PRINCE EDWARD — The issue of per-pupil costs in Prince Edward versus neighboring counties is a recurring one in budget season. According to figures presented during a recent board of supervisors meeting, it costs more local dollars to educate a child in the county.

“Our cost per pupil is a little higher,” conceded Division Superintendent Dr. David Smith in an interview with The Herald. “There is not one thing that anyone can point to in any one school division compared to another where you can say, clearly, this is why this one is higher, this one’s low. There are a number of factors that go into a cost per pupil calculation.”

Some of it, he cited, is tied to the composite index (a complex state formula that determines the ratio for state and local funding per locality) with the balance between local and state funds.

“…One of the significant things, we started looking at programmatic differences between one locality and another,” Dr. Smith said. “I know, for example, among our neighboring school divisions, we have a much larger pre-K program than any of our neighbors. And, even with the state funding that comes, the local match for that makes a significant difference in our per pupil costs. That’s a very important program. The school board has felt strongly over the years that that needed to be as large as possible and it just so happens that our share from the state is higher than our neighboring counties because of the high needs of our population. And a lot of that’s measured by free lunch and community poverty indicators, so that’s…one example.”

Other examples of things that make a difference in the cost per pupil include staffing patterns, Dr. Smith cited. They are different from one locality to another.

“For local reasons, every community is different…differences in compensation, differences in things like the experience level of staff can have an impact because the personnel costs—of course with much more experienced staff is higher than it is with much younger staff,” he said. “The choices that are made with staffing based on local student needs—every locality deals with it.”

Dr. Smith offered that the needs are different and that “local boards all make slightly different decisions on these things.”

What can also play into the figure is the number of electives that are offered at the middle or high school levels, he said. Prince Edward has adjusted from an eight period master schedule to a seven-period based schedule in recent years. Prince Edward has offered a lot more electives than many of its neighboring school divisions for many years. That leads to lower class sizes, which decreases the pupil teacher ratio and adds to the cost per pupil.

“But having said all of that, those kinds of elective choices are good for kids. They really help students round out their high school transcript as they prepare for college or prepare to go into the workforce,” Dr. Smith said.

The superintendent assessed that they have a “broader array” of career technical education offerings than some of their neighbors. Some are in a shared vocational center, splitting the costs which helps them dilute the per pupil cost.

Another thing that he cited tends to separate localities is health care costs, which can be a huge part of any operational budget. Then, too, there’s the cost of the local share of special education—not just the number of students that are identified as
Special Ed, but also the degree of the severity of the needs identified. Not all Special Ed services cost the same, Dr. Smith said. Some are much more expensive than others. The locality has little control over the decisions, and are made by the IEP (Individual Education Plan) committee.

“You know, the bottom line is there’s not one clear answer and, as far as the detailed expenditures from the other localities, I don’t have access to that. We just don’t and so I can’t say definitively what it is that makes one locality more or less expensive than another in terms of the offerings,” Dr. Smith said. “I will say that I know that the Prince
Edward County School Board has for many, many years worked diligently to provide the widest array of services to meet the diverse student needs and that pattern hasn’t changed. And, the decisions are made in the best interest of the students—how best to serve them is really the driving question.”

The school board has tightened the funding belt in recent years, though local funding has remained relatively the same. They had to reduce their total budget, Dr. Smith cited, a little over $4 million over the last five or six years primarily because of enrollment loss, but partly because of other adjustments in state and federal funding. They have cut about 69 positions, including administrative, teachers, instructional aides, transportation, and other support staff “so they’re across the board reductions.” As the money has been reduced, program offerings have had to be reduced as well, he said.

“So, yes, we have been responding continually to that,” he said. “It’s a huge challenge.”

County Administrator Wade Bartlett presented information to supervisors from the state superintendent’s annual report looking at local funding in Prince Edward and seven other area counties. The average amount per pupil of local expenditures in 2013 was $2,549.14 for Prince Edward neighbors. It was $3,707 in Prince Edward.

Additionally, supervisors were presented a chart with data from the state superintendent’s annual report reflecting 2014 required local effort for Standards of Quality compared to actual local expenditures. The regional average for local expenditures for operations above what was required came in at 36.17 percent; Prince Edward, according to the presented data, was 95.62 percent above what was required.

In dollars, Prince Edward was required to contribute $4,223,619, with actual local expenditures for operations totaling $8,262,412.