February 2026 Update
Dear neighbors, friends, and community leaders,
It's hard to believe that it is already February! After being sworn in on December 9, 2025, the new School Board term began on January 1, 2026. We are off to a busy start!
There are three matters before the School Board that I want to bring to your attention: budget, cell phone policy review, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy. Both budget and cell phone policy review will come before the board at tomorrow's work session, Tuesday February 24th at 7:00 p.m. Town halls have been scheduled about AI policy on Monday, March 2nd at 6:30 p.m. on the MHS Learning Stairs, and Saturday, April 18th at 4:30 p.m. in the Community Center.
Below is more information about all of these topics, our timelines, and ways to engage. Thanks to my fellow board members Anne Sherwood, Bethany Henderson, and Jerrod Anderson for putting this information together!
I am working hard to bring my knowledge, experience, and heart to these topics, and hearing your opinions, perspectives, questions, hopes, and fears helps me to be the strongest representative and advocate I can be. Thank you for your continued care and engagement with FCCPS.
Warmly,
MK Hughes
Budget
We have been in School Board Operating Budget season since our Dec. 1 joint budget meeting with City Council, and have continued budget discussions at our Dec. 9, Jan. 13, Jan. 27, and Feb. 10 meetings. At last week's Feb. 10 School Board meeting, we reviewed the 2027 proposed budget with Superintendent Dade and Chief Operating Officer Alicia Prince. The proposal reflects revenue required to meet the schools' needs, i.e., a 5.02% increase in local transfer. This maintenance-of-effort includes the Board's strong support of staff compensation and benefits, while maintaining current service levels and meeting contractual obligations. The proposed budget presentation also included School Board budget priorities should there be revenue available above maintenance-of-effort.
We received a revenue forecast update from the City on Friday, and the City has signaled we should anticipate local revenue below the maintenance-of-effort 5.02%.
This Tuesday, February 24, in addition to our work session, the School Board will hold a scheduled Budget Public Hearing and discussion (7pm at FCCPS Central Office conference room, 150 S. Washington St., suite 400). We will discuss the City's revenue update at this time. At our March 10 regular meeting, we are scheduled to vote to adopt the proposed budget and send it to City Council for their budget deliberations.
Ways to engage: Links to videos of prior meetings can be found here, and you may watch meetings live or recorded on the FCCPS YouTube channel. The School Board welcomes feedback from the community in all the ways detailed here. We welcome in-person or written public comment at the Budget Public Hearing. Please note that the rest of this Tuesday's meeting is a work session and so public comment on other topics will not be taken, but written public comment on any non-budget topics will be accepted at any time and made part of the next regular meeting's (March 10) public record, and members of the public are invited to make in-person public comment at any regular school board meeting.
Cell Phone Policy
At the February 24 work session, the School Board will be conducting its annual review of Policy JTEC, which governs personal devices (cell phones) and is implemented via Regulation JTEC-R. This is a public meeting open to the public but there is no general public comment at work sessions. (Though there will be public comment on the budget only that night during the Budget Public Hearing portion of the meeting.) This work session, and all School Board meetings, can also be watched live or recorded via the FCCPS YouTube channel. This policy review will include a presentation from staff on the impact and effectiveness of the current policy and any updated guidance or legislation from the state, followed by a board discussion. There will be no direct action or change to policy at this meeting. If there is significant interest from the School Board to consider amending the policy, it will go through the full public process: first and second readings at School Board regular meetings throughout the spring. If any changes to the policy are made, they are not likely to go into effect until next school year. The School Board welcomes feedback from the community in all the ways detailed here.
AI Policy
AI town halls for public input have been scheduled. Please join us to learn from other community members and to share your experience and perspective:
The Learning stairs at Meridian. 6:30PM on Monday, March 2nd.
The Community Center (Senior Center), Saturday, April 18th at 4:30PM.
