CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WRIC) — Thursday night’s public hearing on the Chesterfield school division’s budget began with testimony from a local teacher with a message of strong support for the school board, and a warning that budget cuts would hurt students’ education.
“If CCPS desires to provide a great education for every student in the county it needs to pass no less than the superintendent’s budget,” said Todd Starkweather, an English teacher at Midlothian High School.
He added that pay raises will need to compete not only with neighboring school divisions, but with pay in the private sector.
“If it doesn’t, CCPS will become a waystation for itinerant workers waiting for the next opportunity,” he said. “It is certainly cheaper to staff schools this way, but it doesn’t provide a better education.”
In a presentation given shortly afterward by Bob Meister, the school division’s Chief Financial Officer, he highlighted the looming uncertainty caused by the ongoing county and state budget process.
“It really puts the school board, quite frankly, in a difficult spot,” he said.
According to Meister’s estimate, differences between the budget proposal from Democrats in the state Senate and Republicans in the House of Delegates total over $15 million for Chesterfield schools.
While the proposal from the senate would increase expected local funds by around $10 million, the House version would reduce Chesterfield’s share of state education funding by around $5 million. That reduction may be in part due to sweeping corporate and income tax cuts proposed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, which have been met with opposition from Democrats in the Senate.
Still, the financial plan adopted by the school board Thursday — which will need $16 million more from the state or county to plug major funding gaps — realized several key priorities laid out by county leadership.
Among them are pay raises for most school employees, including a 7% raise for teachers. That means that a new teacher with a bachelor’s degree will now make $52,421, a nearly $3,000 increase.
The school division is still facing a thorny problem — a $16 million shortfall, based on revenue estimates from the county and the governor’s proposed budget. Under state law, the school division is expressly forbidden from running a deficit, and would have to make major cuts to balance the budget.
But all of the school board members agreed that would be impossible.
“I can’t find any specific area in this budget to cut anything from,” said Ryan Harter, representing Matoaca. “Chesterfield County, it’s a growing county and people are coming here because of the school system.”
Chesterfield is one of the fastest-growing school systems in Virginia and now serves over 60,000 students.
Debbie Bailey, representing the Dale District, said she agreed with Starkweather’s comments and called on community members to lobby the county and state for additional funds.
“We cannot continue to grow at the rate we’re growing and not support it with funds,” she said.
Much as Richmond superintendent Jason Kamras had earlier in the month, Bailey called on community members to support the senate budget, saying it was no longer a partisan issue.
“Someone needs to find the funds for this gap,” she said. “There’s nothing, and I mean nothing, frivolous in this budget.”
While the school board approved the spending plan Thursday night, it will now be up to the county and state to provide the funding necessary to realize it — or force the school board to make tough decisions.
