By Josephine E. Moore

Declining enrollment has again been cited as the primary contributor to proposed cuts for 79 positions in Raleigh County Schools.

Schools Superintendent Serena Starcher said the proposed cuts are necessary to account for the state aid formula, which indicated that the county would be about 140 positions above the funded staffing levels for the 2025-26 school year.

As a result, the district has proposed 78 cuts, or reductions in force (RIFs), and 67 transfers for professional personnel and one RIF and 21 transfers for service personnel.

Professional personnel included teachers, school and district administrators, counselors, nurses and other properly licensed professional employees. Service personnel include secretaries, custodians, transportation workers and aides.

Of the 78 proposed RIFs for professional personnel, 13 are believed to be school counselors.

Those proposed cuts are tied to a drop in enrollment of 250 students for Raleigh County Schools from the previous school year to the current school year. 

Last year, the Raleigh School Board approved eliminating roughly 30 professional positions and 19 service positions due to declining enrollment and the end of millions in federal COVID relief funding, which paid for several professional staff positions.

Proposed personnel cuts and transfers for the 2025-26 school year will be voted on by the Raleigh County Board of Education at their board meeting at 5:30 p.m. April 8, in the board office at 105 Adair Street in Beckley.

While the proposed cuts far exceed any approved in recent years, Starcher said there are enough vacancies in the district to retain all the employees who could be let go from their current positions if the board approves the proposed cuts.

“I know it’s hard to understand, but our enrollment just continues to decline,” Starcher said. “So as our enrollment declines, if we don’t address our staffing overages, that number just continues to rise. . . It’s not as if we are setting out to eliminate positions. I would rather not eliminate any position, but at the end of the day, we have to balance our budget. We’re not allowed to operate in a deficit.”

“I would rather not eliminate any position, but at the end of the day, we have to balance our budget. We’re not allowed to operate in a deficit.” — Serena Starcher, Raleigh County Schools Superintendent

A Raleigh County Schools employee who spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity after receiving a RIF notice in early March said she believes teachers whose positions are being cut will likely be able to find a job elsewhere in the district, but that will likely not be the case for more specialized positions like counselors or nurses.

“An elementary teacher can go to Pre-K or fifth grade. They don’t have to stay in second grade,” the employee said. “But as far as a school counselor goes, what other job in the school system can they go to? Not many. Not many of them have teacher backgrounds. It’s not as feasible for a school counselor to just jump into another job in the public school system.”

The public outcry

Not long after dozens of teachers and other employees with Raleigh County Schools were notified that their positions could be cut for the coming school year, parents, students and school employees packed the Raleigh County School boardroom during a regular meeting on March 11 to express their concerns and opposition to the proposed cuts.

For over an hour, Starcher and Raleigh County Schools board members heard about how the proposed cuts would adversely affect the students of Raleigh County.

One of the programs that appears to be on the chopping block because of the proposed cuts is the advanced studies program for gifted students taught by Marvin Jarrell at Independence Middle School.

This program received a great deal of attention during the March 11 school board meeting, with at least half a dozen students and parents pleading with board members to let the program remain as it is.

“I’ve learned more in Mr. Jarrell’s class than I have learned in any other classes, and that includes the gifted classes that I was given in elementary school,” said Emma Pedri, a student at Independence Middle School.

Emma also explained that as a gifted student with an IEP (Individualized Education Program), the district is required to provide her with a designated amount of targeted instruction to meet the requirements outlined in her IEP.

“I have an IEP and I have minutes to fulfill. (Jarrell’s class) gives me my minutes, and I’m really, really happy with how the program is right now,” she said. “So I would like you to please consider keeping the advanced studies program as it is right now.”

Emma’s father, Mike Pedri, also spoke about how Jarrell’s advanced studies program has improved his daughter’s life.

“Emma’s won the spelling be at Independence, she’s (won) history bowl, she’s (won) math field day . . . the whole world’s opened up for her, and I just think if this program goes away, it’s just a disservice to the kids,” Mike said.

When Jarrell spoke during the meeting, he thanked all the students and parents for their support.

“I know I’m an anomaly in the county. I know that some of the other middle schools have struggled over the years to get gifted teachers full-time,” Jarrell said. “But I have been at Independence for 12 years. . . I can tell you whatever is going on at Independence Middle School is special . . . and I ask you to please keep the format we have now.

“It works, it makes a difference, and I just really beg you to consider keeping it. If it’s not broke, please don’t fix it.”

“It works, it makes a difference, and I just really beg you to consider keeping it. If it’s not broke, please don’t fix it.” — Mike Pedri, father of student Emma Pedri

Speaking against the proposed personnel cuts was Lisa Hatcher, a teacher at Ghent Elementary School.

