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The Buena Vista School Board last Thursday evening approved the distribution of the new state funds that the division is receiving from Governor Younkin’s All In VA initiative.
Buena Vista is getting over $346,000, most of which is going to a new after-school tutoring program. Rockbridge County Public Schools (as reported last month) is getting $728,000, while Lexington Public Schools are receiving $173,000. The Lexington School Board is to discuss its All In funding next week.
“The All In plan is unique in that we have it divided up into three categories. We have the third through eighth-grade tutoring, we have a pot of funding for the Virginia Literacy Act, and then we have a pot of funding for chronic absenteeism, which is the only area that we were red in,” said Dr. Gennifer Miller, assistant superintendent of Buena Vista Public Schools.
Buena Vista has allocated $230,371 for this tutoring program. For the first year of funding, 38 teachers will be employed in the program, each receiving a $3,000 stipend. Additionally, there will be 12 members of support staff, each earning a $1,500 stipend, as well two outside tutors who will be paid $25 an hour for four hours a day.
Also needed for this initiative are three before- and after- school tutors, who will be earning $10,000. Next year, Buena Vista will cut the staff needed down to 25 teachers and 12 members of support staff.
“All third- through eighthgraders are going to get tutoring every day,” Miller said.
The Buena Vista school system will also delegate $40,947 to Virginia Literacy Act curriculum, materials, and supplies. The act, which is to be implemented in the next school year, is aimed at improving student reading outcomes.
To combat the issue of chronic absenteeism, two attendance specialists will be employed. One oversees elementary schools, and the other is in charge of secondary schools. The two specialists will cost $75,355.
The All-In Virginia Initiative is already underway in Buena Vista Public Schools. The program began last Tuesday and has already been met with positive reviews, said Miller.
Budget Updates
Superintendent Tony Francis last week provided a 2024 budget update, which includes an amended budget that features a 2 percent pay increase for all employees starting Jan. 1, 2024.
“We used most of the money for the pay increase, almost all of it. There wasn’t a lot left to do anything else,” Francis said. A vote on the amended budget will occur at the following School Board meeting.
A timeline for next year’s budget was also approved by the School Board. A budget committee composed of building principals, teachers, and central office staff will be formed in either November or December of this year with the goal of presenting a first draft of the budget to the school board in January or February. A work session will follow.
There will be a public hearing to approve the proposed budget on March 28, 2024, and will be sent to Buena Vista City Council for review on April 2.
