Last week, the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors finished its proposed budget for fiscal year 2022 by offering $28 million to the Shenandoah County School Board, which is $2,680,958 less than the School Board’s current budget.
On Tuesday, the School Board held a special called work session to discuss what the possible budget cuts could mean for the school division. The loss of over $2 million could have a snowball effect on other parts of the school division’s budget, costing it additional money from state and federal funds.
Shenandoah County Public Schools Superintendent Mark Johnston said that all reductions must come from non-Standards of Quality requirements. He said that approximately 85% of the division’s budget is salary and benefits.
Johnston also said that if the division has to cut anything involving special education, it would lose $1,168,751 in funding from the Individual with Disabilities Education Act. He explained that if the division fails to meet the maintenance of effort, which is a term used to demonstrate that the level of state and local funding remains constant from year to year, the division would lose that funding.
Shenandoah County Director of Special Education Gina Stetter said at the meeting that each year she must file a report that looks at state funding and involves the number of students per capita with disabilities.
“Year to year, you have to maintain that effort,” Stetter said. “You have to spend as much this year as you did the year before.”
Stetter said that if the number of students with disabilities took a significant drop, then that could change things, but Shenandoah County is not anticipating a significant drop in the number of special education students.
“So basically we can’t not meet our maintenance of effort on special education,” School Board Chair Cynthia Walsh said. “Besides losing the money, it would be a horrible practice to decrease the effort that we put toward our special education students. But what that does mean is the $2.68 million has to come from everything but special ed.”
Johnston said that if they have to cut $2.68 million they likely won’t have the money to be able to give the teachers an average of a 5% raise, which would lead to a reduction of state funds. Legislation has agreed on a 5% teacher salary increase among all Standards of Quality teachers in the state. If the school division is not able to pay the teachers the 5% raise, the division could lose up to $1,168,751.
Johnston also pointed out that while the division is hopeful it will receive some money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, they don’t know yet how much that would be. He estimated it at about $7.6 million, but that money could also be in jeopardy.
Johnston said a reduction of combined local and state revenue could have an effect on whether or not the school division would get the CARES Act funds due to a new stipulation. Johnston said that the Virginia Department of Education emailed him that it does not have details of the new stipulations at this time.
Johnston also noted that they can’t use the CARES funds for maintenance of effort. Johnston said he does not think the Board of Supervisors realized that the CARES Act funds couldn’t be used for everything or that they may not get the money due to a new stipulation.
“I’m hopeful that the county board will consider the implications of such a reduction and perhaps use the ability to regenerate some savings,” Johnston said. “It would also help us maintain maintenance of effort.”
Johnston mentioned some of the areas for study where they could look to make cuts. Those include:
• Eliminate/reduce central office positions and school-based positions.
• Eliminate/reduce all stipends and pay for extra days to include teacher 12-month contracts to 10 months.
• Extra duties.
• Before and after-school arts classes.
• Athletics.
• Increase class sizes across all levels that are not capped by Standards of Quality.
• Eliminate any proposed positions for fiscal year 2022 that are currently not filled.
• Eliminate/reduce under-enrolled courses/programs.
• Eliminate field trips and travel.
“Let me make this very clear that no decisions have been made on any of this yet,” Johnston told the School Board. “The county board has reached a consensus of what they want to advertise, but they have not voted on a budget. The cuts have not come to you at this point. So this is really just to set the stage for what may come, where we might need to look for those kinds of reductions.”
School Board member Karen Whetzel said that no one on the board wants to make any kind of cuts.
“But if they make that cut, we’re going to have to do something,” Whetzel said. “I guess you’re trying to see which is the least impactful on the most students.”
School Board members Marty Helsley, Andrew Keller, Shelby Kline, Michelle Manning, Walsh and Whetzel attended Tuesday’s meeting in-person.