Roanoke City Council makes changes to school funding policy

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Roanoke City Council met Tuesday for its second meeting of the new year.

One of the big topics on the agenda was school funding.

While the city did approve funding for modular classrooms, it also went over a new funding policy.

With the new policy, the school division will receive 34% in tax revenue from the city, which is a decrease from years past.

“As we’ve been looking at the reality of a closing gap between revenues and expenses, we’ve had to evaluate and reevaluate that funding formula policy,” said Mayor Joe Cobb.

Mayor Cobb says 15 years ago, a school funding formula policy was created that gave Roanoke City Public Schools 40% of local tax revenue after adjustments.

Now, they’re making some changes.

“This year is probably the biggest change that we’ve made in the sense that we’ve requested of the school’s level funding, that we would provide level funding for this year, plus 34% of local tax revenue growth and then that would just build from year to year,” said Cobb.

Cobb said under the new formula and by state code, whatever money is left over from the schools at the end of the fiscal year will go back to the city.

He said while education continues to be a top priority for the city, they also have to ensure funds are available for all city employees who provide essential services.

“We’re doing that because on the one hand, we want to continue prioritizing the highest level of funding in our budget to the schools, which they receive the largest bulk of funding from our budget, while acknowledging that we have some difficult challenges and choices to make related to the services that we provide to all of our citizens,” he said.

Superintendent Dr. Verletta White understands the city needs funds, however with uncertainty around whether state and federal funding will decrease, they need extra funds now more than ever.

“Since we know that we have this limitation and not able to kind of have the flexibility that we had before, we will need to reprioritize. And so that’s what we’re continuing to do,” Dr. White said.

She said while extra funds are needed, the district will work with what it has and continue to prioritize safety, education and the students.“ Regardless of kind of the back and forth, if you will, with the funds, the one thing that is constant is our priority to keep our students at the center of these conversations,” she closed.

The superintendent is grateful to get the funding for the modular classrooms, but she said that is only a temporary fix to the overcrowding at the high schools.

She said the best option is a third high school, which they continue to discuss.

They’re still working with city leaders to determine how a new high school would work.