Throughout a tight budget cycle, the Board was unsure if they would be able to fund a 5.5% salary increase due to budget constraints from both City Council and the Commonwealth. Many Board members had expressed a desire for a 7% salary increase to match other neighboring jurisdictions.
Prince William County Schools, for example, came to an agreement with the Prince William Education Association for a historic $160 million investment over a two-year period. This results in a 7% wage increase in fiscal year 2026.
Taft Kelly, MCPS’ director of finance, initially proposed that the Board implement salary lapses, which would replace retiring and more experienced staff with higher salaries with younger, less experienced staff members. Kelly, in previous meetings, said MCPS could save nearly $975,000.
With the approval of City Council‘s budget on June 9, MCPS was given an additional $1.7 million for the fiscal year, enabling the Board to provide a more than 5% increase over fiscal year 2025.
“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. New contracts, according to Kelly at an early June MCPS Board meeting, will be sent to staff before the end of July and early August with updated staff scales and salaries.
