The Shadow
LOW MOOR - Alleghany County School Board Chairman Randy Tucker said “gut-wrenching decisions” will have to be made as work on the 2010-2011 fiscal budget continues.
The school board met Monday night in Low Moor for its February business meeting and one of the main topics of discussions was how budgetary cuts on the state level will affect school operations.
“A lot of gut wrenching decisions are being made … these are not easy things to do,” Tucker said.
School officials are currently working with budget numbers based on proposals from former Gov. Tim Kaine before he left office in January.
In December, Kaine presented the General Assembly’s money committees with a budget proposal that cut deeply into state support for public safety, health care and education. Part of the $357 million in cuts to K-12 education, under Kaine’s plan, would come from reduced funds for administrative support staff in schools and central offices.
Measuring the anticipated impact from Kaine’s proposals and funding reductions from the state due to declining student enrollment, Superintendent Dr. Sarah Campbell presented the school board with a series of “moderate organizational impact cuts totaling $2.1 million.
To deal with declining enrollment, 11 teaching positions, five instructional support positions and one administrative position are targeted for elimination, saving $687,661. The school board has also jettisoned plans for additional renovations to Alleghany High School next year. The renovation to the high school are part of proposed facilities and transportation cuts designed to save $952,732.
The school board will now file a grant application with the private Alleghany Foundation in hopes that it will provide $5.9 million to complete renovations to the high school.
“This grant proposal to The Alleghany Foundation is pretty much our avenue of last resort to get anything done to Alleghany High School,” Campbell said.
After calls to build a a new high school failed in 2008, the school board began focusing on renovation to AHS. Expenditures totaling more than $1.7 were authorized for improvements to the high school over two years. New windows and doors, a new gymnasium floor and bleachers, and upgrades to Hodnett Hall are part of the $1.7 million in expenditures.
Air conditioning and heating system upgrades, plumbing upgrades, and lighting and electrical upgrades are major components of the school board’s $5.9 million grant proposal to Foundation.
Campbell warned Monday that further budget cuts from Richmond could necessitate more “significant organizational” cuts to the school budget. Those additional cuts could total $909,563 and include the elimination of three professional resource positions and classified support positions. Salaries would trimmed by 1 percent across the board and be coupled with reductions health care benefits.
Campbell said that even deeper budget cuts from state would necessitate for “catastrophic” adjustments by the school board. The “catastrophic cuts would total $590,439 and include an additional 1 percent reduction in salaries. Band, sports programs and other extra-curricular activities would also be affected. Middle school and all non-revenue sports could face elimination if necessitated by budget cuts, Campbell said.
The three levels of cuts she presented to th school board Monday totaled $3.6 million.
The need for the deeper levels of cuts will be predicated by the Virginia General Assembly. The legislature is now working on a biennial budget for the state and differing proposals will have to be ironed out before lawmakers adjourn in March.
Last week, Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed even deeper cuts to public education. His proposal would reduce state funding to K-12 education by $730 million.
The House of Delegates has its own budget plan, which would reduce education funding by $620 million, spread equally over to years. The impact to local school districts would be softened somewhat, however, by reducing the amount that have to contribute to employee pensions by $270 million each year.
The Senate’s version of the budget contains less drastic cuts to education, totalling $133 million. The Senate plan would delay new standards of accreditation and eliminate testing that is not absolutely necessary.
Jackson River District School Board representative Rob Fridley said funding decisions by the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors will also factor into the school budget. Fridley said that localities, just like schools, are facing budgetary problems.
School Board Vice Chairwoman Stacey Bryant said school divisions across Virginia are being impacted by the economic recession.
“We attended to a conference in Richmond last week and the message that we heard was, ‘Last year was bad, this year is worse and next year is going to be horrible,'” she said.
The school board has scheduled another budget work session for Monday, March 1. Campbell said she hopes to have updated information from the state in time for the work session.
In other business Monday, the school board approved personnel changes.
The board approved the retirements of Brenda Lawson, teacher at Boiling Spring Elementary School; Kathy Wood, teacher at Clifton Middle School; Lynda Jennings, teacher at Alleghany High School; and Raymond Tucker, custodian at Boiling Spring Elementary.
The board accepted the resignations of Daryl Clemons, teacher at Alleghany High School; and Linda Marshburn, cafeteria worker at Clifton Middle School.
In extra-curricular activities, the board approved Terry Holestin as a volunteer assistant softball coach at AHS and Dale Burdette as a volunteer assistant wrestling coach.
