The Madison County School Board draft budget is one that focuses on its employees with little to no extras and requests just under $950,000 in new local funding–a number one supervisor would like to see closer to $350,000.
The budget is being driven by a longtime issue–a decrease in students. For the past 18 years, the division has slowly lost students, from 1,921 enrolled during the 2007-2008 school year to just 1,542 enrolled in the current year. Currently, 128 seniors will graduate while only 99 students are enrolled in kindergarten. With state funding based on the number of students, less enrollment means less dollars.
Aside from not increasing in population, Madison County is also small, something that hinders it in terms of education funding. In 2023, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) studied how the Standards of Quality (SOQs) could be improved. The SOQs are how the General Assembly fulfills its obligation to establish and maintain high-quality public school systems. The funding formula estimates the number of positions needed for each school division and then applies cost assumptions to estimate the costs of staff needed. It’s then apportioned between the state and local government using the Local Composite Index.
The local composite index formula determines a locality’s ability to pay education costs and is calculated based on three indicators—true value of property (weighted 50 percent), adjusted gross income (weighted 40 percent) and taxable retail sales (weighted 10 percent). The local composite index for Madison is .4746 so for $1 of expenditures, Madison pays $.47 and the state pays $.53.
Seeing the issues with the state’s funding formula, JLARC made recommendations to the Joint Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education with legislators introducing bills and budget amendments to help localities with K-12 funding. Currently, both the House and Senate budgets remove the 2009 support cap, something the Virginia Education Association (VEA) has been fighting for over the years. There is also a measure to fund one-time $1,000 bonuses for SOQ funded instructional and support staff with no local match required.
The General Assembly changes equate to approximately $241,000 for Madison County, not enough to solve the funding needs. The draft budget is built on 1,520 students, 1,000 less than the current year resulting in less state funding. The change amounts to an approximately $370,000 decrease in basic aid. The budget includes a 3% raise for all staff (partially offset by a 3% salary increase in the governor’s budget) and pay adjustments for teachers at five and 10 years while also increasing bus driver pay to a starting rate of $20 per hour for CDL drivers and adjusting the driver pay scale by 50-cents for each year of experience capping at $41.50 per hour. Also included are absorbing any health insurance rate increases of 3.9% and key technology needs including a new website, camera licenses and wifi controllers. The draft budget also includes increases in operating expenses–utilities, special education services, grounds maintenance and custodial supplies. A list of priorities from the schools, including positions currently covered under state funding that ends this year, are not included.
Several items are included in the capital improvement area of the budget including a window replacement, bleachers in the Wetsel gym, replacing failing audiovisual equipment at the high school, replacing exterior doors, HVAC and electrical work, a facilities truck and two school buses.
The draft budget requests approximately $947,000 new in local funding—a number that although revised from a previous version, didn’t sit well with supervisors.
Late last month, school administrators met with county supervisors to discuss the budget. Supervisor Carty Yowell said he had no issue with funding fixed costs plus the variable costs based on enrollment figures, but suggested allocating approximately $350,000 in new money to the division, far less than the $947,000 requested. Yowell had roughly calculated what he thought the fixed versus variable costs to be, adding in a 3% increase.
Graham disagreed.
“What programs are not important,” she asked. “What people will get cut? Do you want kids to be crowded in kindergarten? Should we cut the new career and technical education programs?”
Graham said the school board’s request equates to $3.51 per student per school day in new funding. She said since she’s been superintendent, the school division has cut $1.2 million while giving teachers a 22% raise and covering a 40% insurance increase, but things are coming to a head. She said over the years, the division has eliminated nine positions saving $697,000 to make the budget work while giving raises to stay competitive in teacher pay with surrounding school divisions.
Cropp agreed stating the draft budget consists of what is needed for the schools and what the students need. She said the school division is looking at positions and has combined bus routes to be more efficient. The division, she said, is also evaluating maintenance costs and continuously seeking out and applying for grants.
Graham said the only place left to cut would be positions, stating a list of possible cuts has been drafted, but would be “detrimental.”
Several options were suggested including using the school division’s rollover funds (money leftover at the end of each fiscal year which is typically used for capital improvement needs) for operational costs; considering a restructuring plan to get ahead of the problems the division is facing caused by the population decrease; covering only a portion of the health insurance increase and looking for efficiencies within administration. The idea of dipping into the county’s fund balance to cover the school division’s funding need was also introduced.
“We never hear [let’s] use the fund balance for us,” Cropp said. “We hear we can only go up so much on the tax rate.”
The Madison County School Board is expected to discuss the draft budget during its March 10 meeting. Work on the county budget is ongoing.
