Mount Vernon City School District hosting additional community forums for 2026-27 budget

There are two more opportunities to listen to live community forums with Superintendent Dr. Demario Strickland regarding next year’s school budget. The District welcomes Mount Vernon residents to attend and ask questions! These events are a part of a series of seven community forums around the city of Mount Vernon. To view past live streamed community forums, please click here. All sessions are live streamed through the website and Facebook for those who cannot attend. 

The upcoming dates are:

• Monday, May 4 at Greater Centennial Church at 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, May 14 at Hamilton School from 6-8 p.m., where a translator will be present for Spanish speaking families.

The Districtwide budget hearing will also be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5, at the Board of Education.

The Mount Vernon City School District has been engaging with the community through a survey and community forums since December 2025 to gain insight from Mount Vernon residents about 2026-27 budget development.

The first session was on February 2, at Graham School, to read more about the event, click here. The second was hosted on February 9, at Mount Vernon High School. For more information about the event, view here. These two forums focused on budget priorities while allowing community members the opportunity to provide feedback related to what areas need more funding in next year’s school budget. 

Prior to these two meetings, the District released a survey out to the community in December to gain input about priorities for the budget. To read more about the survey results, presented at the January 13 Board of Education meeting, please click here. 

The following community forums focused on presenting the proposed draft budget to city residents, which was approved by the Board of Education on April 7. Click here to view the Board meeting. The budget is anticipated to be formally adopted at the April 28 Board of Education meeting. 

On April 9 at Graham School, the adopted draft budget, which includes a tax levy increase of 1.99%, was presented. Dr. Strickland outlined key factors impacting expenses for the District, including $17.5 million in charter school tuition (25% increase), $40 million in special education expenses (25% increase), $16.1 million for transportation (8% decrease), and $33.5 million in healthcare benefits (8.7% increase). To read more about the April 9 presentation, click here. 

The adopted draft budget was presented a second time on April 21 at Pennington School. This presentation focused on Dr. Strickland’s beliefs as an educator that have helped guide budget development, including that every child has unlimited potential and a child’s ZIP Code should not determine their future. This session also broke down the budget to community members. To read about the presentation, click here.

Every session concluded with a Q&A session, allowing community members to speak with Dr. Strickland about questions or concerns they have regarding the budget, prior to the vote on May 19. Community input for the budget is essential to creating balanced funds towards students' success. To submit a question to the Superintendent, or share feedback regarding the budget for the 2026-17 school year, click here.  

There will be two more sessions to attend and gain insight and ask questions about the proposed budget. To receive notifications about upcoming events, sign up here.

The upcoming dates are:

• Monday, May 4 at Greater Centennial Church at 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, May 14 at Hamilton School from 6-8 p.m., where a translator will be present for Spanish speaking families.