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Preston County Schools reports loss of 283 students; administration warns of about 38 teacher cuts
Summary
Personnel director Angie Varner told the Preston County Board of Education that the district lost an estimated 283 students since last year’s count and may need to eliminate roughly 38 professional and seven service positions unless enrollment stabilizes. The board asked administration for a five‑year fiscal forecast.
Angie Varner, Preston County Schools’ personnel official, told the board on Jan. 12 that the district recorded a net loss of 283 students between the two annual state counts and related enrollment activity, a decline she said is equivalent to the size of Central Preston School.
"We truly lost a total of 283 students that should have been enrolled in Preston County schools this school year," Varner said, adding that the shortfall will force staffing reductions unless numbers rebound.
Varner said the drop reflected transfers, increases in homeschool and HOPE scholarship enrollments, and charter‑school shifts. She told the board those losses will translate into reduced state funding under the state’s aid and net‑charter calculations. As a result, she said, district administration currently projects the need to eliminate approximately 38 professional positions and seven service positions for the coming year if enrollment does not improve.
The presentation walked board members through the mechanics of the cuts: state class‑size caps for lower grades (25 students, with smaller caps in prekindergarten and kindergarten) limit how administrators can reassign staff; county rules restrict the number of split classrooms; and the state’s treatment of students enrolled in public charters reduces the county’s formula allocation for each child who leaves district enrollment. Varner said those factors make targeted reductions more complex than a straight student‑to‑teacher ratio calculation.
Varner described short‑term mitigation steps the district is evaluating: creating a small number of split classrooms, prioritizing levy positions where available, rearranging middle‑ and high‑school schedules to preserve electives and Career and Technical Education offerings where possible, and phasing grant‑funded positions out when grants expire.
Board members pressed for context and longer‑range planning. Several said the county should inform constituents about projected staffing and program impacts and explore whether the county should seek additional local funding or press state lawmakers for changes to the funding formula. Superintendent Martin and Varner agreed to prepare a five‑year fiscal and staffing forecast for public release and to return with more specific staffing proposals after school‑level enrollment counts finalize in the coming weeks.
The board did not take action at the meeting; Varner said administrators would meet with principals and finalize school‑level teacher allocations before presenting formal recommendations to the board.
