2025-26 Budget Information

The Parkway Benefits Advisory Committee, made up of certified and operations staff, will review and recommend benefit offerings for 2026 in light of rising costs. They began working on this project this month (April). At this point, we don’t know what insurance costs will increase or by how much, but we will have a clearer picture in July.

There will be no changes in 2025 to the benefits you have selected. The Benefits Advisory Committee will recommend 2026 benefit offerings based on rising costs. No decisions have been made or announced for the 2026 plan year.

Yes, the CARE ATC employee health clinics will still be available. Next year’s budget will not impact the CARE ATC program.

Retiree benefits will not change or be reduced during the 2025 health benefit plan year. The Benefit Advisory Committee will recommend 2026 benefit offerings in July.

We will use $7.5 million from our operating fund to strengthen our self-funded insurance. Parkway’s Benefits Committee is reviewing next year’s benefit offerings in light of rising costs.

Salaries and raises for 2025-26 were intentionally protected. Cuts in the 2025-26 budget were made to protect salaries and ensure that raises were not affected.

No. The 2025-26 budget was balanced to avoid reducing raises or step increases.

We want to ensure Parkway remains a competitive employer. We made cuts in other areas to avoid impacting salaries or raises for 2025-26.

Stipends and compensation for coaches and others with extracurricular roles will remain unchanged for the 2025-26 school year.

There are no changes to class offerings or staffing levels for the 2025-26 budget.

Currently, Parkway covers a wide variety of development opportunities for employees.  Internally, this includes in-district workshops, PLAT course offerings, and summer development like this summer’s Response to Intervention and Equity in Action conferences. Externally, this includes everything from virtual courses, training for job-specific skills (e.g. dyslexia training or Project Lead the Way certification), local events such as those offered through EducationPlus, and qualifying state-wide or national conferences for specific employee groups.  Next year, the costs for professional development associated with events outside the St. Louis region will be greatly reduced through restrictions on out-of-area travel.

Yes, professional development, as well as related travel and food expenses, will be reduced as part of immediate cost-saving measures. There are other related costs to professional development, such as paying for substitute teachers to cover for staff.  Additionally, district meetings will need to meet specific criteria to provide food, resulting in further cost savings.

There may be opportunities to reduce costs in multiple areas, including but not limited to vendor contracts. The Task Force will develop short and long-term cost-saving strategies. Vendor contracts go through a comprehensive purchasing and bidding process.

There are no plans to reduce anyone’s salaries, including those of administrators, for the 2025-26 school year.

Yes, Parkway’s policy, which allows staff who live outside the district to enroll their children in Parkway schools, remains unchanged. The special assignment process takes into account class sizes. Requests that would result in the addition of a new grade section, course, or additional staff are not approved. As a result, the associated costs for allowing staff to bring students to Parkway via special assignment are minimal.

Simply put, revenue growth is not keeping pace with rising costs. Parkway’s current budget is strained by a sharp 14% rise in healthcare costs, an 11% increase in purchased services, and the impact of the Senior Citizen Tax Freeze, which is projected to reduce revenue by $26 million over the next 10 years.

The Senior Property Tax Freeze is expected to reduce Parkway’s revenue by $26 million over 10 years, starting in 2025-26. The actual impact for 2025-26 will not be clear until fall.

No opportunity has presented itself, but this could be something the task force that will be developed under Dr. Melissa Schneider could examine as it explores strategies to reduce expenditures long-term.

Currently, we are unable to estimate the potential reduction. We are committed to providing support to our families.

Yes, the webinar was recorded and is available on the Inside Parkway webpage along with an FAQ.