Dear editor,
Thank you for writing this article and providing the county with this information. After reading many articles on this issue, I am ecstatic to see that they are finally going beyond certain circumstances to understand the situation as a whole. The school board recently has not had enough money for the schools or for the payroll because the county has been spending money on useless objects like the LOVE sign. The school board also overspent money on many conference trips last year, so it is great to see that they are finally doing something about the revenue shortage.
There has been a constant pattern of less and less money coming into Patrick County. Therefore, in order to keep the schools and students intact, they need to cut spending on unnecessary things and start prioritizing the teacher’s pay and the student’s education. School consolidation would help the county tremendously and would push the school’s education performance and economic standing up; but it could also be challenging with transportation. However, spending more money on transportation for the students would not compare to the shortage of revenue they are enduring now. Globally, funding for schools are going to the more populated counties and it is leaving the smaller public schools with a small amount. Therefore, if Patrick County grew or combined their schools, they would get more revenue.
Thank you,
Arielle Taylor
