Residents reacted with shock last Wednesday when Mathews County supervisor Janine Burns suggested during a budget meeting in the historic courthouse that perhaps the board of supervisors should appoint members to the school board, which is currently an elected body.

Gasps and grumbles erupted throughout the packed room, then subsided as Burns, clearly prepared for the reaction, posited another suggestion—that perhaps the school board should be given taxing authority.

The suggestions came after a discussion in which Burns told the gathered crowd that the board of supervisors finds it difficult to understand the needs of the schools because of a lack of transparency in the budget that’s submitted every year.

"We’re still three years into the recession, and we’re guessing what the actual expenses were," she said. "The basis is not clear, and that complicates the role we have to play greatly."

County administrator Steve Whiteway had ear...