By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — The Metro Council will meet on Monday to consider the first approval of the 2026-27 Moore County budget, and if there is any tax increase, it won’t be coming from Moore County School System, according to Director Of Schools Chad Moorehead at Thursday afternoon’s Moore County School Board meeting. The meeting was rescheduled from its usual second Monday slot.

Moorehead presented the school system’s proposed 2026-27 general purpose budget to the board, though he did say there could be slight changes based on revised number from the state leading up to Monday’s Metro Council meeting.

The no-tax-increase budget is being driven in part by something that doesn’t always accompany growth: good timing. Moore County Schools has added 44 students this school year — nearly an entire graduating class in a district where class sizes run between 65 and 75 students — and that enrollment increase has translated directly into more than $600,000 in additional state funding through the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) formula.

“Those 44 students have increased our state funding for next year by over $600,000,” Moorehead told the Moore County Planning Commission earlier this month. “That is a significant increase for a district our size.”

The growth hasn’t yet forced a corresponding increase in infrastructure costs. Moorehead attributed the enrollment jump largely to a surge in single-family home construction across the county, noting the district has been slowly climbing from a low point in the mid-700s in enrollment and now stands at approximately 865 students K-12.

That sweet spot — growth generating revenue without yet generating crisis — frames the 2026-27 budget. Key line items include:

• A new school bus at $165,000

• $75,000 for ELA textbook consumables, covering materials purchased originally with COVID relief funds that the state has extended for continued use

• A 3% cost-of-living adjustment for support staff

• Approximately $115,000 for a mandatory teacher salary increase tied to the legislature’s increase to the TISA base amount — an increase Moorehead said works out to roughly 3% for teachers as well when step increases are factored in

• Health insurance budgeted at a 10% increase, consistent with informal guidance circulating among superintendents statewide, though Moorehead acknowledged the final number could be higher or lower

• Slight increases in retirement contribution rates: support staff moving from 9.73% to 10%, legacy teachers from 5.77% to 6.35%, with hybrid teachers holding at 9%

• One additional elementary classroom teacher due to enrollment growth

The budget also reflects a structural change in how Moorehead is approaching the fund balance. Rather than leaving the legally required minimum of 3% in reserve — a practice that has previously required the district to take out a tax revenue anticipation note in the fall while waiting on property tax collections — Moorehead has built the budget to leave 6% in the fund balance. The Comptroller’s office prefers school systems maintain a 15% fund balance. Moorehead acknowledged that goal will take time to reach.

“I’m trying to bump it up to six percent instead of three percent,” he said, “just to try to get out of the routine of having to have a TRAN in the fall.”

The district is also moving one position from the high school to the elementary school to staff an additional classroom for students with severe disabilities. Six such students are currently enrolled at the elementary level, with six more aging up from pre-K. The high school band director position, meanwhile, remains unfilled; Caleb Poston has continued running what has effectively become a band club rather than a formal class.

Moorehead also told the board he’s looking to fund several capital needs the board has identified as priorities: paving at the elementary school, seal coating the high school parking lot (a quote of approximately $95,000 has been received), security camera upgrades at both campuses, metal and weapons detection systems (quoted at approximately $90,000 for units at both schools), additional parking at the elementary school, and a decision on photocopiers when the current lease expires in August.

Moorehead said those items are on the radar and stated that the system is actively pursuing grants to funds as many as possible.

The enrollment trajectory raises longer-term questions the district is watching. Moorehead told the Planning Commission on May 5 that if growth continues at the current pace, the elementary school will feel it first due to stricter class size mandates at the lower grades. He estimated the district could absorb modest continued growth, but that adding 40 families at once would push the system near capacity. He also noted there is no state funding mechanism for building new school facilities.

“By the time we get up over a thousand and hit especially the 1,100 and above mark, we’re really going to be cramped for space,” Moorehead said.

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In other business, the board:

• Tabled proposed policy updates pending a full revision packet expected from the Tennessee School Boards Association later this summer.

• Approved tenure for four teachers: Jennifer Byrd, Debbie Sittloh, Holly White and Kris White.

• Approved out-of-state and overnight field trips for a HOSA student traveling to nationals in Indianapolis, the girls basketball team attending camps in Wayne County and Athens, and the boys basketball team attending a camp at Skyline in Elkmont, Ala.

• Set summer central office hours at 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. once students are out of the building.

• Received a personnel report noting two resignations — high school basketball coach and social studies teacher Justin Brown and elementary HMI teacher Rebecca Davis — and several new hires, including new high school principal Andy Giel, who Moorehead said onsite picking up paperwork Thursday.

Summer learning camp is scheduled to begin shortly after Memorial Day and run four weeks, four days a week. Graduation is scheduled for Friday evening on the high school football field, weather permitting.

The Moore County School Board is chaired by Tanya Vann. Members include Carrie Barnett, Kaleigh Hatfield and Ed Cashion. Jammie Cashion was absent from Thursday’s meeting. They meet every second Monday of the month at either the Central Office behind the elementary school or the MCHS Library. To be added to the agenda, call 931-759-7303. •

ABOUT THE LYNCHBURG TIMES Public meeting coverage is crucial to the citizens of any small town. It matters who’s in the room, what decisions are being made on your behalf, and how those decisions trickle down into everyday life. Our editor, Tabitha Evans Moore, has covered Metro Moore County public meetings for more than 20 years — bringing the institutional knowledge to report them with the nuance that makes local government accessible to every citizen. If you’d like to support our work, you can do so at this link.