The Shadow
State funds will be “earmarked” for a potential merger of Alleghany County and Covington schools.
The $1.5 million will be carried forward to the second year of the state’s budget cycle.
The money would be designated for equalizing employee salaries and benefits in a merged school division. Employees at the top of the salary scale would be offered an incentive to retire.
Budget legislation to provide this $1.5 million will be filed in the year’s session of the General Assembly by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Hot Springs; and Del. Terry Austin, R-Buchanan. Lawmakers are working to craft a new two-year budget for the state.
“This would be non-committal on our behalf. If we decide to move forward, there would be some state funds to support that transition,” said Jacob Wright, chairman of a joint committee discussing merger of the two school divisions.
The committee met Thursday night at Jackson Rover Technical Center to receive an update on a Tuesday meeting in Richmond.
The meeting was held with state officials to clarify several issues as the merger plan moves forward. The committee has been meeting for six months as it attempts to create a merger plan.
Wright attended the Tuesday meeting in Richmond and he was joined by committee members Jonathan Arritt and Tom Sibold. Arritt represents the Covington School Board on the joint committee and Sibold, as Covington mayor, represents city council. Alleghany County Administrator Jon Lanford also made the trip to Richmond.
They met with Deeds, Austin, and representatives from the Virginia Department of Education, the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Attorneys representing the joint committee were present, along with a fiscal analyst hired by the committee.
The committee was urged to have most of its work completed by July 1. That would enable Deeds and Austin to prepare legislation that would allow the creation of a “hybrid” school board the committee favors.
Under the hybrid concept, Covington and Alleghany County would have two appointed members each on the joint school board. Three additional members would be elected at large from either the county or the city.
Since the at-large representation would cross jurisdictional lines, legislation from the General Assembly would be needed.
The merger plan would also need approval from the Virginia Board of Education. If a plan is filed in July, approval could come by November.
“This gives us a refreshed timetable going forward,” Arritt said. “But that doesn’t say it has to be July 1. That does not have to be a drop-dead date.”
Lanford said that officials in Richmond were clear that any merger plan must be approved by both school boards and both governing bodies.
“They want it come to them in the form of a plan that has been approved locally,” he said.
Lanford urged the committee to rely heavily on its law firm, Troutman Sanders, as the plan is developed. He said the law firm has vast expertise in matters affecting schools and local governments in Virginia.
The committee voted Thursday to engage Troutman Sanders’ strategy resource team as the plan is developed.
The committee is utilizing $400,000 in funds provided by the state for utilization of lawyers and other experts that are needed in the merger discussions.
The committee began creating subcommittees Thursday to address critical aspects of the merger plan. The subcommittees will focus on finance, transportation, governance, facilities and curriculum.
The committee also discussed ways to address what they described as misinformation that is being spread throughout the community about the merger discussions. They said a fiscal analysis of the proposed merger has been the latest target of critics.
Much of the misleading information is being spread on social media, Wright said.
“If people see anything on Facebook, they believe it’s the gospel,” he said.
The committee will next meet on Jan. 30 at Jackson River Technical Center. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m.
At the meeting, the committee will discuss creating a “fact or fiction sheet” as a tool for communicating with the public.
“There are a lot of people who are outspoken negatively about this. I’m not so sure that there aren’t just as many people on the opposite side, who say, ‘This [merger] needs to be done,’” Sibold said.
