Spotsylvania School Board Passes Revised CIP and Superintendent's Budget Unanimously
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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The Spotsylvania County School Board held its meeting on Monday evening at the John J. Wright Center in honor of Black History Month. Over the course of the more-than-five-hour meeting, the Board approved a new Captial Improvement Plan and approved the superintendent’s budget, both on 7-0 votes.
The revised CIP was put together at the request of the county administration, which is “looking for a Capital Improvement Plan which incorporated all of the school’s facility needs, to include requirements for new and renovated facilities,” according to the presentation by Kenny Forrest, who is the executive director of operations.
The previous CIP approved in November 2024 was for $129,279,864. The revised proposal for 2026 - 2030 ask for an additional $99 million to cover a range of needed repairs or replacements in the county’s schools.
Also requested was a list of new facilities. These included:
A Special Education / Pre School Facility - $25,000,000…target date of completion FY2027.
New Elementary School Route 1 Corridor - $4,850,000…Costs beyond FY30 $79.8M
Career and Technology Relocation/ Expansion - $4,200,000…Costs beyond FY30 $135.8M
Multiple Division Building Renovations - $9,000,000…Costs beyond FY30 $12.5M
Repurpose Current Career & Technology Center as a MS…Costs beyond FY2030 $64.2M
Synthetic Turf Field Replacement - $5M…Costs between FY2031 to FY2035
The $498.8 million district budget put forward by Superintendent Clint Mitchell also passed on a 7-0 vote with minor adjustments.
First, the superintendent’s budget included $790,102 for five FTE assistant principal positions to support schools with more than 500 students. On final vote, that number was reduced by two FTEs, lowering the total amount to $474,061.
Second, the budget included stipends of $2,000 for low-incidence SPED teachers (200 FTEs). That number was reduced to $1,000.
The School Board will present its budget to the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors on March 4, 2025, at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting.
Debate over the Strategic Plan
The school district is now in the process of working through a new strategic plan.
It’s a different approach from previous plans, as it’s a “community based” strategic plan.
Executed by Cambridge Strategic Services, the same company that did work in Orange County, this strategic planning process is built on community guidance, as opposed to the guidance of top leaders alone.
All stakeholders - parents, students, business and civic leaders, board members, secondary staff, elementary staff, central office, and students - are brought in and placed on an even playing field. (See here for Cambridge Strategic Services’ presentation.)
Early in the meeting, Lee Hill representative Lisa Phelps expressed frustration with the new process.
“I know it’s a fact,” she said, “representatives of Lee Hill district are not representing the Lee Hill district.” She continued, “When there are people representing my district who I don’t even know, who are very vitriolic, I have a problem with it, and I have a huge concern…. Each one of us board members up here should have a representative on our committees.”
In response during his comments, Superintendent Clint Mitchell said: “From the beginning, we ensured and made sure the board knows it is a community based strategic plan.”
He continued, “Because we have done things one way in the past, doesn’t mean we’re going to do it the same way in the future.”
He noted that approximately 120 individuals will be involved in this process and that board members were not asked to provide a representative “because that is not the process.”
In a conversation with the Advance Tuesday morning, Mitchell was asked if anyone who attended the organizational meeting was denied access to a role in the strategic plan.
“Everybody who came to the summit,” he said, has a role to play in the strategic plan. Further, “no one was denied or turned away.”
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