School Board Votes 3-1-1 to Approve Proposed WCPS Budget for FY25

Three members of the Warren County School Board during their Wednesday, March 20, meeting voted to approve the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget for Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) that totals more than $82.8 million. One board member voted against the proposal and another member declined to vote either way.

Warren County School Board members (left to right) Andrea Lo, Kristen Pence, Antoinette Funk, Thomas McFadden Jr., and Melanie Salins considered several action agenda items during their March 20 meeting.

School Board Chair Kristen Pence, Vice Chair Antoinette Funk, and board member Andrea Lo approved the budget following a motion by Lo, who moved that the superintendent’s budget be approved as modified by reducing the budget for $100,000 in light of the state paying for the Lexia reading program, and by adding a districtwide communication specialist, a teacher position at Ressie Jeffries Elementary School, and a reading specialist.

Presented to the board by WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger, the proposed budget now heads to the Warren County Board of Supervisors (BOS) for action. The pending WCPS budget is slated to be finalized by the end of April and is contingent upon the state and the BOS first approving their respective budgets.

Board member Thomas McFadden, Jr., voted against the proposal but didn’t publicly say why, while board member Melanie Salins abstained from voting “due to the process,” she said, noting that the entire process in which the budget is put together, from the state level on down, is flawed.

Specifically, Salins objected to the way the formation of the budget is handled because she thinks board members should have had more time to work more thoroughly on the budget, crunch numbers, discuss certain pay rates and other considerations “and not be expected to vote on it all in the exact same night.”

“The way the state puts it together is a really horrible way of doing things, too, where you’re guessing at ifs and maybes and what’s going to pass,” said Salins. “We still don’t actually even know how much has passed. The entire process is broken. And I’m not saying that in a manner in which that places blame. It is literally a broken system.”

“You know, in our perfect world, we would make it all work beautifully, but we know we’ve got to do what our ask is for our immediate needs and then just kind of go forth through conversations, if we need to, once we get the numbers finalized,” said Funk.

Ballenger pointed out that the budget isn’t finished yet and everything is still being considered because the BOS has to adopt its budget and the BOS won’t adopt one until the state adopts a budget. “So until the state budget is final, then the county adopts theirs, then we adopt ours,” he said.

WCPS Finance Director Robert Ballentine added that if everything goes well, typically Warren County will have a budget for WCPS by the end of April and then the School Board would approve it and make any needed modifications in order to get out contracts to teachers by the first of May.

“That’s when a lot of other school divisions do and obviously to get that contract in the teachers’ hands  and get them signed up for next year is important,” said Ballentine. “It’s all dependent on Richmond and when things come from there.”

Source: https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/warren/Board.nsf/files/D3JSCF720540/$file/Proposed%20FY2025%20Categorical%20Appropriations.pdf

In summarizing the budget for the School Board prior to its vote, Ballenger said that the WCPS budget is based on needs and the comprehensive plan. “And our comprehensive plan outlines what we need in order to make our school successful,” he said.

The superintendent also said WCPS again will have about 4,998 students for the upcoming school year. “We’re actually a little bit above that,” he said, “so that is a good number to be budgeting for.”

Source: https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/warren/Board.nsf/files/D3JS4970C5BD/$file/FY%2025%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf 

He also discussed the ‘budget drivers,’ pointing out that the largest is health insurance, which went up 7.9 percent to $604,000. (See information above.) The K-8 ELA and Math Screener, Progress Monitoring, and Remediation ($100,000) item will be removed from this list as the state will pay for it, he added.

Other increased costs include those for substitutes, playground mulch, two school buses, and a cooling power at Hilda J. Barbour Elementary School.

Ballenger also said that the biggest increase is always going to be labor, and that this budget “is kind of really a bare bones budget.”

To review the superintendent’s related documents for the proposed FY2025 WCPS budget, go to:

1. https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/warren/Board.nsf/files/D3JS4970C5BD/$file/FY%2025%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf;
2. https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/warren/Board.nsf/files/D3DTF9771D1A/$file/FY2025%20Non-labor%20Line%20Item%20Budget.pdf; and
3. https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/warren/Board.nsf/files/D3JSDD7228F7/$file/FY25%20Revenue%20Budget.pdf.

More actions

In other action agenda items, the School Board voted unanimously to approve:

• A Professional Staff Development Opportunities item that allows individual employees to receive up to $1,400 per year for tuition reimbursement purposes;
• The contract with Lawn Enforcement LLC in the amount of $59,220 for ground maintenance services for all schools, the Blue Ridge Technical Center, and the WCPS Transportation Department; and
• A contract award for the E. Wilson Morrison Elementary School project to Lantz Construction Company of Winchester in the amount of $288,200.

Watch the Warren County School Board Meeting of March 20, 2024, on these exclusive Royal Examiner videos. The meeting was about 4 hours and was divided by agenda points. Video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

Warren County School Board – March 20, 2024 – Part 1 – FY2025 Budget Presentation and Public Hearing

Warren County School Board – March 20, 2024 – Part 2 – Food Service Update, FOIA Update

Warren County School Board – March 20, 2024 – Part 3 – Leave Policies

Warren County School Board – March 20, 2024 – Part 4 – Action Agenda