City, schools come to agreement to fully fund Staunton school system

The City of Staunton and Staunton City Schools have come to an agreement on the fiscal year 2023 budget that will fully fund the school system.

The agreement includes an adjusted revenue sharing formula and city support of the schools’ construction projects.

“We recognize that engaging in productive struggle to solve complex problems is integral to learning and growing,” said Staunton City Schools Superintendent Dr. Garett Smith. “We appreciate the hard work and effort that went into reaching a fair conclusion and we thank the community for their support.”

The agreement resolves the fiscal year 2023 discrepancy of $624,113 by making adjustments to the schools’ budgeted revenues, and the city will make up the remainder of the difference in the amount of $365,000. The revised revenue sharing formula that is being discussed to be used in future budgets will be based on actual revenues, which are heavily weighted by more stable property tax revenues, versus projected revenues as is done currently.

The city also repeated its support for Staunton City Schools construction projects as outlined in the capital budget, which includes the Shelburne Middle School project and a consolidated operations facility.

“I’m really pleased with the direction this collaboration is taking us,” said Interim City Manager Leslie Beauregard. “We have been talking about improving the revenue sharing agreement for a while now, and I’m confident that is going to help us moving forward.”

Additional information on the proposed budget, the budget schedule, all presentations related to the budget, and previously adopted budgets can be found on the city’s website at www.staunton.va.us/budget.