HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) – On Monday, March 30, about 25 people attended a public information meeting at the Hinton Dairy Queen to learn about the school levy on the May primary ballot. Superintendent Dr. Linda Knott led the meeting with input from Chief School Business Officer Lauren Crook. Dr. Knott explained that all the items in the levy were requested through a general public survey last fall. There are nine separate line items in the levy, and if the levy passes, the School Board is required by law to spend those amounts as specified.
The first line is $422,235 to hire teachers and service personnel who are not covered by the state school aid formula. This is the only line that seemed to confuse the meeting, so some explanation is needed. Most of the funding for Summers County schools comes from the State pursuant to a 10-step formula based on adjusted net enrollment of students. The easiest way to visualize this is that the more students you have, the more money a system gets. There are funds for teachers, for service personnel, for buses, and so forth. If a school system hires more teachers or service employees than the formula allows, the school system will not be reimbursed for those over the formula. The local system has to come up with the money elsewhere.
Right now, the Summers County system has nine service personnel, which includes several aides, more than allowed by the formula. These aides are required by law in grades one through three, in special ed, and in other programs. In effect, the School Board is faced with an unfunded mandate. If the levy passes, that first line item should cure the problem. The word ‘supplement’ is used in the levy call; it is used in the sense that it ‘supplements’ the money from the formula; it does not increase any individual’s salary.
The second line item will provide funding for athletic travel as well as some academic field trips at each of the schools. Now students often have to raise money for travel. The third line item will fund playground renovations at Hinton Area Elementary and Talcott Elementary.
There are four line items enhancing school security: four, five, eight, and nine. Four funds for a safe school entrance at Jumping Branch. Five hires a school resource officer at the high school. Eight funds for one-way curtains at all the schools. And nine provides for exterior lighting at the high school.
Line item six will fund deferred maintenance at all buildings. Line item seven will allow the Board to purchase a service vehicle for the Transportation Department to replace the 2004 model pickup truck it now has.
Crook noted that it is only a 20% levy. Someone noted that one of our surrounding counties has four separate 100% special levies. It was also noted that taxes paid on motor vehicles could be reimbursed by the State as a credit on tax returns, meaning that while the school system would get the money, it costs the taxpayer nothing.
The Superintendent’s office has prepared a brochure explaining the levy and a cost breakdown of the levy, depending on the class and the value.
