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County will submit school construction grant application despite being five points short
Summary
County staff reported King and Queen is five points short of the score needed for school construction grant eligibility; the board agreed to submit the application and to indicate the county will provide a fixed funding amount, while recognizing that adopting such a policy could lock in future funding commitments.
County staff told the Board of Supervisors that the county lacks five scoring points needed to qualify for state school construction grant funding and that gaining those points would require the board to adopt a policy fixing a future funding amount.
"Currently the county does not have enough points to qualify for the grant, we are 5 points short," Ms. Seay advised, and she explained that part of the grant scoring rewards jurisdictions that adopt a fixed local funding commitment. The board discussed the trade-off and, by consensus, instructed staff to submit the application and to "check that box" on the application for now so the county's submission would receive consideration on other merits.
Board members noted the policy implication: adopting a fixed funding commitment would lock the county into providing a set funding percentage in future years. No formal motion to adopt such a funding policy was made at the meeting; the board only authorized staff to include the notation on the grant application and seek guidance from the state Department of Education as to whether applications might be approved for other merits despite the missing points.
The board did not vote to adopt a binding local funding policy during the meeting; members said they wanted to preserve future discretion over budget decisions.
