Jackson Co. Schools Budget Likely To Focus On Teacher Salaries

Teacher salary increases will likely be the focus of the Jackson County School budget.

Director of Schools Kristy Brown said the board is already starting to work towards Governor Bill Lee’s new base teacher pay. The legislature recently passed a salary raise that requires school systems to have a base teacher salary of $50,000 by the 2026 school year.

“I’m happy to see the base rate of teacher pay going up to that level, I think that’s going to help recruit and retain teachers,” Brown said. “But for the school board and myself, we’re looking at getting those numbers right to be able to pay our teachers what we can and reaching that goal going forward.”

Brown said many of these decisions will rely on funding numbers that will come from the new TISA funding model. She said they have been getting monthly efforts and expect to get the final numbers by July.

As for capital projects, Brown said the school system is mostly working through current maintenance projects such as roof and gym floor repairs. She said they are also beginning to plan for the new CTE building at Jackson County High School.

“And we’re looking forward to doing it and using some of our Innovative Schools grant money to help with but it won’t cover all of it,” “So that is something we’re keeping our eye on and hoping to get a better estimate of what that cost will be with a proposal that we have and the plans are finished.”