Central Virginia
City of Charlottesville
School Board Meeting 2/19/2026
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School Board Meeting
2/19/2026
Call to Order
Remote Participation by a School Board Member (Lisa Torres) - Amanda Burns
Moment of Silence
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call of Board Members
Approval of Proposed Agenda
Comments from Members of the Community
Comments from Students
Public Comment on the Proposed 2026-2027 Budget
Charlottesville Education Association (CEA) Collective Bargaining (Support Professionals) Contract Update - Maria Lewis
Collective Bargaining (Support Professionals) Contract Update _Supportive Information Sheet_February 19, 2026 SB Meeting.pdf
Draft Collective Bargaining Agreement_School Support Professional Bargaining Unit_February 19. 2026 SB Meeting.pdf
Approval of 2026-2027 Operating Budget - Dr. Royal A. Gurley, Jr.
Approval of the 2026-2027 Operating Budget _Supportive Information Sheet_February 19, 2026 SB Meeting.pdf
Approval of 2026-2027 Operating Budget_Presentation_February 19, 2026 Special Meeting.pdf
Comments from Members of the Community
Board Member Comments
Superintendent's Comments
Upcoming Meetings
Adjourn
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:03:17
Okay.
00:03:22
Test.
00:03:23
No.
00:03:24
Oh my God.
00:03:25
Okay.
00:03:27
All right.
00:03:27
The February 19th, 2026 meeting of the Charlottesville City School Board will come to order.
00:03:32
It is now 5 p.m. We have a request for remote participation from board chair Lisa Torres.
00:03:40
Is there a motion to approve this participation?
00:03:43
So moved.
00:03:45
Second.
00:03:47
All in favor?
00:03:48
Aye.
00:03:50
Any opposed?
00:03:52
All right.
00:03:53
Motion passes.
00:03:55
And before we go into our moment of silence, I do want to take a moment to honor the memory of Marvin Townsend Sr. Mr. Townsend was a member of the Charlottesville 12, the courageous group of students who integrated our public schools in 1959, helping to open the doors of opportunity in the face of resistance and uncertainty.
00:04:16
As one of the first.
00:04:28
All right.
00:04:30
Mr. Townsend was a member of the Charlottesville 12, the courageous group of students who integrated our public schools in 1959, helping to open the doors of opportunity in the face of resistance and uncertainty.
00:04:42
As one of the first black students to attend previously all white schools in Charlottesville City Schools, he demonstrated extraordinary strength, dignity and perseverance.
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His bravery helped shape a more just and equitable path for generations of students who followed.
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We are forever indebted to his courage and his sacrifices made by him and his family.
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Please join us in honoring his life, legacy and lasting impact of Mr. Marvin Townsend Sr. And now we will observe a moment of silence.
00:05:28
Thank you.
00:05:29
Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
SPEAKER_05
00:05:34
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:05:52
I will now ask the clerk to call the roll.
00:05:54
Madam Clerk.
00:05:57
Present.
SPEAKER_03
00:05:59
Burr.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:05:59
Present.
00:06:01
Here.
SPEAKER_03
00:06:02
Dooley.
00:06:02
Here.
00:06:03
Mr. Meyer.
00:06:05
Ms. Richardson.
00:06:06
Here.
00:06:07
And Ms. Torres.
SPEAKER_08
00:06:08
Yes, thank you.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:06:12
Thank you.
00:06:13
All right, a quorum is present.
00:06:16
I will now entertain a motion to approve the proposed agenda as presented.
Emily Dooley
Member, School Board
00:06:22
So moved.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:06:23
Is there a second?
00:06:24
Second.
00:06:26
Ms. Cooper.
00:06:28
Is there any discussion?
00:06:29
All in favor?
00:06:32
Yes.
00:06:33
Any opposed?
00:06:35
All right.
00:06:35
The agenda is approved.
00:06:38
We will now move to comments from members of the community, if there are any.
00:06:42
Any online?
00:06:55
OK. All right.
00:06:57
Thank you.
00:07:00
We will now move on to our discussion item, 7.1, contract update for Ms. Lewis.
00:07:11
Do we need to go through each comment?
00:07:14
Sorry, go ahead.
