Manassas City Public Schools (MCPS) employees may get an additional 1.5% salary increase for the 2025-2026 school year, pending School Board approval on June 24.
At the beginning of the budget process in February, the MCPS Board wasn’t able to even fund a 5.5% salary increase due to budget constraints from City Council and the Commonwealth.
“The math … is not really ‘mathing’ that well,” MCPS’ Director of Finance Taft Kelly said at the budget presentation meeting on Feb. 25.
Kelly and his team initially proposed that the Board approve salary lapses, which would replace the retiring older, more experienced staff who get paid more with younger, less experienced staff members; some of these salary lapses also apply to employees leaving the division. Kelly said that by doing this, MCPS could save nearly $975,000.
But, with the approval of City Council’s budget on June 9, MCPS was given an additional $1.5 million for fiscal year 2026, which begins on July 1.
“I do want to thank City Council and the folks that I work with over at the city for their generous gift in their budget,” Kelly said in a new presentation to the Board on June 10. “We will appreciate that moving forward.”
This additional $1.5 million is a more than 5% increase in what MCPS received in fiscal year 2025 from the City of Manassas, Kelly said. The state is also providing an increase in funding to more than $84 million, which accounts for more than 50% of MCPS’ yearly operating budget.
Kelly suggested to the Board to use the additional funding toward salary increases.
“In keeping with your list of priorities, we would like to use additional funding to compensate our employees,” he said. “We asked for $1.7 million to increase [salaries]. Obviously, we did not get that full amount, and so the amount that we are able to do is 1.2%.”
In total, MCPS is providing a 7% increase in staff salaries for fiscal year 2025. Kelly said if the Board wants to move forward with this option, they will receive an updated salary scale document before the scheduled vote on June 24. Kelly also said new contracts will be generated for employees to sign before the start of the next school year in August.
When the Board approved its budget in March, members felt many of their stated priorities unfunded due to the city’s budget constraints. These included additional English as a Second Language teachers, social workers, a new diesel school bus and intervention services.
