Schools have $1M to spend

Stimulus money to be used for vehicles, supplies, aides

By Linwood Outlaw III - loutlaw@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Warren County Public Schools have until next year to spend more than $1 million in federal stimulus money that was recently awarded for special education purposes.

School Board members unanimously voted on Wednesday evening to ask the Board of Supervisors to increase the school division's current fiscal budget by $372,815 so that the remaining funds can be spent on new vehicles and supplies, as well as a dedicated aide position at Skyline High School.

A little more than half of the $1,266,001 in stimulus funds that was awarded to the school system through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 had not been spent as of July 1, said Robert H. Ballentine, the school division's director of finance. Officials have to spend the money by Sept. 30, 2011. Of the remaining $654,449 in funds, $303,330 has already been earmarked in order to cover salaries and benefits for 6.5 new special education positions.

Officials are asking that $235,900 be used to purchase seven Chevrolet Suburban vehicles for transporting special needs students. Also being requested is $18,866 to hire a dedicated aide to assist a specific student at Skyline High School. The School Board unanimously voted on Wednesday to approve the new position for the upcoming school year, which starts Sept. 7.

School officials reviewed other instructional assistant positions, but determined that there is not a position that could be transferred to Skyline to meet the respective student's particular need. If officials elect not to use stimulus money to fund the position, it would have to be funded either from savings from staff turnover, or by the recently enacted federal Education Jobs Fund program, Ballentine said.

Ballentine said the purchase of the new transportation vehicles for special education pupils would not require hiring any additional drivers or aides. The purchase would also allow school officials to take "five of the least road-worthy vehicles" in the school system's current fleet and trade them in for a replacement car at a later date, Ballentine said. The new Chevrolet Suburbans would replace older vehicles that may be used for other purposes.

Meanwhile, school officials are asking that the remaining $96,353 in stimulus money be spent on various special education materials, supplies and equipment.

Warren County received another $21,696 in special education preschool stimulus funding that must be disbursed by the same Sept. 30, 2011, deadline.

The School Board is also asking that those funds be used to buy various supplies. The proposed appropriations must receive final approval from the supervisors. "The good news is they're not required to chip in any local money," Ballentine said.