The Franklin County School Board voted Wednesday to close Burnt Chimney and Henry elementary schools at the end of the school year, a move intended to address declining enrollment and make up for a state funding decrease.
The decision, which was approved in two separate 5-3 votes, will save the division about $2 million annually and help close a $3.7 million funding gap the division is facing for the upcoming school year.
The school board also voted unanimously to use division money left over from the previous budget and funds from the county board of supervisors; to reduce some secondary school positions through attrition; and to recategorize a few elementary positions for the next two years under All-In grant funding from the state. Those measures will put about $4.4 million back into the 2024-25 budget.
The board of supervisors voted to provide $1.3 million in stopgap funding and to allow the division to use $1.2 million in carryover funding during a meeting Feb. 22.
The school board will finalize its budget plan on March 4 before submitting it to the board of supervisors for review.
The school division faces a $3.7 million budget gap as a result of the most recent local composite index calculations, which the state uses to determine how much school funding each locality is responsible for every year — and, thus, how much it will receive from the state. Enrollment numbers, property values, incomes and taxable sales revenue are among the factors used to calculate LCI; Franklin County was penalized this year due to rising property values around Smith Mountain Lake.
The decision this week to close two of the county’s 12 elementary schools was a shift from previous discussions when board members had warned one another against rushing into school closures that could rattle young students still recovering from pandemic learning loss. That sentiment was echoed by parents who spoke during a public hearing Feb. 24, during which the closure options were presented to a crowd of about 150.
Haley Robertson of Wirtz called schools like Burnt Chimney, where her daughters attend, “the backbone of a town,” and said interacting with the school community is a valued component of her social life.
“You aren’t closing a school with this choice. You are essentially breaking up families,” she said.
During that hearing, the most likely scenario appeared to be that Burnt Chimney would close this summer, dispersing about 280 students to other schools in the division. Henry would follow next year, with its closure sending about 170 students to other schools. Both elementary schools house grades Pre-K through 5.
But closing both schools at the end of the current school year would prevent another year of uncertainty for staff and families and would address the enrollment decline the division has been facing for years.
Henry Elementary had 193 students in the 2018-2019 school year and is expected to have just 133 students by the 2027-2028 school year, according to an efficiency study the division commissioned in fall 2022. At Burnt Chimney, the future decline was expected to be less severe, but the building would need more repairs to keep it operational in the coming years.
Closing Burnt Chimney and Henry will help the division save money without hindering instruction and support for students, said board chair Jeff Worley.
“The bricks don’t teach kids. They don’t hug kids. They don’t feed kids,” saying before the vote that he thought it was important to prioritize teachers and staff along with educational resources over buildings.
At the Feb. 24 hearing, Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, spoke briefly to urge the school board to wait to make a decision until the General Assembly had concluded budget discussions that could benefit the division.
But it could be months before the state budget is finalized, some board members noted Wednesday, too long for the board to wait to adopt its budget.
Franklin County isn’t the only division in the region that’s facing the possibility of closing schools. Lynchburg is slated to close Sandusky Elementary in 2025, a move that continues to face community pushback at school board meetings. And in neighboring Bedford County, uneven population growth has led to lopsided school enrollment and another look at consolidation.
In Bedford County, redistricting has been considered over the past few years, as some schools deal with crowding while others operate well below capacity. Overall, the division’s 22 schools are between 70% and 80% capacity, Superintendent Marc Bergin said at a Feb. 22 school board work session.
Driving the discussion now is an attempt to get ahead of an anticipated drop in state funding in 2028-2029, when the funding formula will change due to an agreement that was made when the town of Bedford reverted from city status in 2013, Bergin explained.
The school board is now considering four options for “budget efficiency.” All four include the closure of Stewartsville Elementary School, a 112-year-old building operating at only 56% capacity. Closing the school could save the division the money it planned to spend on a new roof and HVAC system for the school, which Bergin described as “the tip of the iceberg” for work needed on the building.
Bergin is slated to leave the division at the end of the school year when his three-year contract expires.
Three town hall sessions initially intended to collect community feedback about the search for a new superintendent will now serve double duty as the board also solicits views on its school rezoning options. Those town hall events will take place on Feb. 29, March 5 and March 19, before the school board makes a decision about school consolidation on March 21.