The Shadow
The Virginia Board of Education has approved the proposed merger of Alleghany County and Covington schools.
The board approved the merger plan Thursday after conducting a final review. The board first discussed the plan in November.
The merger plan was developed by a committee of representatives from Alleghany County and Covington.
The committee, known as the Joint School Services Committee, includes members of the Alleghany County School Board, the Covington City School Board, the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors and Covington City Council.
“All of you made some very tough, important decisions to benefit your community and I commend you all,” said Board of Education member Anne Holton of Richmond.
The Board of Education met Thursday via Zoom and members of the Joint School Services Committee attended electronically.
“I was a board of supervisors member in Chesterfield and I can’t imagine how you guys did this,” said Daniel Gecker, president of the Board of Education.
“We could have never done something like this. The discussions would have been so polarizing, that we couldn’t have gotten out of the gate. This is very impressive what you have done,” Gecker said.
The merger plan calls for the Alleghany County and Covington school administrations to merge on July 1, 2022.
But integrating the two student bodies into the merged school division could take longer due to uncertainty over state funding.
Jonathan Arritt of the Covington City School Board said state funding is largely needed to equalize salaries and benefits for teachers. Covington teachers generally earn more money than teachers in the county.
“We might not get there in the same timeframe if we don’t get the state funding. But our plan is to still get there,” said Arritt, who is co-chairman of the Joint School Services Committee.
Covington City Manager Krystal Onaitis called the backup plan a “phased approach” to merging the school divisions.
“We would work in ernest to combine our [school] administrations and still continue to find ways to eventually get to combining the student bodies,” Onaitis said.
Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Hot Springs; and Del. Terry Austin, R-Buchanan; have filed budget amendments in the General Assembly to secure funding for the merger.
“We have had good communication with our state delegation and we are cautiously optimistic. I believe that they would have our best interests in mind,” Arritt said.
Deeds and Austin have also introduced companion legislation to help facilitate the school merger by amending Covington’s city charter.
The last time a school merger happened in Virginia was in 1983. That’s when Alleghany County and Clifton Forge merged their school divisions, according to Dr. Leslie Sale, the Virginia Department of Education’s director policy.
The merger created the Alleghany Highlands School Division. It was dissolved in 2001 when Clifton Forge dropped its city status and became a town within Alleghany County. Clifton Forge students now attend Alleghany County schools.
Proponents of the Alleghany County-Covington merger proposal say it would allow each locality to better use their limited financial resources to enhance learning opportunities for students.
The governing bodies for both jurisdictions approved the merger plan in September.
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