Highland Supervisors Vote To Cover County Schools’ Matching Grant Spending Shortfall of $687,000

Highland County Supervisors have voted to cover a $687,000 schools matching-grant spending shortfall that has haunted them for months.

In doing so, the board, in essence, is gambling on proposed deal that could see the state return 75 percent of those dollars to fund future capital improvement projects to benefit students.

After a lengthy discussion during a Nov. 19^th supervisors work session meeting, the board voted 3 to 0 to approve the expenditure.

Last December, county school officials were notified by Virginia Department of Education officials that the matching-grant shortfall amounted to $1.1 million.

Months later, former Highland County Schools Superintendent Dr. Drew Maerz, who resigned in June to return to retirement, officially informed supervisors of the budget shortfall. He attributed the budget deficit to a coding error, noting he was working with state education budget officials to resolve the problem.

Over the summer, state and county school officials continued to try to resolve the shortfall issue. County school officials reworked and then resubmitted their 2024 annual school financial report. In the end, the $1.1 million shortfall was reduced to $687,617.50, county school officials have reported. And, they added, the state still was demanding repayment.

However, under state law, county school officials can ask the state secretary of education to repay the school system 75 percent – or $515,700 – of the total owed. If granted, those funds must be spent on capital improvement projects that benefit students and must be approved by state education officials.

If that 75 percent is returned, the county still would owe an additional $167,110.44.

But that state law is not a guaranteed solution, county officials say. As written, the law states the secretary of education “may” return the funds. It does not use the term “shall.”

With that gamble facing them, the supervisors voted Nov. 19^th to cover the debt owed to the state by withdrawing $687,617.50 from the schools’ capital fund to pay off the full debt demanded by the state.

To cover the $167,110.44 the county still owed after receiving the 75 percent return of $515,700, supervisors will draw from a reserve account holding $254,949 in end of school year unappropriated funds.

In October, school officials had sought to have those unappropriated dollars deposited into the schools’ capital fund account. Supervisors, however, denied that request, voting instead to hold those funds in reserve in the event they were needed to help pay off the debt owed to the state. So now, those dollars will be reappropriated to the county’s general fund.

Supervisors also asked County Administrator Jerri Botkin to send a letter to school board members, requesting a joint meeting as soon as possible to discuss projects school officials are planning to present to the state for review. A deadline to submit projects is Dec. 31^st.

 

This is Mike Folks for Allegheny Mountain Radio News