The Mathews County School Board held a public hearing on the draft 2025-2026 budget for the division, followed by a work session, last Thursday in the J. Murray Brooks Auditorium at Thomas Hunter Middle School.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. David S. Daniel gave a roughly half-hour presentation on the budget, providing an overview both before the public was invited to speak, and, once again, at the start of the work session that followed. There was no public comment on the budget made at the hearing.
The draft budget of roughly $18 million represents an increase of $283,669 from the current operating budget of $17.72 million. The budget is based on an enrollment of 725 students. By comparison, the current budget is based on an enrollment of 760 students.
The 725 enrollment figure, Daniel said, is based on looking at General Assembly projections, as well as general observations of student enrollment trends. Mathews, he said, is experiencing “a pretty steady decline in class size … from o...