I attended the School Board meeting last Tuesday night,

I attended the School Board

meeting last Tuesday night, and heard a number of people who did not support funding for the proposed school budget for next year.

Some spoke passionately of their concern for escalating property taxes. While it is true that property taxes have increased, I hope citizens will carefully review both the history of our schools and what I see as the real issues surrounding the funding for our county’s services.

We have an excellent public school system that has been improving for the last 25 years, through the efforts of teachers, parents, and students, nonprofit organizations that pump thousands of dollars into the school system, administrators, and a legion of community volunteers.

There will always be room for improvement, but many of the programs and services have reached a level of excellence no one would have dreamed possible. The goal of everyone connected to the school system remains to maintain excellence and continue to improve, not to move backwards.

Dr. Robert Chappell and the School Board have proposed a budget that focuses on the people with daily interaction with the students - who satisfy the federally mandated requirement to staff schools with highly qualified teachers.

Even with this increase in salaries, Rappahannock will still be in the least favorable position of all the surrounding counties to attract and retain highly qualified teachers. Our starting - and other - salaries will still be the lowest.

The total proposed increase in the county’s portion of the school budget is close to $494,000. County Administrator, John McCarthy has confirmed that if turned directly into a tax increase, this would require a 3-cent increase in the tax rate. For my house and land that increase amounts to about $132. I’m not thrilled to pay this $132, but as a citi