Radford City Schools urges council to fund buy-ins as state share rises

Radford City Schools Superintendent Dr. Joyce told Radford City Council on the evening of the budget hearing that a lower Local Composite Index (LCI) has reduced the share the city is expected to pay for K-12 education and that the division is seeking local "buy-ins" to secure additional state funds.

Dr. Joyce said Radford's LCI is 0.1658 for the 2025-26 budgeting cycle, down from 0.2395 in the 2022-24 biennium, "which means the city of Radford is able to pay for about 16% of K-12 education in the city of Radford versus 84% would come from the state." She told the council the state calculates LCI using true value of real estate, adjusted gross income and taxable retail sales and that Radford's LCI is among the lowest in the Commonwealth.

The superintendent explained the division is building its budget on a conservative projected average daily membership (ADM) of 3,010 students while the state projects 3,089. She said the division's operating request included a local funds ask of about $5.8 million (the…