Highland Mid-Kids Radio Club Investigates House Bill 1807

January 18, 2019

“This is Destiny Harper and Kirsten Wood with the Highland Mid-Kids Radio Club. Today we are speaking with Highland County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Thomas Schott about House Bill 1807 which is currently being proposed in the Virginia General Assembly. Dr. Schott, could you explain what this bill is, and what it does?”

“House Bill 1807 is basically a re-authorization of a bill that was put in place about 15 years ago. It is commonly called the “Yoking Bill”, which allows Highland to use a different county’s composite index to get state funding. And currently, we have a cost-sharing agreement with Augusta – that’s the county that we use. Their composite index is about 36, ours is at 80. So, with us being allowed to use Augusta County’s composite index, it allows us to get approximately $750,000 more money from the state. It’s very important that this bill be re-authorized. Like I said, it’s something that really helps our school system, and it helps the community.”

“What is the current status of the bill?”

“I checked this morning – Delegate Bell is the one who proposed the bill, and he has put it into the representatives – has presented it to them, and currently, it is in committee. From committee, it will go into a sub-committee, as that’s where it will be more or less determined if it’s going to be put out for a general vote.”

“Can you tell us how listeners can support passage of the bill?”

“Yeah, I’m just kind of requesting for the whole community to get involved with this – like I said, it is a bill that supports the whole community. And that is to just contact your representatives. Of course, the three major players would be Senator Deeds, Senator Hanger, and, of course, Dickie Bell. But any representative that we have, because the idea when I talked to Delegate Bell about this was that the more people that ask him about the bill, the more people that will probably be supporting the bill. I know when he e-mailed me this morning, he said the bill, at this point, it seems like there’s no opposition to the bill – I just want to make sure that we in Highland put our support out there for the bill, so everyone knows at the House and the Senate that we are really hoping this bill can get passed.”

Links to the legislators will be available with this story at alleghenymountainradio.org.

For AMR, this is the Highland Mid-Kids Radio Club.

 

Delegates on the House Education Committee are:

Brenda Pogge — (804) 698-1096; (757) 223-9690; DelBPogge@house.virginia.gov.

Story By

Scott Smith

Scott Smith is the General Manager for Allegheny Mountain Radio and Station Coordinator and News Reporter for WVLS. Scott’s family has deep roots in Highland County. While he did not grow up here, he spent as much time as possible on the family farm, and eventually moved to Highland to continue the tradition, which he still pursues with his cousin. Unfortunately, farming doesn’t pay all the bills, so he has previously taken other jobs to support his farming hobby, including pressman/writer for The Recorder, and Ag Projects Coordinator for The Highland Center. He lives in Hightown with wife Michelle and son Ethan. In his spare time, he wishes he had more spare time, especially to ride his prized Harley-Davidson motorcycle. scott@amrmail.org
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