County Supervisors Hear a Public Urging for Full Funding of Public Schools Budget Before Reading ‘Support’ Resolution Into Record

At its meeting of Tuesday, May 21, the Warren County Board of Supervisors faced three public hearings on rather routine matters — approval of the VDOT 6-year plan for secondary roads; a water rate increase in the Shenandoah Shores Sanitary District to cover increased costs; and the annual lease agreement between the County and the Front Royal Cardinals Valley League summer baseball team for use of Bing Crosby Stadium — as well as approval of a seven-item Consent Agenda from which two items were pulled for additional discussion. Those two items were the annual lease agreement between the County and the Humane Society of Warren County for use of the Humane Society’s Julia Wagner Animal Shelter for the State-mandated municipal animal control impoundment function, and a proposal to install an air-conditioning system in the Fire & Rescue Department’s Fire Station 6. All those items were eventually approved, only the Station 6 AC proposal drawing a lone negative vote of the evening.

However, preceding that business was first, a Closed Session convened at 5:30 p.m. to get legal advice on two matters, first the EDA “financial scandal” litigation with individual defendants and the Town of Front Royal, and then on “Funding of the School Board and School Governance Issues”. There were no announcements out of the closed session which appeared to end shortly before the open meeting’s 7 p.m. convening.

County Attorney Jason Ham visits Vice-Chairman ‘Jay’ Butler prior to start of Tuesday’s meeting, likely reviewing the motion prepared by legal staff adding an item to the meeting agenda. That item was a Resolution outlining the board’s support for the county’s public schools system. Below, other than County staff in back of the room there weren’t many citizens present to hear that resolution read into the record two hours later, or to hear Sarah Downs Public Comment urging full funding of the public schools budget shortly after the meeting’s start. Downs is the citizen seated furthest back in 6th row of public seating. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

But if the supervisors had no public comment on those behind-closed-doors discussions, one Public Comment on non-agenda items speaker did rise to comment on the public schools funding issues prominent in recent Fiscal Year-2025 budget work sessions and meetings. That speaker was Sarah Downs, who noted she was a 2017 graduate of Skyline High School who has previously addressed the board on local governance issues. And while Downs started on a positive note — “I was relieved to see the work you are doing to collaborate with our school system and increase transparency. I was also happy to see the commitment you have made to raise teacher and staff pay.” She also offered a cautionary warning on the board’s seeming reluctance to accept the full Public Schools Administration’s budget submission:

“I’m also here to discuss some of the concerns expressed here by citizens on May 7th. We can all agree tax increases are not always welcomed, but they are necessary. Our Sheriffs Department and Fire & Rescue must be fully funded, absolutely,” she noted of the board’s public statements in that regard before adding, “But to not fully fund or cut the funding of our Public Schools would be devastating,” Downs warned. She offered some financial statistics to make her point:

“Virginia schools on average receive $1,400 per student from the federal government, $6,200 per pupil from the state, and the rest must be made up from local funding, which results in on average a spending of roughly $10,000 to $11,000 per child. The state with the most spending on children in public schools is New York where they spend 200-percent more, at $30,000 dollars on average per child,” Downs observed, including two supporting LINKS in a full draft of her remarks we acquired:

<https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics#virginia> and <https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/divisions/warren-county-public-schools#desktopTabs-5>

“I make this point to say that our school system is working with a fraction of what other counties and states contribute to education. And yet our high schools overall have a 92% graduating rate according to the 2022 data,” Downs continued. She noted student discipline and safety issues she has previously addressed, but tied that to staffing issues created by a lack of funding to maintain experienced staffing at a variety of levels.

“Overall, we will not see improvements in our school system until we see increased funding. An Investment in our school system is an investment in this county’s future and to consider otherwise would be a disservice,” Downs concluded pointedly of not including public schools as a full-funding priority service to the community.

Graphic pages from a County Budget process PowerPoint presented during County Administrator Ed Daley’s staff report to the board.

Perhaps ironically, an “Additional New Business” Agenda item “M” was added near the meeting’s outset on a motion by Vice-Chairman “Jay” Butler. The item was titled “Resolution of Support From the Warren County Board of Supervisors for Warren County Public Schools, the Warren County School Board, Teachers, and Students of our Community”. It was read into the meeting record by Board Chairman Cheryl Cullers as the final action of the evening. But that was about two hours away as Downs finished her comments urging more financial support for the public school system from the supervisors. See the full board Resolution here.

Next following “Public Comments” it was on to the action agenda cited above, and some discussion of the monthly review of “Appropriations and Transfers” and departmental “Approval of Accounts”, as well as a review of the County’s budget process during staff reports. See related story.

Click here to watch the Warren County Board of Supervisors Meeting of May 21, 2024.