Emily Dooley
Member, School Board
00:07:16
Yeah, I don't know.
00:07:16
For the record, we just need to acknowledge going through each of the separate items.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:07:21
Okay.
00:07:23
My apologies.
00:07:24
So no members from comments from the community.
00:07:27
Any comments from students?
00:07:31
Anyone online?
00:07:32
All right, none there.
00:07:35
And any public comment on the proposed 2026-2027 proposed budget?
00:07:45
Any online?
00:07:45
All right, seeing none, now we will move on.
00:07:49
Thank you, Miss Dooley.
00:07:50
7.1.
00:07:52
Miss Lewis, the floor is yours.
Royal Gurley
Superintendent
00:08:00
and your cafeteria voice.
SPEAKER_07
00:08:03
Okay, it caught up because it was turned on.
00:08:06
He purposefully tried to help me.
00:08:10
Good afternoon, board chair, members of the board, Dr. Gurley.
00:08:14
This evening I'm presenting the school support professional collective bargaining agreement and this document reflects
00:08:23
Months of collaboration between Charlottesville City Schools and CEA.
00:08:29
The agreement includes a 10.5% salary increase, educational credit supplements, paid breaks, and duty-free lunch, among other things.
00:08:42
The complete document is provided for your review, and at the March 5th meeting, this agreement will be presented for a vote.
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We received notification on last evening.
00:08:54
The agreement was ratified by the Collective Bargaining Unit.
00:09:02
I'll be happy to take any questions that you may have.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:09:05
Thank you, Ms. Lewis.
00:09:07
Now discussion.
00:09:08
We'll start with Ms. Bryant.
SPEAKER_06
00:09:11
I just wanted to say thank you to your team for your work and also to the CEA for doing that work to get the contract ratified.
00:09:22
I'm really excited to be able to see that our support staff will be getting some support and getting the things that they need.
00:09:31
And so I'm really excited about this.
00:09:34
It was a long journey to get here, of course, but
00:09:36
I hope that moving forward we can continue to work with the CEA to meet the needs of all staff.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:09:42
Thank you.
00:09:43
Thank you, Ms. Bryant.
00:09:45
Ms. Cooper?
SPEAKER_01
00:09:45
Yeah, I would like to thank Ms. Lewis and her team and Dr. Gurley for all of the work that went into
00:09:54
working with the CEA to you know get to the point where the contract is now ratified and I'm happy to say that you know we as a collective been able to support our support staff and so this is a new process and a lot of us are learning all about collective bargaining and so while you know
00:10:20
Some areas of the learning process has been challenging, but I just appreciate that we all could come together for the coming day.
SPEAKER_07
00:10:28
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01
00:10:29
Thank you, Ms. Richardson.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:10:31
Ms. Dooley.
Emily Dooley
Member, School Board
00:10:32
Sure.
00:10:33
So
00:10:35
Tonight, I'm grateful that we're here and we're going to be able to approve a budget that includes a 10.5% raise for each of the next three years for our support professionals.
00:10:45
Through the length of this contract, support staff salaries are going to increase by more than 31%.
00:10:51
I'm glad that CEA ultimately brought this tentative agreement to its membership and that it passed.
00:10:55
That is the right outcome and our support staff deserve every bit of it.
00:10:59
I have a personal stake in this.
00:11:01
Ms. Torres and I were part of the team that sat at the table for hours alongside CEA and VEA to draft Charlottesville's initial collective bargaining resolution, which was one of the first in the Commonwealth.
00:11:13
That work mattered to me then, and it matters to me now.
00:11:16
We built that framework because we believe in collective bargaining, in giving workers a genuine voice in their pay, their benefits, and their working conditions.
00:11:24
To indicate otherwise is not a representation of the facts, and what happened this cycle is a betrayal of that purpose.
00:11:31
Both parties reached a tentative agreement on October 20th.
00:11:35
The terms were fair.
00:11:36
The process worked exactly as it was designed to.
00:11:40
What should have followed was straightforward.
00:11:42
The union should have brought the agreement to its members, they vote, and if passed, we finalized the budget.
00:11:48
Instead, months passed.
00:11:50
In January, CA attempted to reopen terms that had already been agreed upon.
