Falling enrollment spells budget uncertainty for schools

The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors joined with the Rappahannock School Board in calling on the Commonwealth of Virginia to increase state funding for the county’s public schools, which have seen enrollment steadily decline for several decades due to a stagnant population.

The plea for additional state funds came during a joint FY21 budget meeting held Tuesday night in the auditorium of Rappahannock County High School, as the school system of 801 students devises strategic plans for the next academic year and beyond.

“Our enrollment including our PreK is at 801, but we are estimating a loss in ADM [average daily membership] for next year and I am projecting the FY 21 budget on ADM 780,” Schools Superintendent Dr. Shannon Grimsley told this newspaper before the meeting. “Our current year's budget was based on ADM 825.”

Five years ago, the 2014-15 school year began with 982 students in Rappahannock public schools. Today the number enrolled in preK-12th grade is 801 — 181 fewer students.

The BOS and school board Tuesday night adopted a joint resolution to “support an increase in state funding” for all small and rural school divisions like Rappahannock, their futures in many cases uncertain because of declining student populations.

The resolution will be delivered to state legislators representing Rappah

annock County, as well as Senate and House finance committee chairs in Virginia’s General Assembly. It specifically asks legislators to adopt a budget that reinstates the Enrollment Loss funding stream; increases the At-Risk Add On funding stream, either through the Virginia Department of Education’s proposed equity fund or in its current form; fully funds teacher increases without burdening Rappahannock taxpayers to keep and hire the best talent; and provides state funding for school construction and renovation.

Grimsley in recent months also learned that the re-benchmarked Local Composite Index, or LCI, in Rappahannock County went from .76 to .79, which means more local responsibility and less state money for educational costs — perhaps between an $80 thousand and $100 thousand dollar impact.

Much will depend on whether the governor’s proposed budget is adopted.

Without the reinstatement of “enrollment loss” funding, Grimsley feared that Rappahannock schools would be “starting deep in the red before we even plan for budgeting needs for FY-21,” especially if no mechanisms are put in place to offset the LCI adjustments.

“This will be a challenging budget planning year, especially if the governor does not fund the newest provisions mandated by the VDOE [Virginia Department of Education],” she said.

The resolution states that localities have increased their share of funding

public education by 2.9 percentage points, while the state has decreased its share by 3.3 points. In rural school districts like Rappahannock, “those numbers are even worse. Rural localities have increased their share of education funding by 3.9 percentage points and the state has decreased their funding to rural schools by 4.4 percentage points.”

Further crunching numbers, Virginia’s 80 rural and/or small localities that include Rappahannock have the collective ability to raise $19.94 million by increasing property taxes by one penny ($0.01/$100); compared with one single urban and large Virginia district that would raise more than $24 million.

“Rappahannock County would only raise approximately $150,000 with a one penny property tax increase,” the resolution points out.

When inflation is accounted for, the state’s per-pupil funding is down 8 percent from pre-Great Recession levels, despite a significant improvement in the state’s economy (Virginia’s unemployment rate is 2.8 percent; the state is designated the 10th wealthiest in America; and Virginia finished 2019 with a budget surplus of $230 million).

Nevertheless, Virginia ranks 32nd in per pupil funding nationally, while per pupil spending varies widely, from $9,000 in rural districts to $20,000 in suburban districts. The statewide average in per pupil spending trails the national average by about $1,800 per student.

Virginia’s teachers, similarly, are paid more than $9,000 less than the national average.

Finally, 16 percent of students in rural school districts — which is the exact number in Rappahannock — live below the Federal Poverty Level, while 48 percent are eligible for free or reduced priced lunch.

Specifically in Rappahannock, 16 percent of children — 10 percent of all county residents — live in poverty, the highest poverty rate in the Northern Piedmont.

In addition, says the Rappahannock Food Pantry, 37 percent of Rappahannock children are “food-insecure, yet ineligible for federal assistance,” so many of them rely on the Pantry’s Backpack Program for healthy meals during the weekends.