Below is the inaugural segment of a new, monthly feature titled, “School System Spotlight,” which will serve as a platform for transparent dialogue about Patrick County Schools, and allow concerns to be addressed directly by school officials. Schools Superintendent Jason Wood and other school officials fielded questions about several pressing topics, including school funding, the acquisition of the new CTE Marketplace and School Board Office, the use of pandemic relief funds, the deployment of county vehicles, and specific queries regarding the district’s policies on homebound instruction. These issues were selected based on recent inquiries from community members and stakeholders.
Budget Amendment
Wood provided a detailed explanation of how the schools’ budget is structured and why a recent budget amendment was necessary, as well as reiterating that the “amendment was purely procedural and did not involve any request for additional local taxpayer dollars beyond what was already required.”
He explained that “the budget is formulated using the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) Calculation Tool, which calculates the required State and Local funds needed to meet the district’s financial obligations, specifically the Required Local Effort and Required Local Match.
“After receiving the final Calculation Tool in June, the School Board finalized its budget and presented it to the Board of Supervisors in July,” Wood said. “The budget amendment, approved on August 12, did not seek additional local funding but requested the Board of Supervisors to increase the school budget to account for grant funds received during the year or carried over from the previous fiscal year.”
This increase was necessary because the school division is legally prohibited from spending more than the total amount approved by the Board of Supervisors.
Purchasing the new Career and Technical Education (CTE) Marketplace and School Board Office
The funds used to buy the new CTE Marketplace and School Board Office came from a 1 percent sales tax earmarked specifically for school capital projects.
Funds from that revenue stream “cannot be used to offset operational costs and are strictly limited to capital expenditures,” Wood said. “The decision to purchase the building was strategic, allowing the school system to use a combination of a construction grant and a Career and Technical Education (CTE) grant to renovate the facility. This building will serve multiple functions, including housing the CTE Marketplace, technology department, food service department, and school board office.”
The advantages of consolidating these departments under one roof include improved efficiency and better use of resources, Wood said. Additionally, the facility includes a new server room and a large meeting space that will host school training sessions, regional meetings, and possibly Board of Supervisors meetings. This renovated building is expected to enhance the district’s technology infrastructure and provide a venue that can be showcased to promote economic development.
“The CTE Marketplace will offer high school students a real-world opportunity to apply their skills by creating and selling products, an initiative aimed at fostering entrepreneurial skills and community engagement,” Wood added.
Allocating and spending pandemic funds
When providing an overview of how pandemic funds were allocated and used in the school district, Wood said that “like other districts across the country, Patrick County Public Schools received pandemic relief funds designed to address challenges brought on by COVID-19. These funds were distributed following public hearings and consultations with both staff and community members to ensure transparency and input. The spending plans were reviewed and approved by the VDOE and made publicly available on the district’s website.”
He added that the school system “recently underwent an audit of its pandemic relief fund” expenses and “received positive feedback, confirming that the funds were used appropriately,” and outlined a wide range of initiatives supported by the funds, including summer school, stipends for staff members, MiFi hotspots to families, technology devices for students, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), sanitization supplies, hire additional staff (teachers, teacher assistants, student success coaches, finance/grant assistant, at-risk interventionist, custodian and maintenance staff), instructional curriculum, water fountain filling stations, thermometers stands, SMART TVs, portable sound systems for outside activities, towable lift, after school tutoring funds, CTE classroom upgrades (classroom with HVAC added to shop areas), school painting, flooring upgrades, bleachers at three schools, ceiling tiles, awnings at two schools, storage buildings, professional development, library furniture, cafeteria tables, lobby furniture, classroom furniture, outdoor learning spaces, band equipment, digital radios, weight room equipment, and cleaning equipment.
“The funds also supported infrastructure improvements such as upgrading air quality in classrooms through filters, air purification, and HVAC upgrades, security access updates, new playground equipment, restroom renovations, new buses, and multi-passenger vehicles,” he said, and emphasized the significant impact the funds had on facility upgrades and, “most importantly, in closing learning gaps and helping the district return to pre-pandemic levels of academic performance.”