00:11:54
By February 6, we learned that it was not the intent to submit the agreement for ratification in time for tonight's budget vote.
00:12:01
Collective bargaining only works when both parties honor the process.
00:12:04
Tonight's outcome is the right one, but the path here was unnecessarily painful for our support staff and for this community.
00:12:11
Going forward, I know that the board will pursue explicit timelines and process in our collective bargaining resolution so that we don't find ourselves in this position again.
00:12:20
And I know that the board will continue to hold itself accountable for the process, but we hope that all sides will also do the same so that we can honor the process that we all work so hard to achieve.
00:12:32
and so I want to conclude by just saying congratulations to all parties.
00:12:37
I know that my colleagues on the board are very eager to continue our advocacy to make sure that now we can get all of this funded.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:12:46
Thank you, Ms. Dooley.
00:12:47
Ms. Torres?
SPEAKER_08
00:12:49
Yeah, I want to just echo, I guess, what everybody has said as far as the board.
00:12:54
Thank you, Ms. Dooley, for your comments and just recap of the entire process from the time that you and I sat together working to get everybody to this point.
00:13:04
And ultimately, I'm grateful that we are, as a school board and a school division, sitting where we are tonight.
00:13:12
so that we can move forward with the superintendent's recommended budget.
00:13:18
So thank you to everybody for all of their work.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:13:21
Thank you, Ms. Torres.
00:13:26
The board has not wavered in its commitment to the collective bargaining process, and I think that's what you've heard from my colleagues tonight.
00:13:33
And we believe in it.
00:13:35
We voted to authorize it and we remain committed to making it work here in Charlottesville.
00:13:41
At the same time, supporting collective bargaining also means we honor the full process.
00:13:47
It means upholding fiscal oversight and fulfilling our responsibility as elected stewards of public funds.
00:13:55
As one of the first divisions in the Commonwealth to move forward in this space, we're learning together and that learning comes with growth.
00:14:04
We will not get every step right every time, but each decision we make is grounded in the same shared goal, serving our students while maintaining the fiscal health of our school division.
00:14:17
Now that the contract has been ratified by its members, we are prepared to move forward in alignment with both the process and our responsibility.
00:14:26
We do remain committed to transparency, fairness, and doing this work thoughtfully and responsibly, always in service of our students and staff.
00:14:36
Thank you, Ms. Lewis and your collective bargaining team.
00:14:39
Thank you, Dr. Gurley, for your work behind the scenes.
00:14:43
And thank you to the CEA.
00:14:45
We appreciate the feedback.
00:14:47
We appreciate the thoughtful consideration of their staff.
00:14:51
We appreciate the ways that they do engage and hope that they'll continue to remain engaged in this process, not just through collective bargaining, but as the division continues to need advocacy efforts.
00:15:03
And so we hope that they'll continue to show up in those spaces as well.
00:15:07
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05
00:15:08
Thank you.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:15:10
Dr. Gurley, we'll now move on to item 8.1, approval of the 2026-27 operating budget.
00:15:16
You have the floor.
Royal Gurley
Superintendent
00:15:17
Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, and those assembled in the audience.
00:15:29
I am presenting the superintendent's proposed budget, and this is for action.
00:15:40
Just want to remind you all that we did set goals and priorities.
00:15:44
We did stakeholder engagement and we aligned those priorities to our strategic plan.
00:15:52
We've displayed this a couple of times, but just a reminder of what those budget priorities were throughout this process.
00:16:02
Since the presentation of this slide on February the 9th, which was the joint work session with the City Council, Ms. Hoover did double check the numbers.
00:16:14
We went through a reconciliation process.
00:16:18
We felt that because this is the first time going through this process with our support staff, that we wanted to make sure that we double check our numbers, validate all our data.
00:16:34
And as a result, there was a reduction of about $316,000.
00:16:41
due to the termination of contracts, retirements, transitions and promotions.
00:16:49
So therefore the total increase of the personnel cost is $1.6 million, which you see reflected there.
00:16:58
And those stars indicated in the collective bargaining row is where we did the reconciliation.
00:17:08
Same thing, since the presentation of this slide on the 9th, that work session, Ms. Hamel, who works for the city, she did verify the contract for the city and the transportation costs also went down $107,000.
