Kanawha County school board candidates disagreed Thursday over whether the school system should hire a communications director, among other differences related to spending.
In a discussion with a Gazette-Mail reporter and editors, former Charleston City Council member Adam Knauff alleged that the county school system is wasting money on curriculum programs that teachers neither want nor need.
Ric Cavender, executive director of the economic and community development organization Charleston Main Streets, said, "To a degree, I do agree that programming seems to be a little inconsistent as far as how often it changes."
Cavender said in conversations with educators and others, people have told him "time and time" again that the programming is good despite its frequent changes, but a current lack of communication from the central office about how to implement it is part of the issue. He said he's not proposing a communications director at this moment, but it's something that should be considered in a long-term plan to better communicate with faculty and the public.
"There's a lot of great stuff going on," Cavender said. "We're just not hearing about it."
Knauff said he disagreed with the position, saying money should be invested instead in infrastructure and staff who are in charge of teaching students.
Ryan White, the board's newest member, first broached the subject in 2014. In June 2015, board members Pete Thaw and Jim Crawford, who's been on the board for 16 years and is the only incumbent running for re-election, tried to postpone discussion indefinitely. Board President Robin Rector, whose term is up June 30 and is not running for re-election, White and board member Becky Jordon defeated that attempt. White said Thursday he may bring the issue up again after the election.
Also Thursday, Cavender spoke positively of the current school calendar for Kanawha students not on a year-round schedule, noting a start in early August allows students to avoid having to study during the holiday break by ending the semester before then.
Knauff said the calendar starts "way too early," exacerbating cooling issues in schools with poor infrastructure. Bill Carpenter, a retired longtime construction manager, said he'd have to study the issue more carefully.
Crawford, who voted for the current calendar, said many people like ending the first semester before Christmas break and noted the Legislature is constantly changing the calendar regulations school systems must follow. Another bill from lawmakers, which would ban students from starting before Aug. 10 or getting out after June 10, is awaiting the governor's signature.
Knauff said he doesn't want to propose raising the county's excess levy rate, and would like to see it decreased. School board members are elected for four-year terms, so those voters choose May 10 - candidates are elected at-large during the primary election - will have to deal with the expiration of the current excess levy.
Board members would have to vote to put a proposed excess levy amount on a ballot for county voters to decide whether to approve higher property taxes to support certain expenditures. The current excess levy will provide the school system an extra roughly $44.2 million annually through the 2018-19 school year for expenses like salaries, textbooks and maintenance.
In the next excess levy election, the board could decide to remove the $44.2 million cap and ask for 100 percent of what the state will allow it to raise. For example, a 100 percent levy would provide Kanawha an extra $22.8 million next fiscal year alone.
The school system is projecting about $230.7 million in general budget revenue for next fiscal year - $5.3 million less than what was budgeted for this fiscal year, largely due to about a 590-student drop in enrollment. School officials say they're proposing small cuts across the board.
When asked whether he'd support raising the excess levy amount, Carpenter said Kanawha should be building new schools, but he wouldn't support raising local taxes. But after Cavender spoke, Carpenter then said he would consider "any possibility of increasing our funding."
Cavender said, "Overall, I do believe the more we can put toward our students and education, the better," but noted he'd need to get more information on what the excess levy could include before deciding to raise it.
Crawford said he'd like to see the levy raised, but said voters turned a previous higher levy down, and the county didn't have any choice but to cap it at the current rate.
"Right now, people just don't have money to pay their taxes," Crawford said. "It all depends on what the climate is two years from now when we get ready to run that excess levy."
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1254, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.