Marion County School officials and state representatives wrestle with state aid formula

Dec. 3—FAIRMONT — West Virginia's school state aid formula has been a point of contention for much of the past 30 years.

Thursday, Marion County Board of Education members met with local state representatives at the central office to discuss qualms and concerns either side may have and how best to address those issues.

The topic that was top of mind for all at the table was the state aid formula, described as "archaic and antiquated" by several participants.

"We're not necessarily saying more funding is needed, but we're asking you to look at the set up," Mary Jo Thomas, president of the school board, said to the representatives. "We're trying to be very realistic, but we also need to cover the needs."

Attending the meeting were the delegates of the 50th district — Guy Ward, Phil Mallow and Joey Garcia — as well as state Sens. Mike Caputo and Bob Beach.

On the school side, the meeting was attended by the five school board members, the superintendent, the treasurer and three principals, who were elected by their peers to attend to represent each level of education.

Selected were Mary Westfall, principal of East Fairmont High; Vicki Bombard, principal of Barrackville Elementary Middle; and Jane DeVaul, principal of Blackshere Elementary.

The board's complaint of the state aid formula is that many things that are required of the schools — such as teaching aides or extra nurses — are not covered by the state formula.

These concerns are not new, however. The board meets yearly with the representatives and the topic is brought up at every meeting. Yet, as Caputo put it, "We've done a lot of talking about it, but we haven't taken much action."

There are several factors playing into why the state government has not made changes to the formula, one of which is it's just simply too complicated, and many representatives see their time better spent elsewhere.

"I've been trying to find someone to explain [the formula] to me," Ward said. "And I don't even know if the legislature has control over it. There's so much unknown to it, and I think that's why the legislature hasn't touched it."

Caputo, who's been in the state legislature in some form or another for 25 years, said that the state formula has been a topic of discussion, but it's a process in which the state department will have to get involved.

"Somebody is going to have to recognize that change is needed, tweaks may be needed." Caputo said. "The board ... they don't want to do away with the formula, they're just concerned about positions that aren't in the formula."

This year, Marion County Schools are employing 181 positions more than the state aid formula allows. This doesn't mean these are 181 extra teachers; rather these are mostly aides, counselors and other positions that are not funded by the formula, but required by the state.

A large portion of this overage comes from the state board of education using the 2020 attendance numbers — which were impacted significantly by COVID-19 — to determine the funding for the 2021-22 school year.

Marion County Schools have been fortunate enough to use funding from the levy and federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan to pay for the difference, but the ARP money dries up in June 2024.

"But then what? We really need to be forward thinking in how we're going to address the needs of our student, because we know those needs are not going to end in 2024," Superintendent Donna Hage said. "We know that we need more counselors, more school nurses. ... Those are the kinds of positions that aren't necessarily funded through the state aide formula."

The reality that, come 2024, many school personnel positions will be scrutinized is one for which the board and Hage are already preparing to tackle, they said.

"It doesn't have to be a drastic cut of 181 positions, but we do need to proactively chip away at that — just in forward thinking," Hage said. "Every one of those jobs is an individual, and that's why it's a highly personal decision and it gets emotional when you talk about these positions."

The representatives, specifically Mallow, said that talking about major restructuring won't get much traction, but taking a focused look at one or two issues of improvement within the formula may prove to be the correct course of action, especially if this issues plagues many more counties than just Marion.

Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.