Albemarle School Board members said Thursday that they want to withdraw a proposal to eliminate two principals — and they hope the Board of Supervisors will front the resulting costs.
The School Board had previously proposed a single full-time principal be split between Yancey and Scottsville elementary schools and a second principal be split between Red Hill and Murray elementary schools.
However, parents of students at the small schools have criticized the money-saving idea relentlessly.
School Board member Brian Wheeler, who has long opposed the idea of splitting the principals, said Thursday that each school needs the presence of a strong leader.
After having already cut $6.1 million in spending, School Board members considered ways to cover a remaining $460,000 funding hole but came to dead ends. The School Board considered no longer funding social service workers who support students and families of high-need students, saving $190,000, but the majority of the board opposed such an idea.
School Board member Pamela Moynihan said that she thinks the social services program is a good one but is something that the Board of Supervisors should fund, not the school division.
“I don’t think education needs to be funding social services,” Moynihan said.
Some board members were pessimistic about the prospects of the Board of Supervisors funding social service workers within the schools.
School Board member Steve Koleszar said the program helps those students and families who need help the most, adding that taking away the program would be damaging. That message isn’t heard often, he said, because the program serves a constituency that is not vocal.
Instead of chipping away at the $460,000 funding gap, the board essentially dug the hole deeper, to the tone of about $700,000.
School Board members say they’ll have to consider making even deeper cuts, considering that the state is providing millions of dollars in one-time funding.
“I hope that this board will move forward knowing that this is one-time money,” Strucko said, adding that it’s not financially responsible to fund long-term expenses with short-term money.
School officials floated the idea of the School Board using about $3.4 million worth one-time state funding for one-time expenses, such as technology and bus replacements, but only spend the money late next school year in case the school division ends up with less revenue than expected.
Such a move would require more funding cuts from the School Board or money transferred from the general government division.
This article's headline was edited for accuracy.
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