MC, 'Rapp' schools link up to offer more

County students may soon be able to develop Web design skills, explore geographic technology or master their culinary arts talents.

The Madison County School Board recently entered into an agreement with Rappahannock County that will allow some students to freely enroll in classes not available at Madison County High School.

Up to two slots in Rappahannock County High School’s Web design, “geospatial technologies (GIS/GPS)” and culinary arts classes will be reserved for MCHS students each semester, according to school officials. The same number of spots in the cosmetology and barbering classes at MCHS will be reserved for Rappahannock County students.

Madison County Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Tanner said she was unsure when local students may start enrolling in Rappahannock County classes but that it may start during the fall semester of the 2009-2010 school year in August.

The classes chosen are ones within each school division’s career and technical education programs that are unique to each school system, according to Tanner. The school divisions may later agree to add or delete which courses are open to either school, according to a Madison County Public Schools press release.

The arrangement will also allow the divisions to jointly purchase certain items – such as custodial supplies, paper, computers and food – in an effort to receive a lower price for purchasing in a larger quantity.

“We would work together to see if it truly would be a cost savings,” Tanner told the school board at its April 6 meeting. The joint purchases may start occurring this summer when the schools’ do “major purchases” in preparation of the 2009-2010 school year, which is set to start Aug. 19, she told The Eagle.
Employees of both school divisions would also be able to attend free staff development programs at either school on a space available basis. In addition, Rappahannock County Public Schools would offer any surplus buses to Madison County at no cost, according to the press release.

The agreement has been something Rappahannock County officials have actively pursued in response to declines in state funding to support its own public schools, according to past media reports. Due to rising real estate values in Rappahannock County, the state recently increased the county’s “local composite index” or “local ability to pay” percentage to the maximum allowed by state law, the reports state.

This has left Rappahannock’s local government providing 80 percent of the funding to support its schools, while Madison County is required to provide about 48 percent of the schools’ funding, according to figures provided on the Virginia Department of Education’s Web site.

Due to a bill approved by the Virginia General Assembly in 2008, certain school divisions – including Rappahannock County Public Schools – are able to enter into this type of “cost savings” agreement with an adjacent school division and then use that school division’s “local ability to pay” percentage.

This means the state will now cover the same percentage of Rappahannock County Public Schools’ budget as it covers for Madison’s school budget – resulting in an approximately $250,000 boost in funds for Rappahannock County’s schools, according to the release.

“[Virginia state] Budget Director Kent Dickey has assured Madison that there would be no loss of state aid as a result of the agreement,” according to the release.

Also at the Madison County School Board’s April 6 monthly meeting, the board:

• Set a meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday April 22 at the school board’s headquarters off Fairground Road near downtown Madison to possibly revise its 2009-2010 fiscal year budget. School officials hope they will have received more final state funding figures for the coming fiscal year prior to this meeting. The Virginia General Assembly’s most recent version of the state budget would restore about $500,000 of state funding cuts Madison County school officials had included in its own budget, which the school board approved earlier this year. The superintendent had recommended that the income be used to temporarily restore some of the positions officials had proposed to cut. However, due to declining enrollment, school officials are still planning to eliminate two teaching positions – a Madison County High School special education teacher and a Wetsel Middle School French teacher – and three teachers aide positions, Tanner told The Eagle.

• Listened to a report by Madison Primary School Principal Mike Allers and nine of the school’s teachers about various actions the school takes to boost parent communication and students’ reading and social skills.

• Recognized Madison County High School student Haley Bader, Wetsel Middle School student Katie Weaver and Madison Primary School student Brianna Lucas for their participation in the 2009 Student Art Contest that was conducted in conjunction with the annual Virginia School Board Association Spring Regional Forum. Haley’s artwork received first place and will be displayed on a rotating basis in the VSBA office in Charlottesville, the state superintendent’s office in Richmond and at the annual VSBA convention in Williamsburg.

• Listened to a presentation by Boys and Girls Club of Madison County Director Rae Parker and club members and Wetsel Middle School students Leann Norris, Jenny Rohde and Jesse Reed about the activities that fill the club members’ after school hours.

• Postponed recognizing the Madison County High School boys basketball team – which ended its season with a 28-1 record – due to scheduling conflicts with team representatives.