The Henry County School Board heard an update on its fiscal year 2024-2025 budget at its Thursday, June 6 meeting. The school is receiving more funding from the state, allowing for a larger school budget.
Assistant Superintendent for Operations and Administrative Services Dr. Benjamin Boone said the total projected budget for FY25 is $116,838,000.
Boone said around $80 million will come from the state accounts, approximately $24 million will be from the local funding, $11 in grants, and approximately $1.7 in other revenue sources.
“For our expenditure categories, what this looks like is an increase in instruction of $9.5 million, for our administration, attendance and health account, an increase of $488,000, for pupil transportation an increase of about $1.1 million,” he said.
For the operations and maintenance category there will be an increase of about $8 million and an increase of around $400,000 for facilities.
“For debt service there will be an increase of $134,00, and for technology it will be an increase of approximately $750,000,” he said. “So, the total increase from last year’s budget to this year’s budget is $14 million.
Boone said the overall increase in state funding from FY 24 to FY25 for all the categories is $9,688,000.
“For local funding, we have to take into consideration the local share. With the local share, facilities do not count towards what we report to the state, so we have to take into account that local share and what needs to be given in addition for us to have a facilities budget,” he said.
Boone said the local share the school division is requesting is the same local share it requested in March, which is $23,987,617.
The amendments were the result of the budget passed during the General Assembly on May 13.
Boone said the budget includes removal of state funded grants such as Governor’s School and alternative education.
“The increase in state revenue compared to the Governor’s budget to the General Assembly’s budget that was passed will be $7,467,000. The total increase of the local share from the General Assembly budget compared to the Governor’s introduced budget will be $1,837,000,” he said.
Because of the increase in state and local revenue that will be coming to the school system, Boone said there are significant adjustments.
“There are large increases in the at-risk funding that we will be receiving, the allocation for the FY25 compensation increases that have already been implemented, increases in instruction to support additional school-based staff, increases in education direct and capital outlay for all schools to support teaching and learning,” he said.
With this, Boone said the division is looking at increasing the schools’ education and capital outlay accounts by 25 percent. He said there will also be increases in instruction for special education staffing needs, English as a Second Language (ESL), absorption of various grant funded positions, funding for professional development to support teaching and learning, and others like maintenance and transportation.
“Then we have an increase in technology for infrastructure, in other words for networking needs,” he said.
In other matters, the board:
*Approved a new literacy plan presented by Dr. Elizabeth Motley, Dyslexia and Literacy coordinator, who said the county’s literacy rates have improved over the last few years, but “we are trending down again, and less and less of our students are identified as below-benchmark readers.”
With the literacy plan in place, “students will effectively read, write, listen, and speak for many purposes in varied settings. Our teachers will use high-quality instructional materials aligned with evidence-based literacy practices to foster students’ growth in word knowledge and reading comprehension, developing the ability to think creatively and critically across all disciplines. Our community’s focus on literacy will provide all students with the necessary tools to positively impact their world and ensure a successful future,” said Motley.
Teachers will be given research-based training, including some return training programs like Lexia Core 5/PowerUp training. Students who are considered at risk will now have a reading plan. “Our reading specialists, their teachers, their principals, and their parents will come together to talk about, ‘hey, what are some things we can put in place to help this child reach reading proficiency,’” Motley said.
Parents will also continue to be supported through events and at-home learning options to help their children advance their reading skills. The schools will work to help “keep parents in the loop,” she said, and schools are hoping to see continued growth through the literacy program.
Additionally, an accountability system will be put in place during the 2025-2026 school year. “You will see an emphasis placed on individual student growth,” said superintendent Dr. Amy Blake-Lewis. When the new program kicks in, students will compare their growth to their previous years’ reading level instead of against their peers.
*Approved the purchase of a weapons detection system to enhance safety procedures at schools. The division is looking into the purchase of new weapon detection devices that are currently being used for major sporting events.
“The OPENGATE system was specifically designed as a result of feedback from the NFL, professional sports stadiums and teams, as well as event venues like Disney and Universal, that were looking for a solution that would enable specific weapons detection and visitor throughput by significantly reducing the nuisance alarm rate, while still accurately detecting weapons,” said Boone.
The new detectors would be purchased for secondary schools and are made to specifically pick up weapons instead of reacting to other types of metal.
“The systems that we purchased last year, what are we going to do with those,” asked board member Ben Gravely.
The older metal detectors will still be used “as a secondary source,” said Boone.
“It’s definitely a well-thought-out process,” said board member Elizabeth Durden in response to the machine’s possible effectiveness.
*Heard that the division is moving forward to implement “comprehensive plan” cyber security measures to better protect the school system. Last year, 1,537 cyber-attacks targeted K-12 and higher education data breaches.
“Our next steps will be to continue to communicate the plan to relevant committee members, identify programming gaps, prioritize new tactics, training, and technologies and to track and to track and manage our successes,” Elizabeth Fulcher, director of technology and innovation, said.
The schools also heard about four grants the division is eligible to receive from the state. The funds would help to improve basic programs and LEAs, support effective instruction, improve language instruction, and for student support and academic enrichment.
*Heard from Mary Martin about the numerous calls she’s received concerning fundraisers.
“I think there’s a misconception on a lot of it that it’s not school sanctioned fundraisers, it’s people raising money for their travel teams. I think that’s where a lot of the confusion comes in,” she said.
Martin said there seems to be a lack of transparency regarding exactly where that money goes, who is accountable for it, and what it will be used for.
“I think there needs to be clarification. If you’re going to put this out there, that this is not a school sanctioned fundraiser. This is a private thing that they travel to,” she said.
*Heard from the student board members about the student winners 2024 Piedmont Area Young Writers Contest.
*Heard an update about the school year calendar and the school year calendar magnets, which can be used to track school attendance.
*Approved the consent agenda.
*Approved the information security program plan.
*Approved the purchase of AV equipment and upgrades for the division’s middle schools.
*Approved giving Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Lisa Millner the authorization of signatures in the absence of the superintendent for the 2024-2025 school year.
*Awarded a $101,310 contract to purchase welding equipment from Bakers Gas.
*Awarded a contract for office supplies to Bassett Office Supply. The division also was authorized to exercise subsequent renewals in accordance with the contract terms.
*Approved a contract for provision of non-food items to General Sales of Virginia for FY 24-25, with the option to renew for four additional one-year periods if both parties agree.
