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Bath schools facing declining enrollments
Millboro Elementary at risk in the future
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
WARM SPRINGS - The food was home cooked, the atmosphere was light and friendly, but the Bath County Board of Supervisors came loaded with some tough questions for the school board at the annual joint budget work session dinner held Monday at the school board offices.
While trying not to be alarmist, supervisor Percy Nowlin read a list of 10 questions (see sidebar), mostly without asking for comments between questions. Nowlin led by addressing the potential loss of 23.5 percent of the student population over the next five years, and much of the discussion centered on the potential impact on the school system and how best to plan for the future.
"We are not talking about trying to cut programs for kids," Nowlin said as he read through the list. But one of the possible impacts of decreased enrollment raised eyebrows around the room.
Supervisor Carol Hardbarger said she was interested in the fate of Millboro Elementary School. "I'm concerned about what might happen to Millboro," she said.
While there is no immediate concern about MES, Hardbarger wanted to start discussion about what is going to happen longterm.
Superintendent Dr. David Smith responded to questions on the fate of MES with a statement made recently by Sen. Creigh Deeds: "Closing Millboro Elementary will take the heart out of that community."
In the last monthly report, average daily attendance at MES was 139 students. Valley Elementary School had 256 students for the same period.
Hardbarger said Wednesday she raised the question about MES for two reasons. "I would like to see discussion start now, before we get into a crisis." And she said, when the high schools were consolidated 40 years ago, the people in Millboro felt it happened without a lot of consultation.
Supervisor Stuart Hall said he was on the board of supervisors when the plans to build Valley Elementary were being developed. He said he and only one other supervisor voted to build a consolidated elementary school either near the intersection of Route 39 and U.S. 220 near Warm Springs or in the Fairview area.
That option, said Hall, lost to the new school at Valley and then later, in 1989, the opening of the new elementary school in Millboro.
"Every time we close a school, it falls down," supervisor Richard Byrd said, adding some levity to the discussion. The fate of the old Millboro school has been a major issue for supervisors the past several years, and is still undecided.
Smith said Wednesday there are no hard and fast rules on how to deal with schools with small enrollments. The issue, he said, is "how can we best served the educational needs of the children?"
The potential decline in enrollment is subject to change and will impact the entire school system, Smith said. He said an influx of young families could reverse the trend. But like the members of the two boards, Smith agreed planning now is important.
One option discussed Monday was the possibility of a cooperative agreement with Rockbridge County. About 50 students are currently bused from the Goshen area to Fairfield. Rockbridge is facing increasingly high transportation cost for those students.
Taking Goshen students to Millboro would be a "very logical alliance between the two communities," Smith said. However, after talking with the Rockbridge school administration, "There doesn't seem to be the support to make it happen."
"There concern is loss of ADM," Nowlin said. Rockbridge, like all Virginia localities, receives money from the state based on the daily average student attendance. The loss of the 50 Goshen area students could cost Rockbridge County $50,000, according to Nowlin.
Hall said Bath and Highland could benefit and he would be willing to let Rockbridge keep the state money. Nowlin agreed Rockbridge might go along if the division wouldn't lose any money.
In addition to gaining 50 students for Millboro, an agreement with Rockbridge could allow Bath to use the Rockbridge composite index. The Rockbridge index is much more favorable than Bath's high local percentage. Bath currently pays for 80 percent of its education expenses.
Closing Millboro is not eminent and not even a sure thing down the road, Smith emphasized. Like Hardbarger, he felt exploring options and making plans now is the best way to make sure the needs of all Bath County students are met in the future.
The school board is still in the process of developing a final budget proposal for 2008-09 to present to supervisors. The budget for the current school year is $10,253,311 on a projected average enrollment of 750. The schools currently have an average daily attendance of 714, which may impact state revenue for this year.
The projected enrollment in all Bath schools combined for next year is 685, about 5 percent below the expected actual enrollment for 2007-08.
The current, preliminary, numbers presented by Smith Monday are $733,000 above the current budget year with an additional $1.4 million in capital requests. Over half of the capital requested is to complete the renovations of Bath County High School and Mertz Vocational School.
Almost half of the additional general school budget money would go toward a 5 percent plus step raise for all school employees. Smith said the school board is still working with a rough draft of the budget and much work remains.
In spite of some tough talk about money and penetrating questions for supervisors, the meeting closed with positive comments. Supervisors' chairman Jon Trees said he believed "committed people working together to achieve a common goad can accomplish anything."
Trees said the boards needed to continue to communicate and work together for education. Ryder echoed Trees comments, saying, "Our communication is a tremendous asset."
The enrollment projections used by supervisors and school board members were prepared by The Weldon Cooper Center.
According to the center, located at the University of Virginia, "The Weldon Cooper Center's estimates serve as the official population figures for the Commonwealth of Virginia and are used by state and local government agencies to allocate funds, assign personnel, authorize staffing levels, calculate revenue sharing formulas, and in planning and budgeting." The projections cited by the supervisors are available online at www.coopercenter.org.
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