The Goochland School Board opened up its budget process last week by holding its first ever interactive budget work session.

“We believe this is the first time anything like this has happened In Goochland County,” said board chair Beth Hardy. “This is an experiment.”

Interested citizens could speak without signing up before hand and, when possible, got immediate feedback from the board and the superintendent. Each speaker was allotted a maximum time of five minutes for their comments and feedback from board members and the superintendent. Hardy said the plan was for the budget conversation to go know more than two hours.

The new format saw about a dozen people take the opportunity to speak, several returning for a second round at the microphone after all who wanted had a first opportunity.

Held in the auditorium at Goochland High School, the budget conversation was preceded by the latest version of the evolving schools budget, which offered a number proposed adjustments, which, if adopted, would reduce expenditures in the operating fund by more than $600,000, leaving more than $100,000 extra that could be used for additions to the budget, according to superintendent Linda Underwood. In contrast, last week’s presentation showed a more than $500,000 shortfall.

The largest savings would come from outsourcing all custodial services, for a savings of about $288,000. Maintenance chief Sonny Turner said the idea would be for the current custodians to be hired by a contractor.

“Our staff becomes their staff,” he explained adding that the school system would still do background checks on custodial staff for the contractor.

Reducing the schools’ contribution to employees’ and their families’ health insurance would save more than $181,000, although the exact way this has yet to be worked out.

“It does not look at individual strategies at this point,” said Underwood of the projected health insurance savings.

“We’re confident we can get the $181, 000,” said Underwood that possibly another $100,000 could be saved.

Eliminating two positions, the Enrichment and Gifted Specialist and the Student Services Specialist would save another $150,000.

The largest additional budget reduction would be a proposal to reduce the number of school days to 175, for a savings of $450,000.

As in previous budget presentations, Underwood also listed potential additional budget items that might be added if sufficient funds are available.

On the wish list for added positions were an elementary foreign language teacher ($62,000), a band teacher for Goochland High School ($62,000), restoring Intervention Specialist at each elementary school ($185,000) and increasing the high school drama teacher to full time ($24,000 + benefits).

Other possible new positions could include four K-12 Content Specialists ($88,000 each) and expanding Career and Technical Education and adding JROTC (costs to be determined).

The first speaker during the budget conversation voiced concern over the proposed job cuts.

Carolyn Elliot asked how with the elimination of the Enrichment and Gifted Services Specialist and the Student Services Specialist.

“We have three very talented enrichment teachers at the elementary level,” replied Underwood, who would take up the slack along with the principals at GMS and GHS.

Underwood said the Student Services Specialist job was funded with “neglected and delinquent money” and that her duties would be redistributed.

Wendy Hobbs said she was concerned over the impact of outsourcing on the custodial staff, even if they were hired by the contractor.

“I think we need to explore other options,” she said. “If they retain a job they will retain it at a lower cost.”

Hardy said that the $288,000 was a big ticket item for schools and promised to get information back to Hobbs on how the custodial staff would be affected.

Karen Myrick said she was concerned about reducing school days, citing studies she said showed that more days resulted in better student performance.

“Reducing the days reduces the teachers’ salaries,” said Myrick.
Hardy responded that the idea of reducing school days was just being looked at.

Jane Christie asked why music, art and STEM coaches did not receive stipends and suggested there was no need for a Director of Instructional Services position if a second assistant superintendent job was to be created.

Other topics discussed ranged from the role of the Director of Instruction position, adding a part-time grant specialist, recycling used band instruments and possible shifting of funds from various administrative funds to instruction. Various board members weighed in on the school days reduction proposal. John D. Wright, District 5, called it a “backs against the wall,” option.

But there seemed to be a consensus that modifying the schools contribution to health care expenses should be pursued as a way to make substantial savings.

Hardy said Monday the new meeting format was a success.

“Last week’s “budget conversation” was immensely helpful to the School Board! The opportunity to have a meaningful two-way interaction with the public was wonderful. It provided a lot of very helpful and passionate insight, some very thought-provoking questions, and constructive feedback. It’s all good - this is exactly the type of interaction we wanted,” said Hardy.

“We were also very pleased with both the format and the level of participation,” added Hardy. “Plus, I understand we had 70 people or so online watching the live-streaming video.”

The school board will hold its regular public hearing on the budget hearing Tuesday Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. at Goochland High School. The budget schedule calls for the board to approve a budget a week later at the Jan. 31 meeting.