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The Buckingham County School Board doesn’t have a balanced budget yet. As of now, they’re still looking at a shortfall of roughly $500,000. County supervisors made it clear they don’t have the extra to give and currently, the state budget doesn’t have any extra for the district to use either. As a result, board members caution to not be surprised when changes happen. 

“We knew this coming into the (budget) season,” School Board Vice Chair Joe Snoddy told the audience during the group’s Wednesday, April 16 meeting. “When we started off, we were quite a bit in the hole, currently what, $500,000 and change in the hole? Unfortunately the county doesn’t have it to give to us so changes are coming. We’ve talked about it at the board meetings for the last couple months now. Unfortunately, changes have to be made. We’ve got to make up the deficit.” 

He’s referring to the budget workshops county supervisors have held over the past two months. Back in March, during a joint session with the school board, supervisors said they didn’t have the funding to go up another $500,000 and fill the district’s shortfall, while also maintaining all the same requests from last year. Snoddy said the board didn’t want to make changes, but there’s few options left. 

“We don’t have a choice, our hands are kinda tied,” Snoddy said. He told the audience part of the cost to make up the shortfall would have to come from the classroom, most likely. After all, the district has a $500,000 shortfall “and the average teacher pay is $50,000 a year, do the math. Yes, there are other areas that we’re cutting,” Snoddy said. “Yes, there are other areas where we’re doing things different but right now, we’re in the hole $500,000 plus. We’ve looked at everything. We’ve argued about it. We’ve fussed about it.” 

Plans for Buckingham County School Board

Board member Teresa Bryant told the audience that as a result of the shortfall, the salary scales that had been discussed, what the board had wanted to approve, isn’t going to happen right now. 

“We’re just hoping we can keep as many people as we can,” Bryant said. “I think there’s going to be a 3% increase and a bonus but that’s all we’ll be able to do right now. Of course we’re not allowed any extra money from our county. The governor’s budget is what we go off of and with that, we may have cuts and that’s not going to be very good. We just want to let everyone know that now, so you’re not surprised if something gets cut.” 

Students need more help 

Part of the problem comes from needs that have been identified in the classroom. All the way back in November, current Buckingham superintendent Dr. John Keeler warned the school board that more and more kids are coming in that need help. He means help beyond what teachers can provide on their own. 

“We’re just getting inundated with children that need more help,” Keeler said at the board’s November 13 meeting. “Children that need an IEP (Individual Education Plan) or a 504.” 

To explain, an IEP is a written document that teachers, the child’s parents and specialists put together, to help a student with disabilities succeed. Sometimes they include things like changes to instruction, the type of classroom setting or goals for the student to work towards. They also include plans for special services like speech or physical therapy, along with counseling, behavioral intervention or other needed help. A 504 plan is similar, but designed for students with more severe disabilities that limit things like walking, seeing, hearing, speaking or overall learning. 

Keeler informed the board that based on what he’s seen, both here and at conferences with other school district officials, Buckingham needs to put a plan together with more funding to help beyond just teachers and aides in these situations. Otherwise, he’s afraid the school district may start to lose teachers. Keeler pointed to a recent conference where the Virginia Beach superintendent spoke and said that district lost 25 teachers last month alone, due to what they saw as frustration and lack of support. And if you push too much, if you ask people to do more and more without giving them any help, Keeler said, there’s a chance teachers will leave.