Officials urge public to back schools in county budget
After several months of fundraising and a strong lobbying effort in Richmond, an increase in state funding is looking unlikely for Rappahannock County Public Schools (RCPS) this year.
If the school system can’t get the money from Richmond, it will have to turn to the county government to fund a majority of its operations and state-mandated pay and healthcare increases for next year.
“We’re still fighting for it the best we can,” Superintendent Shannon Grimsley said in an interview last Friday. “It doesn’t look good at this point for our actual funding on the supplemental basic aid to come through this year.”
A budget hearing will be held on Monday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Rappahannock County courthouse, where residents can voice their opinions to the Board of Supervisors on the county budget for fiscal year 2026, including proposed funding for the school system.
Throughout the Virginia state legislative session, a $50,000 lobbying effort was funded by the Rappahannock County School Board, Board of Supervisors, Headwaters Foundation and community donors to hire lobbyist Elizabeth Parker to advocate for RCPS in Richmond in hopes of having a recession-era aid cap removed from the county’s state funding.
Parker’s work will conclude at the end of the legislative session next month, but Grimsley hopes that through grant funding or backing from the county, lobbying efforts could resume next year. Although the state aid cap was not lifted, she still considers this legislative session to be a success story for Rappahannock.
“We did raise a lot of awareness about the very unique situation Rappahannock is in with state funding,” Grimsley said. “It took this year to really talk to so many different people that we would not have otherwise had access to, had it not been for [Parker,] who really knew how to get us those essential meetings and lobby for our efforts.”
Negotiations could still continue to take place in the legislature until May 2, but the cap on aid for Rappahannock remains in the most recent budget draft.
Trying to ‘find’ $560,000
During public comment at the School Board’s monthly meeting April 8, multiple residents spoke about the upcoming county budget hearing — which falls within Spring Break this year — and how they felt it is important for residents to attend and advocate for the school system in light of the state budget situation.
Flint Hill resident Betsy Dietel said she thinks it is crucial to communicate to the Board of Supervisors that there are many in the community who support a tax increase to help fund the school system, and said she has been part of organizing a group to attend Monday’s meeting. She said the timing of the hearing will most likely affect the amount of parents able to attend.
“The upcoming public hearing is going to not be an easy conversation … and I think the Board of Supervisors and the public need to hear from the parents,” Dietel told the School Board.
Supervisors to hold public hearings on tax proposals
A proposed budget drafted by the county has cut the school’s requested budget by about $560,000, and Grimsley said if that cut were to survive in the final draft, the School Board may be left with a tough decision — cutting staff benefits, or cutting down the staff itself.
“When you have over half a million dollars you’re trying to find, that’s got to come from staff in some way … there’s choices the board will have to make,” said Grimsley.
She said natural attrition of staff by way of retirements or relocations may help ease the burden of funding, but would put further pressure on an already “burnt-out” staff.
Grimsley said residents who are not able to attend the April 21 meeting can call or write letters to their supervisor in support of the school system.
“Even if it’s just to say, ‘Hey, we love our schools, can you please support them?’ The more they hear from people, the better,” Grimsley said.
