Patrick County school board approves 2025-26 budget with planned cuts and targeted staff additions
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Summary
The Patrick County School Board approved its 2025-26 budget on March 11, citing a projected revenue loss of $648,749 and a year-to-year county funding reduction of $229,903 while adding several positions funded within the constrained plan.
The Patrick County School Board voted to approve the 2025-26 budget during its March 11 meeting, adopting a spending plan the superintendent said responds to a projected loss of $648,749 in revenue for the coming year.
Superintendent Wood told the board the division faces a county funding shortfall of $229,903 next year and described multi-year declines in some federal funding streams that have reduced school resources. “We are all running on a tight budget,” Wood said in the budget presentation, noting the division must submit a final budget to the appropriation board by the statutory April 1 deadline.
Why it matters: Board members said the budget tries to preserve classroom instruction while responding to lower revenue. The plan keeps instruction near the Virginia School Boards Association model guidance, maintains employee health-insurance contributions, and includes several targeted hires to meet state requirements.
The adopted budget trims overall spending but adds an additional reading specialist (now required by state rules to cover certain grades), a special-education intervention specialist, and an elementary guidance counselor; the superintendent said those additions replace staff previously funded by expiring grants. The presentation also flagged that if the governor approves proposed state amendments, the division could see roughly a $270,000 boost that would reduce the projected impact.
Board members said the division has returned money to the county in recent years to help the locality’s finances. The superintendent and other board members noted $1.3 million in SRO-related reimbursements were returned over the past four years and said the division expects to be able to return about $200,000 next year if state funding materializes. A board member also noted the old school board office property—estimated at about $400,000 on county GIS—has been made available to the county.
Discussion and context: Board members and the superintendent described Patrick County as a small, rural division with transportation and technology costs above some statewide model ranges because of geography and division size. The superintendent emphasized the division’s high performance despite constrained local funding, and several members urged continuing outreach to the county and other donors to build reserves for future needs.
The board approved the budget by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting minutes.
What’s next: The superintendent said he plans to present the approved budget to the board of supervisors at its meeting in two weeks as part of the locality’s budget process and that the division remains subject to any final state budget actions before all funding is final.
