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Kent County Public Schools requests $300,000 from commissioners to avoid additional layoffs; superintendent cites 224-student loss
Summary
Superintendent Dr. McComas asked the Kent County Commissioners for an additional $300,000 above the local share to extend support for roughly six staff positions for one year and to give 12 months' notice to other affected employees as the district 'rightsizes' after pandemic-era enrollment declines and the end of emergency grant funding.
Kent County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. McComas asked the Kent County Commissioners for $300,000 in additional county support above the local share, saying the funds would help keep roughly six support‑staff positions funded for one additional year while the district gives notice to other employees whose positions will be eliminated.
“During the last five years alone, we've lost 224 students,” Dr. McComas told commissioners, explaining that the district used federal emergency grant funds during the pandemic to stabilize staffing and that those grants have now expired. “Those grant funds were meant to stabilize school systems, to keep teachers … and those grant funds are gone now, and now it's time for us to right‑size.”
Dr. McComas and school board representatives explained the staffing math: the district needs to reduce a total of 44 positions between now and next year. Through attrition, the district has absorbed roughly 28 of those reductions so far; the remaining positions will be eliminated with 12 months' notice so affected employees have time to seek other jobs. The superintendent said the requested $300,000 would preserve approximately six support positions for one year and allow that transition timeline to proceed.
The superintendent and board members attributed much of the shortfall to a combination of lower post‑pandemic enrollment and the exhaustion of ESSER emergency grant funding that had subsidized salaries and other costs. Speakers noted that some pandemic grants (referred to at the meeting as ESSER 2 and ESSER 3) supported tutoring, instructional materials, temporary positions and health‑related staffing that masked what the district now faces in recurring costs.
Commissioners and other officials signaled support for the request during the budget discussion. Commissioner Alvarez told the superintendent he had planned to adhere strictly to the county’s funding “blueprint” but that, after hearing the superintendent, he would support the district’s plan. Commissioner Price also expressed support, and one county official said, “we will authorize 300,000 to address the current deficit,” indicating inclusion of the amount in the county’s budget deliberations.
Speakers at the meeting also discussed the state’s Blueprint education funding mandate and projections for Kent County, which were described to commissioners in broad terms. The commissioners were told the county’s current required contribution under the Blueprint approach was about $815,000 for the year; speakers said Department of Legislative Services projections show the county’s obligation could rise to between $1.7 million and $2.5 million in future years depending on implementation and enrollment trends. Superintendents statewide are pursuing advocacy and implementation‑change proposals with the governor and legislature, the superintendent said.
Several commissioners and the superintendent urged continued regional advocacy to seek changes in how the Blueprint is implemented, arguing local economies and small districts face different constraints than larger systems. The superintendent also committed to returning to the commissioners with student achievement data once the state releases it in late summer.
No formal roll-call vote on the superintendent’s request appeared in the transcript; county budget staff incorporated the $300,000 figure into the budget deliberations that followed.
