By Taylor Boyd
The Patrick County School Board approved its more than $35 million fiscal year 2026-2027 budget at a March 17 meeting.
The $35,290,661.25 budget includes $7,369,366 from the county, an increased appropriation of $647,587 from the current fiscal year.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Jason Wood said the division was hoping to have a formal budget from the General Assembly before it was required to approve its budget.
“However, that did not happen. So, we will be playing the waiting game just like we anticipated. We probably will get the budget later in April when they reconvene in special session, but we’ve also seen it be longer than that,” he said.
When the official state budget is approved, Wood said the school system will amend its budget. He added that the division only requested the Required Local Effort (RLE) and Required Local Match (RLM) from the county.
“It’s kind of in the agreement we’ve had with our appropriations board, our board of supervisors. One thing to note is that the local composite index has risen in Patrick County, which is good news economically for our county. However, it does also increase the portion they must pay for local schools,” he said.
Wood said the largest portion of the budget, or $21.9 million, is dedicated to student instruction, with other funds earmarked for facilities, school food service, administration, attendance and health, technology, pupil transportation, and operation and maintenance.
Wood said the budget is in compliance with state guidance regarding budget allocations.
“Instruction should be 60-65 percent, and ours is right there at 62 percent. Operations, maintenance, and facilities — ours is right there in the middle at 13 percent,” he said.
Because the county is about 400 square miles, Wood said transportation costs are higher. As a result, it’s allocating eight percent of its budget for transportation instead of the suggested three to five percent.
“Technology, we are a one-to-one device initiative school division. That’s why that one is slightly higher,” he said.
Wood said the administration and health funding allocations are at the low end of the suggested range at six percent.
“I think we know that sentiment in the community where we have amazing building leaders and amazing nurses, but we are not overstaffed. If you look at the comparison with surrounding school divisions and the size of their administration, ours is much smaller. We no longer have a part-time grant writer, and one of the administrators here at the school board office is now part time. In essence, we have lost a full-time position at the school board office just this year,” he said.
Wood said budget highlights include a proposed three-percent pay increase and maintaining employee contributions to health insurance, an additional elementary school guidance counselor, an additional required reading specialist, and a new maintenance position to take over for a retiring employee.
Adding an OT and speech position and a testing director are also in the budget.
“OT and speech isn’t a new position truly. We’re trying to recruit and hire someone to fill those two vacancies because we had contracted service for those two positions, and we know the importance of having someone in person who meets the needs of our students better. Adding the testing director, as we said, we lost a part-time administrator here who was our DDOT (Division Director of Testing), so this person will be the back-up to the DDOT and actually be housed at the high school to assist with all the testing,” Wood said.
Despite facing budget shortfalls, Wood believes the school division is successful in its efforts to educate students.
“We continue to be recognized in the top 10 in the state, even though we have budget shortfalls. I don’t know of any other surrounding school divisions who are ranked as high, who are also funded the RLE and RLM, but we are very proud of the caliber of our staff, students, and support of our community,” he said.
In other matters, the board:
*Heard from Hannah Wood, a Patrick County High School (PCHS) graduate, who asked the board to continue donating used Chromebooks to schools in Ethiopia. She also thanked the board for its support.
*Recognized BETA students who placed in the state competition.
*Approved the Virginia Inclusive Action Plan.
*Approved the consent agenda.
*Heard the superintendent’s report.
