The Shadow
The future direction of school-merger talks between Alleghany County and Covington will likely hinge on a Jan. 14 meeting in Richmond.
Local leaders involved in the discussions will travel to Richmond and meet with state officials, including representatives of the House Appropriations Committee.
Until that meeting is held, action from the local governments and school boards requesting state financial assistance to equalize teacher salaries in a combined school division is on hold.
“We need to see what they want in Richmond and we need to see what kind of details they would be interested in from us,” said Jacob Wright, chairman of a joint committee handling the school-merger talks.
Wright, who represents the Alleghany County School Board on the committee, said the upcoming meeting in Richmond was requested by Del. Terry Austin, R-Fincastle.
Democrats will have control of both General Assembly chambers when lawmakers return to Richmond next week. Contacts the joint committee had established with the House Appropriations Committee have been replaced.
“This is very non-commital meeting that we will have in Richmond on Jan. 14,” Wright said. “Delegate Austin thinks we need to get a feel for the new people we will be dealing with. We just need somebody to help guide us through this.”
Since it began meeting earlier this year, the committee has made its main priorities governance, which deals with the makeup of the joint school board; equalization of teacher salaries; and budgetary matters.
Legislation may be filed this year before the General Assembly to deal with the governance issue.
The committee has suggested that a hybrid school board be created, with representatives from the city and county who are appointed and elected at-large. The idea is to remove politics from decisions the joint school board would make.
However, development of a plan to equalize teacher salaries could be on hold until 2021.
A financial analysis presented to the joint committee two weeks ago suggested that an early-retirement incentive be used to equalize salaries if the school divisions merge.
State money could possibly be used to fund the incentive, which would encourage employees at the top of the pay scale to retire. That would free up money to equalize the salaries of lower-paid teachers.
“That could be on hold until the 2021 session of the General Assembly. We need to wait and ask for money after we know more about what we need and what the people in Richmond want from us,”?Wright said.
But Covington Mayor Tom Sibold said it’s a misconception that all Covington teachers receive higher salaries than county teachers.
“It’s not until you get to the very top of the salary scales do you see that salaries are not equal,” the mayor said. “We need to get the facts straight and see what we need to do.”
It would cost an estimated $500,000 each year to equalize salaries in a consolidated school division. However, eliminating duplicative positions in the county and city school divisions could save $900,000 annually.
The joint committee will next meet on Jan. 16 to receive a report on the meeting with state officials in Richmond. The Jan. 16 meeting will be held at Jackson River Technical Center at 6 p.m.
Sibold said local officials and committee members need to digest the financial report that was presented to the committee on Dec. 19.
He said the report highlights the issues Covington and Alleghany County are facing in funding schools.
The mayor noted that Covington ranks ninth in the state among localities facing high fiscal stress.
“And one of the main reasons we are facing fiscal stress is because of the money we are spending on schools,” Sibold said.
Covington ranks fifth in the state in local effort to fund schools.
Alleghany County School Board representative Gerald Franson said unless some form or merger occurs, the two governments and the school boards will be faced with some hard decisions.
“Something is going to have to give,” Franson said. “You can’t keep going back to the well for money when there is none.”
Franson said he fears the choices may boil down to raising taxes or cutting services, including education.
