Parents and former teacher urge transparency on budgeting and staff redundancies during Southampton budget hearing
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Summary
During the required public hearing on the FY27 school operating budget, community members urged transparency about school–board and board-of-supervisors responsibilities and called for a review of administrative staffing to redirect funds toward classroom teachers.
At the public hearing portion of the Southampton County School Boards Jan. 12 meeting, community members raised questions about district funding, governance and staffing that board members acknowledged but did not resolve during open session.
Peggy Gillette, a retired teacher, addressed the board during the citizen comment period and summarized her research into school governance and funding. "Since this is all new to me, I called my informal report, public school funding for dummies," she said, then outlined her understanding of the relationship between school boards and boards of supervisors and the partiesresponsibilities for budgeting and transparency (SEG 676-716). The chair contested part of her interpretation of the Code of Virginia and advised the public to review Code sections cited in the meeting (SEG 713-721).
Victoria Edwards, speaking as a parent and taxpayer, urged the board to investigate the divisions administrative structure for possible redundancies. Edwards said consolidating administrative roles and reducing overlap could free funds for teacher pay and classroom positions. "One principal salary could probably fund two teachers," she said (SEG 801-816). The superintendent and board acknowledged the concern; the superintendent committed to looking at personnel formatting and streamlining voting procedures, but the transcript shows no formal directive or timeline for an investigation during the meeting.
Why it matters: the citizen comments touch on how local governance and budget choices translate to classroom staffing and services. Questions about roles and reporting between the school board and county supervisors, and requests for personnel reviews, may shape future agenda items or requests for audits or reports.
Board response: the chair pushed back on specific statutory interpretations offered by the commenter and encouraged the public to read the cited Code of Virginia sections themselves. The superintendent said she would work with HR on potential changes to the personnel agenda format so the governance team can vote more efficiently and consider grouped personnel votes after closed session (SEG 1752-1787). No fiscal action or formal investigation was launched at the Jan. 12 meeting.
Next steps: the issues raised by commenters may be brought back to the board for future discussion; the personnel agenda-format item will be reviewed by administration for potential consolidation and more efficient voting procedures, and the budget process continues with a February action timeline on items such as the mental-health MOU.