To understand why Preston County Schools is requesting a renewal of its special maintenance levy, it’s helpful to understand where county school systems get their money.
The biggest part is from the state, which contributes based on the number of students enrolled in a county school system.
According to information provided by its staff to the board of education on the current school year’s budget, Preston County Schools was the 19th largest school district in the state, with 4,073.88 students enrolled as of the second month of the FY23 school year in preschool through 12th grade, a decrease of 150.28 full-time equivalent students from FY22. (Students who do not attend full-time are not counted as a full point in enrollment numbers.)
“Enrollment is down 292.54 students compared to pre-COVID numbers. Several students are enrolled in virtual education, which is included in the student count; however, home-school students are not part of the enrollment,” according to the information.
Preston County isn’t alone in losing enrollment; it’s happening in most of the state.
WV News reported in March that Marion County, for example, is considering cutting 40 personnel positions in the upcoming school year in order to bring its number of employees down to only those funded by the state. And WVMetroNews reported that Kanawha County is looking to close two schools and cut staff in order to balance its budget and shrinking enrollment.
Preston also tries to keep its personnel numbers as close as possible to those funded by the state. But as county superintendents point out, enrollment isn’t lost all in one grade level or from one school, but scattered throughout the system, so the need for personnel remains though the state funding drops.
In the current school budget, it is estimated 83% of the expected $46,056,112 general current expense fund will be spent for employee salaries and benefits, with 379 full-time equivalent professional staff and 210 full-time equivalent service personnel. West Virginia counties rely on the state for the bulk of their personnel budgets.
In 2023-24, of the 55 county school systems, 44 had special levies to help make up those personnel salaries not covered by the state and other expenses. Because personnel cannot easily be cut across the board, counties use money from those levies not just for personnel but to back fill maintenance, instructional supplies and other categories in the budget where money has to be pulled in order to keep schools staffed.
If voters do not renew the levy in the May 14 election, the impact will be felt in the 2024-25 school year budget, which begins July 1, Preston County Schools CFO Katrina Kerstetter said.
“We will lose funding for three custodial positions, any ability to add additional teachers, our program funding will be cut, instructional supplies will be cut, trip funding will be cut, preventative maintenance work will be cut, community use fees will be charged again, etc.,” Kerstetter said.
While the state bases its contributions to county school systems on enrollment, it’s not a straight forward process. For example, the state divides school districts into four groups: Sparse, low, medium and high, as part of its seven-step calculations. The state bases the percentage of personnel funding it will provide in part on which population density category a county school system falls into.
Preston County is classified by the state as a low population density county. Neighboring Monongalia County is an example of high population density in the formula. Taylor County is considered a medium density county, and Randolph sparse, for example.
According to an executive summary of the state Public School Support Program done by the state, West Virginia’s funding for schools is “a basic foundation allowance program that provides funding to the local school districts for personnel salaries (Steps 1, 2 and 5), employee benefit costs (Step 3), transportation operating costs (Step 4), general operating costs, substitute costs and allowances for faculty senates (Step 6), and improvement of instructional programs, increase in technology funding, advanced placement programs, and teacher and leader induction and professional growth (Step 7).”
The full, nine-page, single-spaced summary is available on the West Virginia Board of Education website at wvde.us, under State Board of Education.
