Teachers, administrators, clerical staff and aids could be on Washington County chopping block

ABINGDON, Va. – Anticipated state budget cuts could mean that as many as 125 Washington County school employees will lose jobs, Superintendent Alan Lee wrote in a letter to state legislators.

“It is government’s role to provide services even in bad times,” Lee wrote to the lawmakers who represent Southwest Virginia, including Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, and Delegates Joe Johnson, D-Abingdon, and Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City. The letter was copied to the school system’s public e-mail list.

“Good government can function the same way [as an insurance policy] by sparing catastrophic reduction of services through spreading the impact of the cost through relatively small tax increases.”

He wrote that he believes most Virginians would tolerate a small tax increase to pay for important services like education.

Already staring at a $5.8 million budget shortfall – the bulk of which would come from $3.8 million in proposed state cuts outlined in former Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposed budget – the school system would lose 81 jobs, 36 that have been eliminated through attrition, according to Lee’s letter.

The 45 who could be on the chopping block are teachers, administrators, clerical staff and instructional aides, he wrote.

With news coming out of Richmond that there now is the potential for double the proposed budget cuts, Lee wrote that an additional 80 school employees could lose jobs.

Melissa Caudill, director of finance for the school system, said that while a list has been made of what other spending cuts would likely be made to respond to the cuts in funding, school officials are not ready to release it until it’s presented to the School Board on Monday.

And while she’s hopeful that the county can help make up some of the shortfall with local funds, Caudill said she – and everyone – recognize that the Board of Supervisors won’t be able to cover it all.

Caudill stresses that a budget worksheet sent to the county board Feb. 2 detailing expected revenue cuts and cost increases, is not a request that the county make up $5.8 million.

But Lee wrote in a letter to County Administrator Mark Reeter, “My board voted to request as much additional funding above this year’s level as possible as a means to mitigate the negative impact of the anticipated revenue deficit.”

Dulcie Mumpower, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, said it’s too early to speculate about how much the county would be able to make up, but the board is not likely to raise local taxes.

She said it is shaping up to be the county’s toughest budget year in her 16 years on the board.

“I’m hopeful we’ll be able to do something, but there’s a very large gap that our board’s not going to be able to make up,” she said. “I’m hopeful that we will be able to at least reinstate what we had to take last year [in cuts to the school system] and hopefully add some more.”

One financial bright spot for Washington County and other area school systems came when new Gov. Bob McDonnell announced that he supports updating the Local Composite Index, the formula that determines how much money localities get from the state for education.

Kaine recommended freezing the index to save the state $29 million.

While some school systems, particularly in the eastern part of the state, stand to lose big if the state updates the index, it would benefit Washington County and the city of Bristol.

According to projections from the Virginia Department of Education, Washington County would gain $844,265, and Bristol, Va., would gain $882,055.

Amid all the proposals and estimates, however, school systems around the state are still waiting for hard numbers from the General Assembly.

“It’s all uncertain, and that’s the really hard part,” Caudill said.

dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701