The Shadow
WARM SPRINGS — The Bath County School Board continues its budget development for the 2019-20 fiscal year.
School board members and school officials huddled with county administration and the Bath County Board of Supervisors to discuss the preliminary budget during a joint work session Wednesday evening at the School Administration Building.
This was the second budget work session for the school board.
“We’d like to present some information — as we know it today — to you as we’re beginning to develop and refine our budget request for the coming year,”?Superintendent Sue Hirsh said.
The preliminary school board budget is based on 515 students attending Bath County schools next year. It reflects state revenues which are based on the governor’s budget. The difference between the governor’s budget and House and Senate versions is only $5,533.
“The governor’s is the most aggressive,”?said Justin Rider, business manager for Bath County Public Schools. “We have left — at this time — the governor’s revenues in our current budget.”
The preliminary budget includes 5 percent pay raises for employees. School officials are tracking legislation in the Virginia General Assembly to see what transpires regarding the same percentage salary increase across all categories of employment.
“We would like to look at whatever legislation transpires and provide the same percentage salary increase across the board,”?Rider said. “Everyone is in this budget that currently has a contract. There are no new positions in the budget.”
The addition of a special education teacher will be absorbed through attrition.
The budget also contains increases for support staff such as car drivers, bus drivers, custodians, etc. With these increases, all employees would be making at least $10 an hour, with the exception of substitutes.
“We do not have anyone that is not making minimum wage, but I?expect before long that Virginia’s minimum wage is going to change,”?Hirsh said.
“We’re probably in a good position now to make these changes that are more than likely to be mandated later.”
A?projected health insurance increase of 10 percent reflects an increase of $86,926 in next year’s budget, but that figure could change. County Administrator Ashton Harrison said self-insurance is a “promising option”?next year.
The budget proposal reflects increased participation in the Jackson River Governor’s School. Last year, four Bath County High School students attended governor’s school; nine are attending this year.
The budget contains the purchase of a 77-passenger bus at a cost of approximately $100,000. A?65-passenger bus was purchased last year.
Harrison asked why bigger buses were needed.
Hirsh explained that in recent years field trips had been combined requiring fewer drivers. Additionally, some daily routes have been combined in recent years.
“In the past couple of years — three years — we’ve reduced two routes,”?she said. “If we had a smaller bus, we would not have been able to accommodate a consolidation of routes.”
Harrison asked if the consolidation of routes meant a reduction in the bus fleet.
“We have two current school buses that need to be auctioned,”?Rider said.
Maintenance, repair and replacement items are being monitored to see if they can be purchased now and eliminated from the 2019-20 budget proposal.
Richard Byrd, chairman of the board of supervisors, suggested that school officials use excess funds in this year’s budget, if possible, to purchase that bus and remove it from the 2019-20 budget.
“Justin and I?presented to the board (Tuesday) night that we would try to be as fiscally conservative as possible, try to do what we could do this year to eliminate it from next year’s budget,”?Hirsh said. “That is our intent.”
The $10.4 million budget proposal reflects a 5.04 percent increase over the current fiscal year. It includes a loss of about $141,000 in federal funding.
It also budgets for a loss of $10,000 in receipts from food service.
Supervisor Bart Perdue asked what it would cost to provide free meals to all students each day.
“I?think that’s something we need to look at,”?Perdue said. “Get us some numbers.”
The school board also submitted two capital projects for consideration in 2019-20 — upgrades to the BCHS?baseball field and air conditioning in the BCHS?gym.
“We’ve had the baseball field in previous plans,”?Hirsh said.
Both governing bodies will continue to hold budget work sessions over the coming weeks. Supervisors and the school board resolved to hold another joint work session before the board of supervisors holds its public hearing Tuesday, April 9, on the 2019-20 county-wide budget.
