Some County School Board members said Tuesday they would like to see a fallback budget due to economic concerns, but finance chief Brent Goldberg recommended keeping the current $420 million plan.
He said the schools can always make a later budget amendment if there needs to be belt-tightening due to a possible revenue drop.
Board member Steve Highlander expressed doubt that the schools will reach a projected 2.5 percent "growth" increase, "but I hope we will," he said.
Mr. Goldberg said the coronavirus crisis has hit a number of businesses, but he said others are thriving, including grocery stores and pizza delivery. And he said with society set to open back up, there could be a new rash of spending. He said property taxes should not be directly affected.
He said the school system cannot guarantee positions to new hires until the budget is approved and risks losing some candidates if there is a delay.
The board will vote on the balanced budget on Thursday.
It will make a presentation to the County Commission on May 5.
Mr. Goldberg said the budget is $10 million higher than last year's base budget. He said $6.8 million of that amount is for a teacher raise approved in February and $2.8 million is for a teacher step increase.
He said the schools had $5.8 million in cuts, including $4 million from the health care item and $1.8 million in various line item reductions.
Supt. Bryan Johnson said the state of the economy is "top of the mind for us. It could make for a very lean budget."