Supervisors fund school division 75%, clear way for WCPS employee bonuses

The Warren County Board of Supervisors (BOS) voted unanimously on Tuesday, June 28 to approve the fiscal year 2021-2022 budget category transfer request that will allow employees of Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) to receive a one-time bonus for their extra efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic over the last school year.

Warren County Education Association President of Secondary Education Amy Flora (left) addresses the County Board of Supervisors during its June 28 meeting as Warren County School Board members Antoinette Funk and Kristen Pence (right, second row) and WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger and WCPS Finance Director Robert Ballentine (right, third row) listen to comments.

“I am thankful to say we are moving forward with well-deserved bonuses for our teachers and staff,” Warren County School Board Chair Kristen Pence told the Royal Examiner today. “We truly appreciate all of the ways they went above and beyond for our kids and each other during the 2021-22 school year.”

WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger also said he’s “pleased that the Board of Supervisors has allowed for the transfer of funds so that the bonus to all employees can be made.”

The School Board at its May 18 work session unanimously voted to give all full-time employees (as of May 31) a one-time net bonus of $1,500 and all part-time employees a one-time net bonus of $750 to acknowledge their hard work and efforts during the pandemic-impacted 2021-2022 school year. The money to pay for the bonuses will come from the board’s fiscal year (FY) 2021-2022 budget using unspent funds left over from unfilled positions, mid-year turnover, new employees entering on a lower pay scale, etc.

The School Board is categorically funded so had to request that the BOS allow the transfer of funds between categories to allow payment of the bonuses to all employees — including administrators, teachers, instructional assistants, nurses, bus drivers, and others.

But when the School Board took its request to the Supervisors at the June 7 BOS meeting, the request to transfer the funds was tabled and the School Board was asked to return to the June 14 BOS work session, where the request again got delayed.

The item was on the BOS June 28 agenda as an Unfinished Business item and several speakers had bones to pick with the supervisors about it.

Public comments

Three teachers from Warren County High School and two members of the Warren County School Board on Tuesday urged the BOS to ensure school division staff receive proposed bonuses already approved by the School Board, and to fully fund the division as requested by the School Board.

During the first public comment portion of the BOS meeting, teachers earnestly requested that the BOS grant the School Board’s proposed bonuses for WCPS staff who continued working during the COVID-19 pandemic, stepping in to fill teaching vacancies and to maintain an effective and successful learning environment for students.

“I am nothing short of appalled by the actions of this board with respect to the teacher bonus currently on the table,” said Warren County Education Association President of Secondary Education Amy Flora, who is a math teacher at Warren County High School and a local resident.

“First, let’s stop calling it a bonus,” Flora told the BOS. “In reality, it is payment for uncompensated work with funds that are already available. The money in question is not a bonus. We earned it.”

Flora also said it was wrong for the BOS to try and tie the bonuses to their contracts for next year. “And should you deny this motion, do you think that word will not spread? Do you believe educators are not already watching and talking? Do you think your actions thus far have in any way bolstered the reputation of Warren County to any prospective or any current school employee?” she asked the Supervisors.

Due to the lack of adequate support both nationally and in Warren County, Flora said WCPS will continue to lose teachers “at an alarming rate.” She urged the BOS to support the teachers, staff, and superintendent of WCPS.

“Should you choose not to,” Flora added, “then you do not need to question why there are over 70 vacancies yet to be filled. In fact, you need not question why there are over 70 vacancies to begin with.”

Flora also said that if Warren County does not quickly and dramatically change the way it deals with the education system and begin making it a true priority, then she has “no doubt that a crippling staffing crisis will be inevitable.”

Two of her colleagues at Warren County High School and three other WCPS elementary school teachers echoed those sentiments, with one of them pointing out that Warren County is already known as “a teacher training ground for other districts.”

During Tuesday night’s BOS meeting, the Supervisors finally relented, though they still raised some of their own fiscal concerns, and essentially realized the bonuses were “all-or-nothing” — as Supervisor Vicky Cook called them — that depended on their approval.

Board Chair Cheryl Cullers and Supervisors Cook, Jay Butler, Walt Mabe, and Delores Oates were present, and all voted to allow the transfer of funds as requested by the School Board after a somewhat circuitous route to a motion being referenced into the meeting record.

