Lynchburg City Council majority votes to safeguard funds to save two elementary schools

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) — It’s official. Lynchburg City Council has set aside money to keep T.C. Miller and Sandusky elementary schools open for another year.

On Tuesday, May 14, Lynchburg City Council voted 5-2 to safeguard $1.6 million that could be used by the Lynchburg City Schools system to help keep the elementary schools open for the 2024-2025 school year. The vote came just days after state lawmakers passed the budget, leaving some council members to believe making a decision Tuesday would be rushed.

“There’s just a lot more information we need. I’m talking about a swing of $6 million to the school’s budget,” said Lynchburg Councilman Martin Misjuns. “If we were to vote on this now when the information just became available today because it was passed yesterday — it would be irresponsible…”

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The state budget now includes more than $2 billion for K-12 public education and a 3% pay raise for teachers for the next two years.

“We couldn’t talk about what the state passed until the state passed it. the city doesn’t have the numbers…” said Lynchburg Councilman Jeff Helgeson.

It was revealed during the meeting that the council needed to adopt education funding either by May 15 or 30 days after the state set the budget. While some councilmen believed this would give the council time to gather all the information, others believed there was no need to keep community members in limbo.

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“It’s necessary to keep children and parents in stable conditions, we don’t need to keep them wondering about moving,” said Lynchburg Councilman Larry Taylor.

“What we also don’t know is if there is going to be restrictions on the money from the state, and since [safeguard funding is] not appropriated it’s a non-issue. I think it gives a comfort level to all those kids in parents to do what we said we were going to do,” said Councilman MaryJane Dolan.

In the meeting, city officials said the money set aside in the reserve would only be used if or when necessary. They hope to know if any strings are attached to the extra state funding in the coming weeks.

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