BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. – Bedford County Schools has a new budget going into the next school year.
The budget discussion has been ongoing for months. At first, the school division was anticipating a deficit after Gov. Youngkin unveiled his budget in November. However, the General Assembly recently approved their own budget which would put Bedford County Schools in the positive.
School Board Chairman Marcus Hill said the board needs to be prepared for whatever is thrown at them.
“If we get more money from the state, then we’ll look at adding more programs that were recommended last year and some new this year...from our teachers, community, staff, etc. If there is a budget shortfall then we got to come back to this table and start talking about what do we cut,” Hill said.
Last month, the school board asked division staff for options to address a $3 million deficit. All four options presented included closing Stewartsville Elementary School, which needs significant repairs and is only operating at half its student capacity.
The division is also trying to anticipate a fiscal cliff in the 2028-2029 school year, when state funding will drop due to the city of Bedford’s 2013 reversion to town status. When a 15-year grace period expires, the school division will lose its advantageous state funding calculation.
“Yes we funded the operations budget as it sits today but at the end of that 28-29, there’s no money to fund new HVACs, new roofs, paint, carpet, tile, any of those maintenance projects that will be needed,” Hill said.
Now with the new budget adopted, the division will take its budget to the board of supervisors to be voted on. The state’s funding will ultimately decide what the division has in terms of funding to work with in the upcoming school year.