“You now have your bonuses,” Cullers told the audience following the 5-0 vote and everyone clapped and cheered.

WCPS budget

Warren County School Board Chair Pence, who is also a resident and mom of a rising 1st grader in WCPS, raised concerns with the Supervisors about a last-minute agenda addition by the BOS at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday to discuss the proposed fiscal year 2022-2023 budget for WCPS, as well as changes the BOS included as potential motions: either a $750,000 cut or a $3.5 million cut to the school division’s proposed budget.

Concerned about the current 70 unfilled teaching positions facing WCPS for the upcoming school year, as well as the division’s inability to retain teachers, Pence stressed that the School Board and WCPS Central Office staff worked diligently on creating a budget to wisely use funds.

Cutting $750,000 from the WCPS budget “would be very difficult for us; $3.5 million would be catastrophic,” Pence told the BOS, noting that likely more WCPS staff would be lost, as would any potential salary raises or scale adjustments for bus drivers and maintenance workers.

“I urge you to please reconsider these last-minute changes,” said Pence. “I was not aware [of the agenda changes], and I would have loved to talk to each of you prior to this evening’s meeting. It was quite a shock to see that.”

Julie Besecker (above), a fifth-grade teacher at Ressie Jeffries Elementary School who spoke during the second public comment period on Tuesday, told the BOS that “adding in budget cuts at the last minute I feel is very sneaky. Are you trying to create more vacancies in our schools?”

And the BOS “having to even consider bonuses for our teachers is a joke,” Besecker added. “It should be a no-brainer.”

Pence pointed out that WCPS will not be able to carry out its plans without full funding from the County, which makes up a significant amount of the overall WCPS budget. And she said the BOS already said WCPS would be level-funded, “so we’re not asking for additional funds from Warren County… we’re just asking you to accept the budget that we have adopted as our School Board.”

Antoinette Funk, also a Warren County School Board member and an educator who has lived locally for 25 years, agreed with Pence that the BOS should better support WCPS and the public education system. “Education is a powerful part of our community, and we have to support it”, said Funk. “We need to remain a community that continues to evolve.”

In the end, the BOS decided to go with another option offered by the County Administrator to categorically fund the school division’s proposed operating budget for the upcoming school year at 75 percent; to fully fund the WCPS capital improvements plan; and accepted the County’s budget as presented, according to Supervisor Oates’ motion.

Supervisor Cook, prior to the decision, stated that she did not want to borrow money to pay for the capital improvements requested by WCPS. “It’s not fiscally responsible,” Cook said, adding that the County is currently in debt for over $100 million. “And it’s because we keep borrowing… with most of it going to school capital improvements,” though Cook didn’t know the actual ratio.
Oates concurred, saying that “these bonuses” and capital improvements for WCPS “are not sustainable.”

“We can’t keep doing this,” said Oates, adding that the BOS will sit down with the supervisors-school board liaison committee “and try to work through this.”

In emails to the Royal Examiner on Wednesday, both Pence and Ballenger reacted to the BOS decision, adding that they remain hopeful for improved communication between their boards.

“I was shocked by the two options for the budget proposal. I was not contacted about the two proposals and there were no questions regarding how this would adversely affect the school division,” Ballenger wrote. “I’m glad we now have the opportunity to talk about this budget in more detail and discuss how this will impact the school system so that a sound decision can be made concerning the division’s FY-2023 budget.”

Wrote Pence: “While I cannot deny the surprise and disappointment I felt regarding the FY-23 budget discussion and action, I look forward to the conversations that lie ahead between the School Board and Board of Supervisors budget subcommittee.

“As I previously mentioned, the School Board’s proposed FY-23 budget offers amazing opportunities for WCPS and my hope is that by working together with the BOS it will gain full support,” Pence wrote.

The first round of Public Comments addressing the school budget issue begins at the 6:30 mark of the below-linked video; with a second-round following public hearings starting at the 2:29:35 mark. Supervisor and Public School staff discussion leading to the above-cited motion and vote on bonus funding continues between the 2:53:35 and 3:52:35 mark where a vote of approval of the $125,000 transfer is called. School Superintendent Chris Ballenger addresses capital improvement funding at the 2:50:50 mark, with a vote of approval coming at the 2:52:00 video mark.

Click here to watch the BOS June 28 meeting.