By Taylor Boyd
The Patrick County School Board held a public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-27 at a special called meeting on March 5.
Residents did not attend the meeting to discuss the proposal and school board members reported they had received no emails to be read aloud about it.
After the meeting, Schools Superintendent Dr. Jason Wood said highlights of the public included the estimated per pupil amount, Average Daily Membership (ADM) and Required Local Effort (RLE) and the Required Local Match (RLM).
Based on the ADM of 1,885 students, the county’s estimated share of funding to the school system is $7,369,266.
The estimated per pupil expenditure is $15,500 — an increase from FY 2025-2026 per pupil expense of $15,100, and a more than $800 decrease from fiscal year 2024-25 per pupil expense of $16,315.
Noting that mental health is a big issue, Wood said the division is working with School Resource Officer (SRO) Roger Bell, who also writes grants for the county.
“He’s helping us write a grant for additional behavioral health specialists, which will be an additional position. We take comments that we receive, and we have had comments (like) ‘please consider putting a guidance counselor in every school,’” Wood said.
Even though the Virginia Department of Education’s Standards of Quality dictate a behavioral health specialist isn’t needed at every school, Wood said the administration knows the positions are needed. “So, we’re building our budget based on feedback that we get. That’s why we present what is required at this public hearing. Here’s what we think the budget will be,” he said.
Wood said it’s also easy for the division to build the budget because he believes it’s the only school division in the region that only receives the RLE and RLM.
“We don’t ask for anything more,” Wood said, adding that he also believes that is the reason residents have not attended the public hearings in the last three years.
“Another school division may be asking for $2 million more than the minimum,” prompting the public to ask “‘What are you going to need that extra money for,’” Wood said, adding “we only get the minimum.”
Instead of attending meetings, Wood said the division typically hears feedback from the community via phone calls or principal concerns.
There’s “still a lot of work to be done before we have a budget to present. We’re still waiting on the state to finish their work, but the Code of Virginia says by March 31 we have to present a budget,” he said.
The full proposed budget will be presented at the school board’s Tuesday, March 17 meeting.
However, “if it goes as it has for the past several years we’re still playing the waiting game,” waiting for the state to pass its budget, Wood said.
“We want to offer high-quality education. We know that the economic situation in the county is what it is, and we try to work with them. We have worked great together about” (SRO) “reimbursements and trying to not be a tax burden on the people, but we think that when we’re ranked 10th in the state for three consecutive years, now we are a good investment.
“Our kids leave our schools above the learning curve. They’re top of the line. Patrick & Henry (Community College), they want our students because our students are high caliber,” he said.
In other matters, the board:
*Denied the relief requested in grievance 2025-2026-01, and modified the superintendent’s decision to deny the removal of either letter. The board wrote in a statement regarding the grievance:
“The school board has received multiple concerns that this situation involved prayer and a staff member’s religious beliefs. After reviewing the evidence, the board would like to go on the record to state that those concerns are incorrect. The evidence reviewed outlines behavior we have determined to be unprofessional and therefore made the motion to deny all relief requested in the grievance.”
*Approved removing the COVID-19 procedures that allow digital and electronic communications between the public and the board to be read aloud during public comment. Those wishing to address the board must do so by attending the meetings in person.
