Bath School Board Members Expect Big Budget Cuts Next Year – But Don’t Know Yet How Bad They May Be

Warm Springs, VA – The Bath School Board is expecting big budget cuts next year, but doesn’t know yet just how big. At Tuesday night’s Bath School Board meeting School Superintendent Dr. David Smith reported that the school system is expecting a loss of about $518,000 in funding compared to this year’s budget. He says that figure is still subject to change because more solid information from the state on its funding is yet to come.

The school system is facing the loss of stimulus funds that it received this year. State funds will likely be reduced also due to budget cuts and the loss of approximatley 35 students next year in Bath Schools. No one spoke during the public hearing on the school board’s proposed budget for next year.

During public comment, Jeff Strasser briefly spoke about water run off from the high school onto Faith Covenant Family Church’s property. Strasser says he’s aware of the economic conditions and the tight budget but he’s hoping the school board will reconsider looking at the problem. He says it’s been going on for 9 years and he feels there’s a fix for it. He suggested that by allowing a couple of groups to work together on the problem, it could cost less.

Also on Tuesday night, Jackie Stephenson gave a presentation on the Career and Technical Education program at bath county high school. She is the CTE Director and Assistant Principal at the high school. She reported that a new CTE web page is now on line. It can be reached by clicking on the mertz career and technical center link on the high school’s website. She also reported that work is ongoing to align CTE curriculum with Dabney S. Lancaster Community College.

The board approved a change to a current policy on record checks for job applicants. In order to reduce costs, effective immediately applicants for school system jobs will pay for the fingerprinting, criminal record check and abuse and neglect check conducted as part of the hiring process. The fee would be paid by the applicant after the applicant has been approved by the board.

And the school board made the following appointments on Tuesday night:

Marco Cucci as the boys soccer coach at the high school
Will Fields as head varsity football coach
Robert Plecker as varsity assistant football coach
Jeremy Cutlip as varsity assistant football coach
Shawn Loudermilk as varsity assistant football coach and head JV football coach.
Heidi Hewitt was appointed as a substitute bus and vehicle driver
Becky Hise was appointed as a vehicle driver

The board also accepted the resignation of vehicle driver Don Hansford.