Rappahannock County School Board approves proposed $15M budget

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Requires financial boost from county

The Rappahannock County School Board Tuesday approved a proposed $15 million budget, one that would require a big boost in financial support from the county.

The Rappahannock County Public Schools (RCPS) is seeking $10.1 million in county funding for FY 2024-25. That would be an increase of $725,000 from the current year. The county administrator’s proposed budget, however, would provide almost $200,000 less than what the School Board is requesting.

A final budget won’t be adopted until mid-May, following public hearings and more negotiations between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board. It’s possible that the school’s budget will rise back to the requested level, or it could be cut further.

While presenting the budget, RCPS Superintendent Shannon Grimsley pointed out that local school districts are increasingly at the mercy of mandates from the state legislature, a situation that can be particularly challenging for small rural districts that can’t take advantage of economies of scale.

Wes Mills, who has served 17 years as School Board chairman, agreed. “So much is dictated to us now, that I’m wondering why I’m sitting here because I feel like I’m just a middleman,” he said. “We do not have the liberty to not do the things they direct us to do from Richmond. And all that comes with a cost, but the money does not come from Richmond primarily.”  

The largest bump in RCPS costs would be tied to instruction, which accounts for about 70% of the budget. It would rise by more than $276,000 next year, driven primarily by a state-mandated 3% salary hike and an 11% increase in health insurance premiums, according to the budget plan. Grimsley noted that state mandates have already raised salaries by 15% in the past three years. 

Also pushing up expenses is the operational cost of maintaining and supplying the buildings. That would increase by about $171,000 in the proposed budget, which Grimsley said is due to higher costs across the board – from climbing rates for contractors and vendors to surging prices for materials and supplies. In addition, a new minimum wage in Virginia, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025, will boost the salaries and benefits of custodial and food service staff.

At the same time, about $220,000 provided by the federal government through Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) – a COVID-related program – will no longer be available. Plus, support from the state is projected to drop by about $60,000. 

Grimsley described the proposed budget as a “worst case scenario” plan, acknowledging that the state  may end up providing more money to RCPS. In fact, a conference committee of the state legislature has apparently approved an additional $212,000 for RCPS. But a final state budget will not be passed for several months, so the school district had to proceed without knowing if and how much additional funding might be coming.

Growing expense for county

While the proposed budget is roughly $1 million lower than it was two years ago, it would represent a $509,000 increase from the current budget. It would also be the fourth year in a row in which the county’s contribution would go up. In the previous three years, the county’s support has risen an average of $284,000.

That, combined with a drop in enrollment of more than 150 students since the 2015-16 school year, has prompted more pushback against a school district that has long been a core component of the community. Grimsley said she understands the concern about the rising cost of supporting RCPS, but pointed out that the school district, like most households, has had to deal with a deluge of price hikes.

“Materials, supplies, cleaning products, maintenance, fuel, paper. Everything has risen a very significant amount,” she said.

Grimsley cited the example of the cost of new buses, which, she said, has risen 63% since 2017. The proposed budget would put off the scheduled replacement of a 2006 model in the RCPS fleet. In another effort to cut costs, the district will not refill the positions of five employees who have left. Currently, according to Grimsley, 53 school district employees are doing multiple jobs.

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Until a few weeks ago, school district and county officials were hopeful that RCPS would receive as much as $1.5 million in supplemental basic aid from the state. Instead, committees in both the Senate and the House of Delegates decided not to remove the cap on that aid, which has been in place for Rappahannock since 2008.

Another obstacle for the school district is the Local Composite Index (LCI), the complex formula used by Virginia to determine how much funding each county receives for public education. The LCI is based heavily on the true value of real property and the adjusted gross income of residents, But the formula doesn’t take into account the fact that the value of taxable real estate in the county is considerably lower than the “true value” of property here. Nor does it reflect the wide income disparity in the county. The result is that Rappahannock has to cover about 80% of the RCPS budget, comparable to the ranking of counties like Fairfax and Arlington.

Cost per pupil on the rise

The report to the School Board also noted the following:

• The cost per pupil for the current school year is $20,341, compared to $13,795 in 2014-15. The county’s contribution per pupil was $10,099 back then; now it’s $13,170.

• RCPS currently has the lowest starting salary for teachers among 10 public school districts in the region – $46,350 for those with a bachelor’s degree and $49,850 with a master’s degree. But it has the fourth highest salary – $57,919 – for teachers with five years experience.

• According to the most recent Virginia Standard of Learning test results (2022-23), RCPS elementary school students scored above the state average in English, math and science, but below in history. High school students performed above the average in English and math, below in science. Their graduation rate – 92% – was just below the state average.

• This school year, 82% of the RCPS students are white, 8.8% are Hispanic, 4.5% are black and white, 1.3% are black, ,2% are Asian/Pacific Islander .2% are American Indian/Alaskan Native.

• RCPS plans to add a Trades Academy to its three existing academies – Health Sciences, Agriculture and Fine Arts. The new program would enable students to travel to Laurel Ridge Community College (LRCC) to get training and earn credentials and certifications in HVAC, plumbing, electrical and welding. The Trades Academy will largely be funded through a LRCC grant.

• Commit to Be Fit, which promotes healthier lifestyles for students, staff and county residents, remains the school district’s largest grant-funded program. The PATH Foundation will again cover the $450,000 cost.

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