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Rappahannock schools suffer $1 million setback as lobbying efforts for more state funds fails

by | Mar 1, 2023

(Photo/Luke Christopher)

Rappahannock County Public Schools (RCPS) suffered a setback last week in its effort to boost the financial support it receives from the state.

The Virginia Senate’s Finance and Appropriations Committee voted to shelve a bill that would have removed a cap that has restricted a portion of the school district’s funding from the state. The same legislation, H.B.1443, had passed by a 100-0 vote in the majority-Republican House of Delegates.

The measure would have raised the state’s contribution to the RCPS budget by more than $1 million. But the Senate committee iced it by a 10-6 vote, ostensibly because the General Assembly is waiting for the results of an overdue study on the Local Composite Index (LCI), the complex formula used to determine how much money the state provides each public school district.

“I was surprised,” said Superintendent Dr. Shannon Grimsley. “With the Democratic majority in the Senate really pushing for funding public schools, especially rural public schools, yes, I was surprised.”

County Administrator Garrey Curry went so far as to follow up with the committee’s chair, Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax), asking her to reconsider the legislation. “This bill has a limited scope, does not rob Peter to pay Paul, and requires a relatively small amount of state funding,” he said.  But, to no avail.

Capping Rappahannock

Grimsley, however, pointed out that RCPS could still receive the additional funding this year because it’s been included in the House of Delegates budget. If the legislature’s Conference Committee approves that budget, RCPS would get the money on a one-time basis.

But the cap, which dates back to 2008 and affects only Rappahannock County, will stay in place for now.

The funding restriction was discovered in the fall of 2021 by a group of citizens working for the School Innovative Finance Taskforce (SIFT), a team appointed by Curry and Grimsley to more closely analyze the financial challenges facing the school district. During discussions with state officials, they learned that the cap had been imposed 15 years ago, apparently as a protective measure during a difficult economic period.

That explained why RCPS, according to the task force’s calculations, has been receiving significantly less money than it should in conjunction with a 2007 act meant to help small school districts which initiated cooperative programs with neighboring counties. RCPS has such an arrangement with Madison County Public Schools.

That legislation was meant to help school districts with small enrollments (fewer than 1,100 students) that rely heavily on local property taxes. Rappahannock schools are funded 80 percent by property taxes. It also focused on those with a high score in the index that determines state support. Rappahannock’s score skews high due to its elevated property values and its relatively high average gross income. To lighten the financial burden, the 2007 act allowed counties to use the lower score of the adjacent county with which they had a cooperative arrangement.

The schools’ taskforce determined that only four counties in the state qualified for the additional subsidy – Rappahannock, Highland, Surry and Bath – and that only the first two have set up cooperative programs. Further analysis found that Highland County Public Schools, with an enrollment lower than 200 students, has been receiving a subsidy more than twice the size of what’s provided to RCPS, which has more than three times as many students.

The reason is that the subsidy to Rappahannock was capped at the 2007 level while apparently, Highland was not affected because it had a cooperative program in place before the restriction was imposed.

Rising costs

Even if RCPS gets the extra funding to help short-term with the upcoming budget, Grimsley expects the county and school district to revive its lobbying effort to scrap the cap later this year. “We’re not done yet,” she said.

“Maintaining the quality of education, That’s what is at risk if we don’t deal with this,” said Eve Brooks, a member of the taskforce.

Grimsley pointed out that RCPS has been able to avoid financial hardship the past few years due to pandemic-related funding from the federal government. But that’s no longer available. At the same time, there are new expenses stemming from the health crisis.

“The cost of educating students after the pandemic is more expensive,” she said. “You now need a lot more services in place.

“Also, the state is coming out with a whole lot of strategies and implementations for public schools,” she added. “And that takes training and staffing and materials. So while the state may be funding it according to what they’re putting in their budget, when it trickles down, what school districts receive is still subject to the LCI.”

Grimsley also cited rising health insurance costs, which she described as “completely out of whack right now”

“When we’re looking at everything we have to do with just maintaining operations and teacher and staff compensation, that’s going to eat up close to all of that million dollars,” she said. “If we don’t get that, we’re going to really have to think about what positions mean the most to us. We may have to make some cuts, and we’ll have to go to the county and ask for additional funding.”

Author

  • Randy Rieland

    Randy Rieland was a newspaper reporter and magazine editor for more than 20 years, starting with stints at the Pittsburgh Press and Baltimore Sun, and moving on to become editor of Pittsburgh Magazine and a senior editor at Washingtonian magazine.
    He made the switch to digital media in 1995 as part of the team that launched Discovery.com, the website for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and other Discovery Communications Networks. He ultimately was promoted to senior vice president of Discovery Channel Digital Media.
    After his return to print journalism, Randy has written for Smithsonian and Johns Hopkins Magazine. He is a longtime, regular contributor to Foothills Forum. His stories, appearing in the Rappahannock News, have won numerous Virginia Press Association awards for excellence.
    When he’s not reporting, Randy is a volunteer with the National Park Service at Arlington House, above Arlington National Cemetery. He and his wife, Carol Ryder, have owned a house off Tiger Valley Road since 2005.
    Reach Randy at [email protected]
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Randy Rieland was a newspaper reporter and magazine editor for more than 20 years, starting with stints at the Pittsburgh Press and Baltimore Sun, and moving on to become editor of Pittsburgh Magazine and a senior editor at Washingtonian magazine. He made the switch to digital media in 1995 as part of the team that launched Discovery.com, the website for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and other Discovery Communications Networks. He ultimately was promoted to senior vice president of Discovery Channel Digital Media. After his return to print journalism, Randy has written for Smithsonian and Johns Hopkins Magazine. He is a longtime, regular contributor to Foothills Forum. His stories, appearing in the Rappahannock News, have won numerous Virginia Press Association awards for excellence. When he’s not reporting, Randy is a volunteer with the National Park Service at Arlington House, above Arlington National Cemetery. He and his wife, Carol Ryder, have owned a house off Tiger Valley Road since 2005. Reach Randy at [email protected]