Passionate debate between Charles City boards address budgetary issues

Over the last several years, Charles City’s Board of Supervisors and Charles City’s School Board have worked to fix a fragile relationship with each other. A passionate Feb. 20 meeting between the two boards served as breaking ground to vent frustrations.

Open dialogue between the three county leaders and five school leaders, along with county administrator Michelle Johnson and superintendent of schools David Gaston, consisted of several topics. In particular, funding for schools were the main area of discussion.

“We know the money is a concern, but we want to get the kids what they need,” said at-large school board member Preston Adkins.

“The opportunities that we have here are positioned that we can do some very, very good things,” added Gaston. “We understand there is a greater need for services and a greater need for support for our kids and our citizens.

“I hope this dialogue helps us to get a good pulse on the county’s goals and objectives,” the superintendent said.

Talks started positively with District 1 leader Gilbert Smith inquiring about additional educational programs such as field trips to the Rice Center and the Capital Area Training Consortium so that students can have more hands-on activities. But conversations became more intense when funding for schools by the locality emerged to the forefront.

District 2 leader Bill Coada’s Powerpoint presentation showed an increase in funding by the county to the school system over the last three years, totaling $746,386. But when school board chairwoman Helen Payne-Jones took offense to comments posted through press releases and social media about the schools not being funded, a verbal confrontation with Coada ensued before cooler heads prevailed.

Gaston elected to move quickly to the computer and fire-up a Powerpoint presentation to show supervisors what the schools were facing heading into FY2019-20, something that was slated to do more formally at the Feb. 26 board of supervisors meeting.

“Both boards are passionate about what they do, but we need to clear the air on some things,” the superintendent said. “Over the last 10 years, our ADM [average daily membership] has dropped by 221 students.

“Funding is directly tied into the ADM,” Gaston continued. “It costs $4,800 to teach a general education student and $16,000 to teach a student with special needs. That’s nearly quadruple the cost.”

Gaston furthered explained the school’s dilemma, showing numbers that 62 percent of the students in Charles City schools have free or reduced lunch. Along with that, he added that the school has seen a massive influx of students with special needs.

“We have to provide the services for those kids; it’s federal law,” Gaston said. “What we ask is a lot less than what could happen if we were to be sued over that. We have to get them to the sites and the cost of transportation is something that we don’t recoup.

“Before we even put the pencil to the paper, we are $202,570 before the budget process begins,” the superintendent continued. “We lost another $100,000 from the state due to 27 students moving, which is another unanticipated cost.”

Gaston’s final comments focused on the concept of level funding and how the students deserve the same opportunities in other jurisdictions.

“Fixed costs aren’t fixed. The cost of gas, electricity, and food goes up,” the superintendent said. “An example is our custodial contract; it will go up by $11,000 this year.

“We have to try to get past this notion of level funding,” Gaston added. “We are not trying to cut corners, but we are anticipating the costs.

“No kid in Fairfax and no kid in Virginia Beach is better than our kids in Charles City and I will match them up with us on any day,” he added as he wrapped up his statements. “We live in a rural, isolated area and we need to give our kids the opportunities today to set the world on fire.”

Johnson followed the superintendent’s comments, speaking on the difficulties the county is currently facing.

“There are a lot of projects coming into the county,” she said, mentioning four new businesses in the Roxbury Industrial Park along with GreenRock bringing their operations from Prince George to Charles City. “The Chickahominy power plant will bring in 200 employees when it begins later this year and will employ over 1,500 people in a three-year period.

“We have to start with economic development to bring rooftops and students into the county,” Johnson continued. “We need more what we are doing the best we can. We are working hard to bring 24-hour emergency services to the county as well as other projects.”

The county administrator continued, saying how her department is currently down two employees and the difficult tasks the supervisors face with the upcoming budget.

“We’re working as hard as we can,” Johnson continued, pointing to the local composite index’s effect on the county. “Can we do more? Not at this time. When we have more, we give more, and the schools are the first place we look to give the money to.”

After a mutual understanding was acknowledged by both boards, they adjourned, agreeing to continue to discuss possibilities to resolve issues set on the table.