The use of county vehicles
“All vehicles purchased by the district since 2021, including buses between 2021 and 2023 and multi-passenger vehicles, were funded through pandemic relief grant funds,” Wood said, adding that the Suburban, “a particular focus of public interest, was purchased in 2021 using pandemic funds at a discounted government rate.”
The vehicle is primarily used for transporting staff and students for school-related activities, including athletic events and conferences. It is also used to visit schools, he said. In two years, the vehicle has only accumulated 8,844 miles, which was cited as evidence of its appropriate use.
“The school board did offer Mr. Wood a school car to drive daily since he is always on call,” Walter Scott, vice-chairman of the Patrick County School Board, said. “Wood turned down a school car because he stated he knew how it would cause negative public perception.”
Rob Martin, chairman of the school board, explained “the board instructed Mr. Wood to drive a school vehicle home when he anticipates inclement weather, and I know he often drives the truck with a snow plow. He has even used the truck to push the school’s parking lots instead of calling maintenance staff into work. Mr. Wood has responded to multiple schools during a crisis and had to drive his personal vehicle because he does not drive a school car daily.”
Martin added that he doesn’t know “of other superintendents who drive bus routes or field trips for schools, like Mr. Wood. With that said, I feel Mr. Wood is doing a great job, and based on school staff surveys of his performance, we extended his contract to the maximum of four years.”
“To ensure proper usage of school vehicles, employees document the date and the time they leave and return when using a school car,” Wood said. “Employees also complete professional leave requests for professional development and conferences where they would be assigned vehicles. These measures add additional layers of accountability to our existing practice of documenting mileage when vehicles are fueled.”
Homebound instruction
“Homebound instruction is granted based on strict criteria, including a physician’s certification that a student is confined to their home due to a medical condition,” Wood said. “If a physician does not confirm that a student is confined to their home, the district may consider intermittent homebound instruction as an alternative. This option is used when a student’s condition does not require constant home confinement but may occasionally prevent the student from attending school.”
Wood said the school system is committed “to working with families to ensure that students receive the support they need” and noted that “in-person learning remains the most effective way for students to reach their full academic potential and receive all the physical, social, and emotional support our division can provide.”
Out-of-District and Virtual Students
Patrick County has a current enrollment of 2,227, and the budget presented to the supervisors was 2,225. Of the 2,227, 214 are out-of-district students, which includes many Virtual Students.
The Virtual Agreement was formed in 2012 to increase school revenue without asking the locality for money beyond the Required Local Effort (RLE) and Required Local Match (RLM). For example, the 2021 RLE and RLM report shows that Patrick County received $267,148 above minimum funding, while Floyd County received $2,620,648.
“Our funding above the minimum is calculated after the end of the fiscal year and takes into consideration how funds were utilized in specific categories, such as Food Services,” Wood said. “Any funding above the minimum shown on this report also includes funds” we used from the 1% sales tax, which can only be spent on capital expenses.
“Even though that number shows $267,148 above minimum funding,” the system is only budgeted the minimum according to the Calculation Tool from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), Wood said, and cited the 2024-2025 Henry County budget as another example. That document shows more than $5 million above minimum funding.
The 2023 JLARC Report at https://jlarc.virginia.gov/landing-2023-virginias-k-12-funding-formula.asp, details the need for better funding for all schools, especially small and rural schools, Wood said, and encouraged residents “to contact our representatives and senators to help voice these issues.”
Public questions, privacy concerns
The difficulty in addressing public concerns, particularly in the age of social media, where opinions are often mistaken for facts about specific cases, is due to privacy laws, Wood said.
“These laws prevent the district from disclosing details that could justify its actions. This confidentiality, while essential, can lead to misunderstandings when the” system is unable to disclose details like personnel files or student records.
“I hope the community knows we are doing our very best to make the right decisions to keep our students and staff safe while providing our students a high-quality education,” he said, adding the school system “wants to continue to be a blessing in our county and be a part of the solution to bring economic growth while preparing our students to be successful community members.”
He also expressed optimism about the upcoming state accreditation process, which will soon factor in student growth from spring 2023 to spring 2024. Wood said he anticipates this will lead to even more positive news, “further highlighting the hard work and dedication of the entire” school community.
Wood said he looks forward to sharing more successes in next month’s segment, particularly because “the district’s SOL pass rates are expected to improve when student growth is included in the calculations.”
