Maryville School Board approves pay increases, expenses ahead of 2026-27 school year

Maryville School Board approves pay increases, expenses ahead of 2026-27 school year 

By: Mathaus Schwarzen 

Daily Times 

May 20, 2026 

Maryville City School teachers will make 2.5% more in the next school year. On Monday, May 18, the city Board of Education voted to approve salary scales for the 2026-2027 school year. 

Mike Winstead, director of schools for Maryville, told the board that the increases will be primarily financed by Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Funds. 

“TISA increased from the state $1.2 million,” he said. “We’ll put all of that, plus $800,000 more, into our personnel.” 

About $700,000 of that state funding increase, Winstead said, was earmarked for salary increases anyway. 

The school system has a history of incremental raises in recent years. Winstead said the board has approved 3.5% bumps to the salary scales for the last several years. 

Going into the new school year, the new base pay for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree will be $53,008. For those with a master’s degree, the total will be just over $60,000. 

The move coincides with a state deadline to bring teacher base pay over $50,000. That’s set to go into effect in the fall, but state administrators have been steadily increasing the limit to ease teacher paychecks closer to the goal since 2023. 

In the 2025-2026 school year, the requirement was $47,000. 

In 2026, the maximum salary for a certified Maryville Schools employee will be $89,999 — a paycheck that requires decades of service to reach. 

Budgeting 

The total general purpose budget for next year, Winstead said, is 1.22% over the current year. 

That’s if you don’t look at the change in the school fund balance. The school system recently put $8 million toward construction at Sam Houston Elementary School — an allotment that administrators had saved up from COVID-19 funding — and that changes how the numbers look on paper. 

Weighted full-time enrollment numbers from the state “continue to be on hold,” Winstead said, a fact that injects some uncertainty into the final numbers. The school district is trying to be scrupulous with its budgeting. 

“We’re very conservative with the property tax and sales tax to see how those things shake out,” Winstead said. 

Administrators anticipate a 4.76% increase in sales tax contributions heading into next year. 

Other business 

On Monday, the school board approved changes to policies regarding purchasing, sick and other leave. 

They also approved a $176,537.61 bid for kitchen equipment at Sam Houston Elementary School. The sole bid came from Mobile Fixtures. 

Winstead said the purchase will come from cafeteria and food service equipment funds and will go toward renovating the cafeteria at the school, which is currently under construction. The new cafeteria setup will move students in two lines, better-positioning the facility to handle anticipated growth. 

The school board also approved two nominees for student representatives to the board — Andrew Gao and Caroline Carver. Both are members of the National Honors Society. Gao, Assistant Director of Schools Josh Oliver said, holds over 150 hours of community service and has three years of experience on the MHS football team. Carver, who plays volleyball for the school, is a committee chair for marketing and school spirit.