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School
budget
reduced
By Jan LaValley
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The county’s supervisors did manage to reduce the increase in the proposed school budget by $231,957.79 at . their regular meeting Monday. After a work session Friday, for which a good crowd showed up, the supervisors were provided with a different take on the feelings of many residents concerning the proposed budget.
Washington resident Bob Bridges proposed that the board look at forming a Blue Ribbon Committee comprised of members of the various county boards, citizens from educational organizations in the county and even state and district representatives to create a pilot program to study projected growth, needs and possible expansion ideas for the schools. He said, “Rappahannock is one of the finest counties in the state but it won’t be the same if this (increasing budgets each year) continues.”
William Dietel of Flint Hill called the budget “cautious and conservative” and told the board that no one had yet taken issue with the budget in terms of what it might be. He urged the board to do “serious long-term planning” for the schools and said funds should be appropriated to allow the superintendent and the school system to do a thorough cost analysis on how they’re going to solve the problems facing them in the next 10 years. He warned them against dealing with the issues by “crisis management” and said, “If there was ever a time to think and plan on the basis of thoughtful analysis, it is now.”
Rick Kohler, of Washington, pointed out that the problem is with the state and its mandates. He said because Rappahannock is viewed as a rich county by the state (ranked as the 11th richest school district in the state), due- to increased property values here, the county’s yat** ing is higher and we get less funds than even surrounding counties like Culpeper. “Until we recognize and deal with the problem of mandates by the state coupled with the composite index...it’s impossible to have a meaningful conversation about the issue.”
After having heard arguments for and against the proposed budget at last week’s public hearing and work session and this week’s board meeting, the supervisors went about the process of deciding what to approve and not.
Their concerns centered around two main points: they felt the pay raises for support
See BUDGET, Page A7
89.1%