By Taylor Boyd
The Patrick County School Board approved a budget update to provide a raise for teacher assistants and apply for School Construction Assistant Program (SCAP) funds for its school roof projects at its November 13 meeting.
While the division didn’t contract a salary study to save some money, Schools Superintendent Dr. Jason Wood said an in-house salary comparison with its competitors in the job market was conducted.
“We found that our biggest discrepancy is with our teacher assistant pay. They are now instructional assistants, they run small groups. The day of teacher assistants helping provide copies for teachers – that’s been long gone,” he said, adding he believes the fact that employees are instructionally driven is part of the schools’ success.
“We utilize our instructional assistants, our teacher assistants, very much in the classroom instruction,” he said.
In looking at the pay comparison and the division’s projected budget and savings, Wood requested all teacher assistant pay, regardless of what employment step they’re on, be increased by $2,000 a year beginning January 1, 2026.
“So truly this first year they’d only get $1,000 of that, but then that salary scale will be adjusted from here on out to show the appreciation we have, and we know the difficult job that they’re doing. It truly will make us much more competitive in the job market,” Wood said.
Wood said the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) changed the guidelines for its SCAP, which the division was able to utilize for the Blue Ridge Elementary School construction projects.
“However, most of your small rural school divisions like us typically do not have million dollar projects very often. But the VDOE has changed, and now we can combine up to three schools with similar projects,” he said.
By combining the three schools — Patrick County High School, Patrick Springs Primary School, and Stuart Elementary School, that need roof replacements into a single project, Wood said it would meet that $1 million SCAP minimum threshold.
“Hopefully we will apply for that, and we will get 30 percent of that total cost reimbursed to the school division,” he said. The reimbursement would be approximately $400,000. Wood said this would also save the division from having to use all of its one percent sales tax funds.
In addition to the board’s approval, Wood said he also needs some documents from the Patrick County Board of Supervisors, which he has already sent to them to review.
Walter Scott, of the Smith River District, asked if the division could also anticipate getting 30 percent of the cost of the Blue Ridge school project back.
Wood said those funds have been received.
Noting people get stressed because it’s a lot of money, Vice Chair Shannon Harrell, of the Blue Ridge District, said the division would ultimately only have to pay 70 percent of the project’s total cost “because these are things we have to have. I think it’s wonderful. I’m super grateful for these grants and for you all writing them and doing all the work,” she said.
Rob Martin, of the Dan River District, added this will probably be cheaper in the long run than if they did the roof replacements one at a time due to next year’s potential elevated costs.
“We’ve seen that in a lot of our buildings. This is going to save us, I think, a lot of money instead of having to space it out over time,” Martin said.
In other matters, the board:
*Approved the consent agenda.
*Heard the superintendent’s report.
*Approved the division literacy plan update as presented.
*Approved the personnel report as amended.