Hatcher said five teaching positions will be lost from Ghent Elementary next year if the board approves the cuts in April.

“We feel like our small class sizes and consistent staff from year to year has helped Ghent to be extremely successful in educating our students,” Hatcher said, adding that their elementary school is ranked fifth in the county and 66th in the state.

Hatcher went on to state that for the 2022-23 school year, 58% of Ghent Elementary students met standards or were above standard in math. For reading, Hatcher said 51.48% were proficient, with 26% exceeding proficiency in reading.

“This shows that our school has a strong performance over the years,” Hatcher said. “. . .  We feel that the proposed changes to our staff, and combining classrooms, and having split level rooms will be detrimental for our success as a school and ultimately our success as a county.”

Many parents and teachers have heard that split-grade classrooms, where multiple grade levels are taught in a single room by a single teacher, could be the new normal for some Raleigh County schools.

West Virginia code dictates how many students can be taught by a single teacher, with the ratio varying per grade level. According to WV Code 18-5-18a, fourth, fifth and sixth-grade classrooms can have no more than 25 pupils per teacher.

A county might consider a split-grade classroom if, for example, a school had 30 fourth and 30 fifth graders. 

In this instance, the district could divide the students into four classrooms, two for fourth and two for fifth graders, requiring four teachers. 

The other option would be to have a large fourth-grade class, a large fifth-grade class and a smaller split-grade class. This would mean they would only have to hire three teachers, which saves this district money.

Starcher said the county already has split-grade classrooms in some elementary schools due to declining enrollment. When asked if more split-grade classrooms were planned for next year, Starcher said she could not provide a definite answer because it would depend on how the board votes on the cuts in April.

A more drastic option to combine students and cut costs, which is not being publicly discussed in Raleigh County but has surfaced in other counties, is school consolidation. In October, the Kanawha County School board voted to close one of its middle schools and move those students to another middle school, citing declining enrollment and funding cuts.

Following the vote, Kanawha County Board of Education President Ric Cavender was quoted by MetroNews saying, “Obviously, none of us ever want to have to see a school close or be consolidated into another school, that’s never what we want, never what we want to see, but there are just instances where, due to our declining population, those tough decisions do have be considered and sometimes made.” 

Should Raleigh’s enrollment continue to decline, consolidation could be something board members consider.

No one who spoke at the March 11 board meeting was in favor of split-grade classrooms.

“What about the teachers? How do you expect them to teach two grade levels without one being left behind?” said Elizabeth Stanley, a fifth-grade student at Cranberry-Prosperity Elementary. “Have you thought about what is best for the kids, or is it just how to save money?”

“Have you thought about what is best for the kids, or is it just how to save money?” — Elizabeth Stanley, fifth-grader at Cranberry Prosperity Elementary

Rachel Kittle, a mom of three school-age children, said she also thought split-grade classrooms would be to the detriment of students.

“Cramming a bunch of kids into a classroom just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should do it,” Kittle said, adding that she especially didn’t agree with cutting teachers while others in the board office were getting raises.

One of the raises Kittle mentioned was for Starcher.

In January, the Raleigh School Board unanimously approved a four-year contract extension for Starcher, which included a 3% cost of living increase over the term of the contract, according to the meeting minutes.

This would put Stacher’s salary for the coming school year at $148,526, which equates to an increase of $4,506 from her current salary.

The 2025-26 school year will be Stacher’s third year as superintendent after serving as an assistant superintendent for Raleigh Schools since 2015.

The board initially gave her a two-year contract with a starting salary of $140,000 and a 3% raise during her second year, bumping her salary to $144,200 in the 2024-25 school year.

Statewide, superintendent salaries range from $91,000 to $199,500, with the highest paid superintendent located in Monongalia County. Kanawha County’s superintendent, who has the largest enrollment, makes around $165,000 and is the 7th highest paid superintendent in the state.

State data from the 2023-24 school year shows that Stacher was the 17th highest paid superintendent in the state. Four other school superintendents in the state also made $140,000 for the 2023-24 school year. 

According to information from the West Virginia Department of Education, the Fayette County Schools superintendent has the same salary as Stacher and is projected to receive roughly the same percentage raise as Stacher in the coming school year.

Raleigh County Schools has the sixth-highest enrollment in the state and Fayette County has about half the enrollment of Raleigh County.

Wendy Peters, a curriculum coach at Raleigh County Schools, spoke at the March 11 board meeting and said that teachers, parents and students’ outrage over proposed personnel cuts is misplaced, noting that she received information that the state was decreasing aid to Raleigh Schools by $3 million.