00:17:30
So these reconciliation processes are very important as Ms. Burns referenced
00:17:36
and her comments about us being good stewards of the public's money.
00:17:42
So that also helped us here to bring down that cost.
00:17:47
This just continues to reflect the collaborative effort between the schools and the city to thoroughly review and validate our figures, ensuring that the most accurate budget estimates
00:18:00
and identifying any possible reductions.
00:18:03
So the total city increases there are $362,847.
00:18:08
This slide, we've not, in our reconciliation process, this slide has not been impacted since the last time we met.
SPEAKER_06
00:18:22
It remains the same.
Royal Gurley
Superintendent
00:18:26
The summary of all the changes for the FY 27 budget, because of the reduced reduction in the personnel and contracts, the request from the city is less, $423,808.
00:18:40
And this is a change since the last time we met with the city on the 9th.
00:18:49
In order to balance the budget, the school is requesting $2,569,071 from the city and local appropriation in order to support education here in Charlottesville City.
00:19:07
and this is the overall proposed FY 27 budget change here.
00:19:14
The changes since last year is a result of, the overall proposed budget is $129 million and the increase over the last year's budget is a little bit over $4 million.
00:19:36
and the budget calendar.
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After this meeting, if you all approve this budget, the next meeting will then be March the 2nd, where we will have the city council, we will present to city council.
00:19:52
And that is all, unless you have some questions.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:19:55
All right, I will now entertain a motion to adopt the superintendent's 2026-27 operating budget this evening.
00:20:02
So moved.
00:20:03
Is there a second?
00:20:04
Second.
00:20:05
Ms. Bryant.
00:20:07
And any discussion?
00:20:08
Ms. Dooley?
Emily Dooley
Member, School Board
00:20:09
I just wanted to flag some consideration just for the board's knowledge following the prep meeting that I attended with Dr. Gurley and Ms. Rasnick yesterday.
00:20:18
So the Piedmont Regional Education Program, which consists of prep,
00:20:23
Please be ready to correct some of the things I'm going to say here.
00:20:25
So provide services for students that we don't provide within the division.
00:20:32
So vision, adaptive PE, some of those services.
00:20:35
And then also the Ivy Creek School, which is a separate public school.
00:20:41
that we have 12 slots currently.
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PrEP has undergone a lot of change over the past several years so two years ago Albemarle County pulled out of the Ivy Creek portion of PrEP which resulted in the loss of 25 seats to the program and so the cost of those 25 seats was
00:21:05
then shared by the remaining divisions as well as being subsidized from the fund balance with PrEP.
00:21:13
Subsequently, we had to vacate the space that PrEP was using also within Albemarle County and so there's been a transition this year into a new space at a much higher lease than what was being paid before.
00:21:28
and so I bring this all up because we received the first read of the prep budget yesterday, which has the cost to CCS increasing almost $250,000, which is a lot and is going to result in conversations.
00:21:49
I know Dr. Gurley, maybe you can fill us in on conversations that you've had, or maybe it's not, we're not ready to do that, but just-
Royal Gurley
Superintendent
00:21:56
I mean, I think at the highest level, we've shared our concerns with the prep director that it's not a cost that we budgeted.
00:22:06
It does have significant implications.
00:22:09
And while some of the other localities didn't see as much of an increase, I mean, proportionally, even for some of the smaller school divisions, a $25,000 increase is significant to them.
00:22:24
and so we just have expressed our concerns on behalf of Charlottesville City Schools that we just are uncertain on what that means as we move forward.
00:22:37
We want to continue to be good partners to the PrEP and Ivy Creek programs but not at that cost.
00:22:46
That's significant and we should have really had that conversation a long time ago if they were planning to increase by that much.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:22:55
Thank you, Ms. Richardson.
00:22:58
Ms. Cooper?
00:23:00
Ms. Bryant?
SPEAKER_08
00:23:01
No comments.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:23:02
Ms. Torres?
SPEAKER_08
00:23:05
I don't.
00:23:05
I may have some follow-up questions about PrEP later on, but not now.
00:23:10
Thank you.
00:23:10
And thank you to Dr. Gurley for your work on getting us to this budget.
