Rappahannock County Public Schools (RCPS) will not renew a contract with a lobbyist to advocate for increased funding in the next legislative session after several unsuccessful runs in the Virginia General Assembly.
“It was pretty clear to us that Rappahannock doesn’t have a very empathetic ear in Richmond,” Superintendent Shannon Grimsley told the School Board on Tuesday.
RCPS, the county government and private donations handled by the Headwaters Foundation had all invested $50,000 this past year to retain Richmond-based lobbyist Elizabeth Parker.
RCPS has been lobbying for the removal of a 2008-recession-era cap on supplemental aid — Rappahannock is the only county in the state affected by this enactment, resulting in flat funding from the state.
“The general feeling seems to be that Rappahannock should go under the radar,” Stephanie Ridder, chairperson for the Headwaters Foundation, said in an interview.
Ridder said Rappahannock hopes to benefit from the work of lobbyists who represent the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS). She said those lobbyists will focus their efforts on a recent legislative audit and review — an analysis that found shortfalls in the state’s current funding formulas.
According to the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission (JLARC), the group that performed the study, Virginia school districts receive less funding per student than the 50-state average, the regional average and three of Virginia’s bordering states.
Ridder added that there is some “hostility” among lawmakers due to the county’s reluctance to increase taxes and a perceived lack of local contribution.
“There’s not a lot of sympathy for Rappahannock,” Ridder said. “There’s this JLARC study that suggests that rural schools should get more money, and hopefully that will get pushed and we can get some money that way.”
Other School Board news…
- Rappahannock County Public Schools (RCPS) this week is rolling out the “Alongside app,” which is a grant-funded AI assistant meant to help students with social-emotional and day-to-day challenges. Counselor Erica Jennejahn presented the app to the School Board on Tuesday, and said students can ask their chatbot questions, such as asking for tips to stay organized, or more emotional questions, like how to handle a breakup. Jennejahn said the chatbot will not answer academic questions, so students will be unable to use it to cheat on schoolwork. Teachers can use the app as well and will be notified if a student is using problematic language.
- RCPS will also be offering mental health support for adults and staff through a program led by Dr. Lori Desautels, an author and professor at Butler University. Parents can also receive some mental-health services and be referred to counseling outside of RCPS.
- Grimsley told the School Board that the district bought three gently-used school buses for the price of one with the funding they budgeted — she said a mechanic evaluated the buses and they each have about 40,000 miles. “There became an opportunity to purchase gently-used buses of a major surplus that happened in a huge, mega division near us, that usually does not happen,” Grimsley said.
- Rappahannock County High School Principal Mary Jane Boynton said after the first day of school on Tuesday, she only saw a couple violations of the new zero-tolerance cellphone policy. She said she visited each lunch hour and didn’t see any students on cellphones. Stonewall-Hawthorne School Board member Larry Grove asked for regular updates on how schools are handling the new policy.