“(Starcher and the school board) didn’t take $3 million from Raleigh County, the West Virginia Legislature did that, and the federal government is getting ready to do that,” Peters said. 

She then suggested that the people take their concerns to the governor and their legislators, who are currently in session and could enact legislation to prevent these proposed cuts by allocating more funding.

“If you want to talk to somebody about cuts and you want to talk about people attacking public education because that’s what it is, it’s an attack on public education, those are the people you need to be talking to,” Peters said. “Not the people in this room that are in the trenches with you.”

“If you want to talk to somebody about cuts and you want to talk about people attacking public education because that’s what it is, it’s an attack on public education, those are the people you need to be talking to. Not the people in this room that are in the trenches with you.” — Wendy Peters, curriculum coach at Raleigh County Schools

Understanding the process

The bulk of the state’s funding for public school districts is based on enrollment numbers from the second month of the school year.

Those enrollment numbers, as well as current staffing levels, are reported to the state in October.

Based on the numbers, districts are given preliminary computations from the state for the following school year, which tells them how much funding they will receive.

When given its preliminary computations for 2025-26, Starcher said the district was informed that Raleigh County Schools was projected to be over the state aid formula by 79.27 professional and 76.61 service personnel for the 2025-26 school year.

Despite this, state funding for Raleigh County Schools has been on the rise in the past few years. 

Starcher said that number can be deceptive, given that the state has allocated more funding while also informing the districts that it has staffing over the state aid formula.

For the 2023-24 school year, Raleigh County Schools was informed they were over the state aid formula by 35.03 professional and 37.69 service personnel while also receiving a $7.5 million increase in state funding.

It was a similar story for the 2024-45 school years when Raleigh Schools received a roughly $3.3 million increase in state funding while being told it was 37.71 professional and 7.25 service personnel over the state aid formula.

Starcher said that the increase in funding “reflects an increase in employee salaries issued by the WV Legislature as well as corresponding increases in PEIA and retirement for positions funded through the state aid formula. The number also reflects funding for the 2nd grade Aide/ECCATs that were required to be hired for (the 2024-25 school year).”

RIFs and transfers are a state-mandated process that occur annually in county school districts as part of their process for preparing the budget for the coming fiscal year, which runs from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next year.

Seniority is one of the key factors in deciding who is selected for RIF or transfer.

The county superintendent recommends RIFs and transfers to the county school board, which has the final say by way of a vote.

Under state code, county schools can not transfer employees whose positions are being cut into vacant positions.

Instead, those employees must reapply for one of the vacant positions.

Declining enrollment

State funding to public schools is directly tied to enrollment, meaning that when the enrollment in a county declines, so does its funding from the state.

Unfortunately, the most sustainable way for districts to cut costs is to reduce personnel.

Raleigh County Schools’ enrollment has steadily decreased for more than a decade.

Its peak in the last 15 years occurred during the 2012-13 school year when 12,568 students were enrolled.

It has since dropped by more than 2,000 students to its current level of 10,287 students for the current school year, 2024-25, which is what state funding is based on for the coming year, 2025-26.

While a decrease in population statewide has contributed to declining enrollment in school districts across West Virginia, many other factors contribute to students leaving the public school system.

Starcher said charter schools and the Hope Scholarship are two major and new contributors to declining enrollment.

“Both of these are new opportunities for education, and this has all risen over the last few years, so that’s just contributing to our number of staff that are over the formula,” Starcher said

The state’s Hope Scholarship voucher program allows students to apply for state funding for private schools, homeschools and other qualified expenses.

Advocates of the Hope Scholarship have argued that the program does not directly take funds from county public schools, which is technically accurate because county schools aren’t writing checks from their funds to Hope Scholarship recipients.

However, when students receive the Hope Scholarship and leave public schools, they decrease a district’s enrollment, decreasing the state aid for that district.

According to an article in West Virginia Watch, program costs for the Hope Scholarship this year were around $52 million and are expected to double next year to accommodate 19,000 students.

The Hope Scholarship began in 2021 and gives students roughly $4,400 for a single school year, which is approximately the amount school systems receive per student from the state each year. There are nearly no restrictions on how families can use the money from the Hope Scholarship, with West Virginia Watch reporting the funds have been used to pay for tuition at out-of-state schools, iPads, dance studio fees and more. 

In the 2023-24 school year, more than 6,000 students statewide received Hope Scholarship vouchers, nearly three times the amount awarded in the previous school year.

Hope Scholarship recipients from Raleigh County Schools mirror the increase seen at the state level but on a smaller scale. According to information from Raleigh County Schools, there are 641 Hope Scholarship recipients who live in Raleigh County for the 2024-25 school year.

