County schools brace
for severe budget cuts
Rockbridge County school administrators are anxiously waiting for Dec. 19 when they will find out just how much money will be cut from the school budget for next year. The number is likely to be somewhere between five and 10 percent of the current budget, which would mean up to $1.3 million lost for Rockbridge County schools and possible personnel cuts.
John Reynolds, superintendent of Rockbridge County schools, says the numbers are far more than the county has ever had to deal with in the past.
“Sometimes we’ve had to deal with a fuel crisis or enrollment loss, but those are usually in the $250,000 range—we’ve never experienced anything like this,” Reynolds said.
 |
| In the current budget, teachers have had difficulty buying new textbooks for their students.. (CHRISTINA MERCHANT/ Rockbridge Report) |
Reynolds believes that with a budget cut of this magnitude, every area of the budget would be affected.
“There’s not one place we can go,” Reynolds said, “and there would obviously be less people working for us.”
Kate Stavish, an English teacher at Rockbridge County High School, said that as far as her job is concerned, teachers can usually expect job security, but not in the current economy. She anticipates that a large number of teachers will lose their jobs within the next year.
The school’s reserve account, which contains about $413,000, will likely be used if the magnitude of the cuts is as expected. Reynolds says that he doesn’t want to have to look to the reserve fund for operational costs but everything hinges on the size of the shortfall.
The school board has begun planning for the shortfalls. Members are discussing different scenarios, but will not announce these plans to the public until after the Dec. 19 announcement from Gov. Tim Kaine about the severity of the situation.
Area teachers and students are already feeling the effects of this year’s budget cuts. Field trips have been eliminated and afterschool activity buses were also cut.
Stavish says she has even had trouble buying new textbooks for her students.
In looking ahead to next year’s budget, Stavish continued, “this is the first year the number [of projected budget cuts] has been higher than you think is feasible to actually cut.”
Produced by
Washington and Lee
journalism students.
Lead Supervisors:
Prof. Brian
Richardson
Prof. Indira Somani
Editing supervisor:
Prof. Doug
Cumming
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd