review the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2027 on April 13.
Currently, the school system does not anticipate proposing a millage rate increase for the next fiscal year. The estimated revenue budget for FY27 is $986.9 million based on projected local, state and other revenue sources. The district’s forecasted expenditure budget is currently $986.5 million.
GCS plans to realign staffing positions for the upcoming school year in response to the projected reduction in student enrollment. According to the district, student enrollment is expected to decrease from approximately 77,000 to 75,760 for the 2026-27 school year.
The school district intends to complete the adjustments through attrition and retirements, meaning positions vacated by teachers who left the district will be unfilled. According to GCS, no employees will be laid off.
The staffing adjustments are expected to result in an estimated $15.5 million decrease in personnel cost reflected in the preliminary expenditure budget for FY27. The positions to be removed include 134.8 teachers, three administrators, 6.5 school counselors, three media specialists, eight clerks and 3.5 lab managers.
“This adjustment ensures that personnel resources remain aligned with actual student counts and projected FY27 enrollment. We are committed to ensuring that all certified employees affected by allocation reductions are placed into a position for which they are qualified for FY27,” according to GCS.
Main focus of 2027 budget
Superintendent Burke Royster said a main focus for the FY27 budget is enhanced pay for the school district’s personnel. Based on the forecasted budget, teachers are expected to receive a $2,450 salary increase, which would raise the starting salary for a first-year teacher to $54,344.
“We feel comfortable with what we’ve got included in the expenditure budget, and quite honestly, I think we’ll be able to increase the teacher pay and the other employee pay a little bit before first reading, certainly before second,” Royster said.
A 38th step is also anticipated to be added to the teacher salary schedule, which determines an educator’s salary based on their years of experience. Each teacher would get a salary step increase. Teachers who attain an additional degree or a certificate upgrade would also see a pay increase. All employees not on the teacher salary schedule are expected to receive a 3.25% salary increase or a step increase, whichever is greater.
The preliminary expenditure budget also focuses on supporting the school district’s special education personnel. Royster said these budget items came out of the completed internal and external audits of the district’s special education services.
Funding has currently been set aside in the forecasted budget to support:
- Four new special education specialists
- 10 new special education aids
- Three new behavior specialists
- Five new behavior support liaisons
- One new school psychologist
- One new occupational therapist
- 15 existing mental health counselors
The salary scale for special education aids is expected to be adjusted to add a $2-per-hour increase across all aid pay rates. This action would move the hourly pay range for special education aides to $20-$23.5. Special education aide substitutes are also anticipated to receive a 6% pay increase, raising the hourly rate to $17.46.
GCS also plans to hire 15 permanent substitute teachers to work at schools that struggle to fill teacher absences. In addition, the preliminary expenditure budget includes a 6% increase in substitute teacher pay.
The first reading of the school district’s FY27 general fund budget will be held May 5. A public hearing and the second reading of the budget will be held June 1. If approved, the budget will go into effect July 1.