00:23:15
Thank you.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:23:17
All right.
00:23:17
We'll now take a vote.
00:23:19
All in favor, say aye.
SPEAKER_08
00:23:21
Aye.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:23:22
Any opposed?
00:23:24
All right, the motion carries.
00:23:25
The agenda is approved.
00:23:28
Thank you, Dr. Gurley.
00:23:29
We'll now move to the second period of public comment.
00:23:34
This is from members of the community.
00:23:36
Any online?
00:23:43
All right, seeing none, we'll move on to 10.1, member comments from the board.
00:23:51
Ms. Bryant, we'll start with you.
SPEAKER_06
00:23:52
Yeah, well, thank you, Dr. Gurley, for all of your work on this budget.
00:23:58
I'm excited that we were able to approve it this evening.
00:24:01
As far as the comments at the beginning of the meeting, thank you, Ms. Burns, for that recognition of Marvin Townsend Sr., who is my uncle,
00:24:10
and I am grateful for the legacy that he left.
00:24:15
And I hope that students at Trailblazer and beyond all elementary schools are learning about that important history because it is a really big part of our story as a division.
00:24:25
And I hope that we continue to move forward as an equitable school division that honors the legacy, the history and the full beings of all of our students and families who are part of this community.
00:24:37
So thank you so much.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:24:39
Thank you.
00:24:40
Ms. Cooper?
00:24:40
No comment.
00:24:43
Ms. Richardson?
00:24:45
Ms. Dooley?
Emily Dooley
Member, School Board
00:24:46
My final comment is just a reminder to folks to read the Parent Square Alert, the newsletter that went out.
00:24:52
It was great to see the continued evolution of the support for families with the take-home meal option for students who are observing Ramadan.
00:25:01
So there are lots of links there to register, so please make use of that.
00:25:06
And kudos to our family services team for continuing to expand the services that we provide to our students.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:25:14
Thank you, Ms. Dooley.
00:25:15
I want to also recognize, Ms. Bryant, when you speak about the legacy and the history that we're teaching our students, recognizing the Trailblazer students who walked over to the Rotunda and were able to see the Declaration of Independence.
00:25:33
That was really wonderful to be able to see them.
00:25:36
go over there and experience that.
00:25:39
That's something that is Charlottesville rich and not every kid gets to do that everywhere and so really appreciate that.
00:25:48
Also just wanting to keep folks engaged, continue to watch Parent Square.
00:25:55
There are so many wonderful things happening in our division and that's really the source of information for all these really
00:26:02
Great experiences that our children are experiencing and just our students and staff throughout the division.
00:26:09
So thank you for that work.
00:26:11
All right, Dr. Gurley.
Royal Gurley
Superintendent
00:26:12
I don't have anything other than to say, Lisa, sorry, Miss Torres.
SPEAKER_08
00:26:20
I'm good.
00:26:21
I'm good.
00:26:21
Thank you so much.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:26:23
Thank you.
Royal Gurley
Superintendent
00:26:25
All right, I don't have anything other than to say that I am, one, thankful to the board for the passing of the budget, and then two, just my appreciation for all of our staff.
00:26:39
Every single person in this school division matters.
00:26:43
The work that every person does in this school division matters, and it's just
00:26:48
You know, it just it's so exciting to be a part of the Charlottesville City Schools community because we just continue to evolve and just we continue to provide more and more for our students and families and our staff.
00:27:03
And so and be on the lookout because the royal recognition is coming next week.
00:27:08
All right.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:27:10
Thank you, Dr. Gurley.
00:27:11
All right.
00:27:13
Our next scheduled meeting is on Thursday, March 5th, 2026, right here in the Media Center at Charlottesville High School.
00:27:19
And that meeting will start at 6 p.m.
00:27:22
If there's no further business to come before the board, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.
Emily Dooley
Member, School Board
00:27:27
So moved.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:27:29
Second?
Emily Dooley
Member, School Board
00:27:29
Second.
Amanda Burns
Member, School Board
00:27:30
Ms. Bryant, all in favor?
00:27:33
Yes.
SPEAKER_06
00:27:34
Aye.
00:27:34
Yes.
SPEAKER_05
00:27:35
All right.