The Mathews County School Board, meeting Tuesday night at Thomas Hunter Middle School, began its preliminary discussions on the 2024-2025 budget, a process made difficult by declining enrollment and an adjustment in the Local Composite Index that will likely mean a reduction in the state’s contribution.
Superintendent Dr. David S. Daniel gave a presentation on some of the factors going into the coming budget during a work session, which was held prior to the board’s regular monthly meeting.
In the state’s 2024-2026 biennium budget, Mathews County has a Local Composite Index, or LCI, of .5904. That number, based on such factors as county real estate values, residents’ adjusted gross income and local retail sales, has been steadily inching upward in recent years.
For the present budget, the LCI figure is .5453. That number was .5162 for the 2020-2022 biennium and .5060 for the years 2018-2020.
The increase in LCI represents an increased “ability” to fund education at the local level, Daniel explained. “Depending on the upcoming state budget, it may result in a decreased per pupil funding amount,” he said.
Put another way, Daniel explained, it roughly means that the state believes that Mathews should be able to provide roughly 59 percent of the cost of education in the county through local funds.
School board member Linda Hodges asked if there is any appeal process available to contest the recently released LCI number. “Not that I’m aware of,” Daniel replied.
Daniel provided a comparison of school divisions’ Composite Index numbers statewide, with several local divisions highlighted. In this chart, West Point’s LCI is slightly over 0.2 and Gloucester’s is approximately 0.4. Middlesex has an LCI that is a slightly higher than that of Mathews.
Another major factor at play is declining enrollment and its effect on the state’s share of the school budget. The state’s funding of local school divisions is based on Average Daily Membership, a figure based on school enrollment.
Enrollment in Mathews has been on a steady decline since 2003, when the division had about 1,300 students. The latest report from PowerSchool (the program the division uses to track enrollment) shows that figure to be 804 students, Daniel said.
A number of factors are at play in this decline, including a transient student population moving out of the county, a lack of affordable housing for young families, and some that have chosen homeschooling as a “better fit” for their children, Daniel said.
The loss in ADM, based on present figures, means a drop of about $7,000 in state funding for each student. The current budget is based on an ADM of 875 students. What this would mean is a reduction somewhere in the $300,000 ballpark, Daniel said, although he added the division does have some ESSER money (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds “to get us through.”
“I’m not in panic mode at this point,” Daniel said.
Exactly what this all means will become a little clearer in the coming week, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to release his draft budget sometime around Dec. 20, Daniel said.
“Our #1 priority [in the coming budget] has to be retaining and then recruiting staff members,” Daniel said, with the division being able to compete with neighboring jurisdictions in terms of compensation. As a starting point, based upon requests from principals and directors, he is proposing a 5 percent pay increase for all staff.
That priority was echoed during the regular meeting, when Mathews High School teacher Rachel Morris presented the results of a teacher advisory committee tasked with conducting a survey to gauge what was most important to faculty and staff when preparing the budget.
Overwhelmingly, the survey pointed to a need for a cost-of-living increase in salary and benefits, with over 90 percent of those taking part in the survey stressing this as a priority.
Also on the list was the need for additional staffing to include a permanent substitute for each school.
A second budget work session has been scheduled for 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 16, prior to the board’s regular scheduled monthly meeting at 6. A daylong school board retreat will be held the following Thursday, with a public hearing on the budget and third budget work session on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
Following a closed meeting, the board approved the resignation of Mathews Elementary teacher assistant Anna Bas and the appointment of the following intramural basketball volunteer coaches: Brandy L. Larson, Ricky M. Wiatt Jr., Alex Forrest, Frank T. West, William D. Hargis, Corey D. Christensen, Justin P. Clements, Sarah H. Lowe, Katherine H. Davis-Small, Jason M. Leslie, Sarah E. West, Julie T. Christensen, Stephanie T. Sowers, Stacie T. Wiatt, Jeffrey D. McCurry, Melissa H. Diggs, Freda G. Snyder, Amber W. Williams, Brittany D. LeTennier, John Vincent Slaughter Jr., Michelle L. Slaughter, Reginald L. Johnson, Brandon L. Fields, Natasha R. Fields, Ashley E. McBurney, Christopher G. McBurney and Leah T. Hurst.