July 1 of every year is the beginning of a new fiscal year in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Meaning, localities must have a new budget in place by that date.
When it comes down to crunch time, emotions have a way of dictating budget conversations and fingers are often pointed at those with those of differing viewpoints. Add to that volatile mixture modern social media, and it soon becomes difficult to determine what is fact and what is fiction.
In an effort to explain the Russell County School System’s point of view, District 3 school board member J.J. Eaton issued a statement.
“I do want to inform everybody on a few statements that have been made,” he said.
“The state this year inflated our budget by $1.4 million and by doing this they passed the burden on to the locality to match seven different programs,” Eaton added. “Some of those programs include; K3, K4, algebra readiness, technology, SOL Readiness, and our Pals program.”
Eaton said the programs were fundamental to the school system and would be hard to do without. He said eliminating the programs would affect over 70 employees.
“The state inflated our budget and we didn’t know the final amount until Wednesday (June 24),” Eaton said. “This made it difficult for us and the board of supervisors to come up with a solution within a short period of time.
The school system has made substantial cuts and came up with the majority of the funds along with the BOS in order to keep these programs and the employees.”
In recent weeks, much has been said about recent school closings and upgrades to athletic facilities.
“We did not close down the schools for the raises,” Eaton said, referring to the closure of Swords Creek Elementary School and Copper Creek Elementary School.
He went on to say, “We closed two schools to start the new pay scale. Anyone can go back and watch the April and May meetings in 2024, myself and Dr. (Kim) Hooker said that the money’s from those two schools were going to the new pay scale. Not once did we say it was for raises. The raises, pay scale, and step are all different, and are paid with different funding mechanisms.”
Eaton addressed the installation of stadium lights at Castlewood High School’s football field and installation of new field turf at Honaker High School.
“The money that we used for both the Honaker Football field and Castlewood stadium lights were reimbursed ESSER money from last year’s budget and were already contracted. That money cannot be used for raises. If we could have used that money to make up the difference to give our teachers that 4 percent increase we would have.”
He added, “Reminder, the Honaker Football field did not pass the safety test and had to be replaced. The field has been there for 18 years. That’s 18 years of basically no maintenance and that’s a big cost savings.”
Eaton said if anyone has questions about the budget or the budget process, they can reach out to him or anyone at the central office.
“We will be glad to explain or help with any concerns that you may have,” he said. “Don’t spread misinformation, gather the facts. If you have any questions feel free to call me or send me a message. I will help you any way I can.”
