By Heather Michon
Correspondent
As the School Board discussed its budget proposal during its monthly meeting on Wednesday (March 12), the Board of Supervisors was holding its own meeting, debating how much – or how little – of the proposal they would fund.
In February, the School Board approved a budget requesting $24 million in local funding, an increase of about $1.9 million over the previous year.
Of that funding, approximately $1.5 million would go to a three percent increase in staff salaries and to cover some increases in health insurance rates. Roughly $500,000 would go to four new staff positions, including a human resources director, a behavioral specialist, and coordinators of instruction and alternative education.
After a work session with the Board of Supervisors the previous week, where they had faced questions about staffing and compensation relative to other localities, Superintendent Peter Gretz and Director of Finance Brenda Grasser presented some new data to the School Board that they intended to send on to the supervisors.
The data showed that Fluvanna County Public Schools has the lowest assistant-principal-to-student ratio among surrounding divisions.
They also presented information on teacher-to-student ratios, insurance rates, and teacher salaries relative to nearby districts.
“So that means the highest caseloads on top of the lowest pay with the highest insurance,” said Danny Reed (Fork Union).
Grasser said that was why she felt so strongly about advocating for staff. “I feel like we have people that are very loyal and they stay here for many, many years, and sometimes we punish them for being loyal,” she said.
Reed and James Kelley (Palmyra) stressed the urgency of getting this new data to the supervisors.
“Kind of sucks to be here when they’re making some pretty big moves down the hill right now,” said Kelley.
At the work session, the supervisors could not see a path toward funding the entire request.
The budget they discussed allocated only $761,000 of the $1.9 million under the proposed real estate tax rate. Funding the full amount would mean cutting $1.2 million from an already lean budget or raising the real estate tax rate.
They are open to allocating more. Supervisor Mike Goad (Fork Union) said they “really need to dig deep here and figure out what we’re looking at, but I would like to get closer to at least a number where the teachers are able to have that increase.”
No decisions were made at the work session, and the debate over funding will go on for the next several weeks.
“I know things are tough down the hill,” said Kelley. “I know that setting a tax rate is difficult. That’s the job they are elected for, and we are elected to advocate and tell the Board of Supervisors what we need.”
If the supervisors provide only partial funding, the School Board will have to figure out what parts of their budget they can fund.
“Ultimately, cutting corners and not funding education leads to terrible outcomes for our kids,” Kelley said.
“We have kids that are doing fantastic work with less,” said Reed. “So imagine what our teachers and students could do with more. They would be amazing.”