Two years ago, in the 2023-24 school year, there were 324 Hope Scholarship recipients in Raleigh County. The year before that, there were 109. 

Since the 2022-23 school year, when the Hope Scholarship program started, Raleigh County Schools’ enrollment has decreased by 558 students.

The amount being given to Hope Scholarship recipients is also on the rise. According to the Hope Scholarship website, the scholarship amount for the 2024-25 school year is $4,921.39. That figure is expected to increase to $5,267.38 for the 2025-26 school year.

In the midst of navigating a projected $400 million deficit for the state, Gov. Patrick Morrisey has proposed using four different revenue streams to pay for the Hope Scholarship for the FY 2026 budget, which runs from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

According to a report from West Virginia Watch, those revenue streams include $29 million in state funds, then a combination of two different lottery funds and a supplemental appropriation to add up to what his office says is a needed $110 million to fund the Hope Scholarship.

Starcher said the county is also losing enrollment and funding to charter schools. This year, Starcher said they sent $884,814 of their own funds to charter schools.

“If we have students that go to charter schools and (the schools) invoice us, then we have to send them the money when we get invoiced,” Starcher said.

Raleigh County RIFs & transfer for 2025-26

The proposed RIFs & transfers, which will be presented to the Raleigh School Board on April 8, include 78 RIFs and 67 transfers for professional personnel and one RIF and 21 transfers for service personnel.

Starcher said one of the reasons they have so few RIFS on the service personnel side is because of a bill recently passed by the West Virginia Legislature, which requires aids, known as ECCATs (early childhood classroom assistant teachers), in grades kindergarten through third grade. 

The state previously only required ECCATs in kindergarten, with the number of ECCATs required based on classroom size. The new ECCAT requirements have been slowly phased in, with a new grade added each year.

Starcher said ECCATs for third-grade classes are being phased in for the upcoming year. To meet this requirement, Starcher said the district will need 29 ECCATs for third grade. 

This means that ECCATs serving in kindergarten through second grade who could have been cut due to dropping enrollment can instead fill the newly created third-grade ECCAT positions.

Starcher added that they have also been able to decrease their overall numbers through attrition, particularly at the board office, where they’ve had at least one retirement and two leave to pursue other jobs. Starcher said those positions were then eliminated in order to further account for the staffing overages identified through the enrollment-based state aid formula.

Starcher said she could not give specifics on who was being recommended for RIF or transfer as personnel matters such as these are confidential until the board approves them.

Personnel matters that the board approves are posted to the Raleigh County School’s website under the board of education tab.

Staff members who were recommended for RIF or transfer were notified in person and by certified mail at the beginning of March.

According to the letters, which this reporter received copies of, those notified had until 4 p.m. on March 21 to file a written response with the district office requesting a hearing before the Raleigh School Board to discuss their RIF or transfer. The hearings will take place March 26-28.

While state code prohibits districts from moving employees on a RIF list into vacant positions, Starcher said they currently have 70 professional and 50 service personnel vacancies. 

“Raleigh County Schools has a significant number of staff vacancies at this point in time,” Starcher said. “So while personnel season is a process that we must go through each year, we also know that we have several vacancies that affected staff members can apply for, and hopefully all of them can find their way back to a position in Raleigh County Schools for the coming school year.”

“Raleigh County Schools has a significant number of staff vacancies at this point in time. So while personnel season is a process that we must go through each year, we also know that we have several vacancies that affected staff members can apply for, and hopefully all of them can find their way back to a position in Raleigh County Schools for the coming school year.” — Serena Starcher, Raleigh County Schools Superintendent

She added that the number of vacancies will likely increase before the end of the year due to retirements or resignations, which will allow them to rehire anyone who is cut if they choose to apply for one of the vacant positions.

One Raleigh County Schools employee, who is one of the 78 professional personnel employees who received a RIF letter, said she was notified of the decision after being called into a meeting at her school with Starcher and Amy Semonco, the district’s director of human resources.

The employee, who has nearly a decade of experience in public schools, said the entire experience felt very impersonal.

“Semonco did most of the talking,” the employee explained. “She talked about how it was RIF and transfer season, and every year they go around school to school to do this. She kept saying that it had nothing to do with job performance or anything of that sort. It was all based off of seniority. . . They kept it pretty black and white.”

This employee, who spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity, said Raleigh County Schools should be able to fund other ways to cut costs without cutting so many vital personnel.

“I think the proposed cuts definitely need to be revisited,” the employee said. “If they’re saying we don’t have funds, then they’ve got to find ways to cut other things. The people at the board office aren’t in schools every day. They don’t see what we see. These cuts will hurt our kids.”