Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I am writing to urge the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors to keep the current method of lump sum funding for the Gloucester County School Board. I believe that switching to categorical funding is an unwise move for the following reasons:

1. The school board is elected by the people and should be answerable to them, not the board of supervisors;

2. The school board has a qualified professional staff who has successfully managed the school budget, under very difficult times, for many years. I speak to this topic based on my 25 years of teaching in Gloucester Public Schools and on the solid education my two daughters received as students of Gloucester County Public Schools;

3. The fact that the vast majority of Virginia school systems use lump sum funding speaks volumes for the success of this approach;

4. The board of supervisors has an overload of work governing the county, without taking on the responsibility of overseeing the intricacies of the school board’s finances;

5. The members of the board of supervisors who support categorical funding have given no valid reason for changing the method of funding.

I want to thank Mrs. (Louise) Theberge, Mr. ("Buddy") Rilee and Mr. (Carter) Borden, who support lump sum funding. I urge Mrs. (Michelle) Ressler and Mr. (Gregory) Woodard, who are proponents of categorical funding, to have a change of heart. Mr. (John) Northstein, as a former teacher and an active volunteer in our school system, I appeal to you to support lump sum funding.

Nancy H. Orth

Gloucester, Va.