The first day of the Halifax County Supervisors’ annual planning retreat was dominated by the financial problems facing schools in the coming year’s budget. Supervisors, School Board trustees and Central Office administrators spent the morning discussing ways to compensate for what they fear will be at least a $3.2 million loss in state funding for local education under the Governor’s proposed budget.
“In my 39 years of being in education I have never seen as bad a budget for public schools as we face this year,” said School Superintendent Paul Stapleton. “Taking $3.2 million from our budget is just devastating.”
He added that if the cuts all had to come out of the personnel budget, that would mean the loss of 65 to 75 positions.
But Stapleton insisted that cutting instructional personnel will be the last thing he and the School Board will look at. “Everything is on the table — we will look at everything,” he said, citing possibilities that include the dual system of transportation, whereby elementary students ride separate buses from older students, as well as spending for school maintenance, all athletic programs and the Regional Governor’s School for gifted students.
Stapleton also said his staff is looking at the potential savings that can be achieved with a four day school week, although that presents problems with teacher state contracts that require 200 days of teaching.
Stapleton emphasized that state funding cuts affect rural areas far more than the wealthier areas of the state, where local revenues make up the much larger percentage of overall education funding. Eighty percent of Halifax County’s school budget is comprised of state and federal funds, said Stapleton, with the remaining 20 percent coming from local taxpayers. The opposite is true of wealthier, more populous areas of the state which contribute 80 percent of local school budgets, said Stapleton.
Supervisor J. T. Davis said he is constantly hit with complaints from his constituents about high real estate taxes and told school officials, “this board is not going to raise taxes, which are already too high.”
“What I’m hearing,” Davis continued, “is that the schools are top heavy at the Central Office. Lynchburg is looking at five percent cuts at the administrative level. Don’t cut at the chalkboard (classroom teachers) but start at the top,” he urged.
Stapleton responded that in his four years in Halifax, 12 positions at the Central Office have been eliminated.
Stapleton was asked how many members of the Central Office staff have served 30 years so they could take full retirement if they wished. The superintendent responded that probably one-third of the Central office staff and principals meet the criteria. But, he added, many do not want to retire because they would then have to pay their full health care insurance premiums, which currently run about $558 per month with the school system paying part of the costs.
A handout provided by County Finance Director Stephanie Jackson showed that per pupil costs in Halifax County run $10,638 per student, the highest in a ten-county area. The local cost per student surpasses that of Mecklenburg ($9,924), Campbell ($7,976), Pittsylvania ($8,907), Charlotte ($10,221), Appomattox ($9,602), Nottoway ($8,726), Lunenburg ($9,375), Henry ($10,444) and Danville ($10,325).
“All of us understand the challenges we face when one of every five students is receiving special education services and 60 percent of our students receive free or reduced lunch prices,” responded Stapleton. All of this, he added, contributes to additional per pupil costs. The state mandates that these children receive special education services and there is nothing the local system can do except provide them, Stapleton said.
Stapleton added that the number of autistic children is definitely on the rise.
Davis asked if Tobacco Commission monies might be sought to help with the shortage in school budgets. Stapleton quickly responded that no money could be obtained for K-12 education from the Tobacco Commission. “The Commission early on ruled out any funds for K-12 education,” he said.
School trustee Joe Gasperini asked if any money from the Obama Administration’s proposed economic stimulus package might be made available for school maintenance. Interim County Administrator Jerry Gwaltney explained that he and Board Chairman William Fitzgerald have submitted a list of projects that they hope might receive consideration in the stimulus package, including some for the schools.
School trustees will begin deliberations Monday, on a proposed budget for the coming school year and they promised to keep supervisors apprised of their work as they continue to mull their options.
In other business yesterday, supervisors reviewed reports on the past year’s work among the county’s various departments, including the Halifax/Pittsylvania Court Services, Emergency Services, the Victim Witness Program, Planning and Zoning Department, and the Code Compliance Office. The Recreation Department, which is a one-man operation — Brad Ballou, who works with numerous volunteers and two part-time staffers — involves over 150 teams and has added a new girls volleyball league for youth 10-12.
The General Properties under the direction of Bill Wolfe has maintained the grounds and buildings at Edmunds Park and completed a number of improvements to the county-owned fairgrounds property, as well as providing landscape maintenance for the County’s buildings and properties.
The Public Works Department has completed the transfer station for solid waste and developed a new convenience center at News Ferry and is currently constructing a new convenience center at Volens, while maintaining seven other convenience centers for trash collection. The department has also contracted with Virginia Carolina Paving for an average of 20 loads of trash per week to be hauled to the Southside Regional Landfill in Boydton at a cost of $4,340 per week. With tipping fees of $35.50 per ton added, the monthly cost of the 1,647 tons of trash sent to the Boydton facility averages $58,469 plus the hauling costs.
The Animal Control Department reported that 2,605 animals were received at the county shelter. Of that number 223 were retrieved, 148 were adopted, 864 were transferred to another facility or locality. Another 1,345 were euthanized and another 10 died of natural causes. At the end of 2008 there were only 16 animals in the facility.
The Agricultural Development Office, headed by Linda Faye Wallace, had a good year, receiving several significant grants. They got a $50,000 grant from the Tobacco Commission for switchgrass production, $10,000 from the Tobacco Commission for expansion of the goat meat program, another $10,645 to assist the local Farmer’s Market and another $64,820 to assist bee producers in Southside and Southwest Virginia.
The local Building Inspection Office issued 826 building permits last year with an estimated value of $22,201,581 residential projects and $32,314,480 for industrial, commercial and churches. Permits were issued for 71 site built homes, 35 modular homes, 38 manufactured homes and 58 used manufactured homes.
The General Accounting Office under the leadership of Finance Director Stephanie Jackson implemented the new Munis system and for the first time ever completed the first county year-end report without any outside assistance. The system handles the payroll for the 196 county employees and the six constitutional officers. It also provides the tax bills for real estate, personal property, business licenses, animal licenses and the billing and expenditures for the Public Service Authority.