Nelson County School Board November Update
NELSON COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEETING SUMMARY
as of November 19, 2025
During the November 13, 2025 School Board meeting, Superintendent Amanda Hester honored seven members of school staff who were veterans. She also honored Sarah Bell with a One Nelson award. Sarah is the school nurse at Rockfish River Elementary School (RRES) and the division-wide lead nurse who coordinated vision screening at each of the schools and was able to get free eye glasses to dozens of those who needed them. High school math teacher Madalyn Bell and student Rylie Turner were also awarded One Nelson awards for their exemplary characters. Finally, an award was given to Marshall Beeler, division-wide network administrator, for keeping all the networks running and working through all the issues to make a new state-required testing platform available this fall. Students from the RRES SCA talked to the School Board members about the Veterans Day assembly they organized and moderated.
Dr. Hester gave an excellent “Budget Development 101 and ½” presentation to the School Board members (and newly elected members Joe Richardson and Joe Kennedy in the audience). “The Budget is the Financial Plan to meet the goals and objectives of the School Board in their mission to help students achieve academic success and to reach their full potential.” The process starts in October with staff needs and wants and progresses in November to budget priorities for citizens and the School Board. After discussions with the County on their costs and potential revenues along with the “Governor’s budget” released in mid-December, school administrative staff conduct School Board workshops and present a draft budget that is finalized to give to the County by April 1. School staff work with enrollment projections and the number of sections/classrooms needed; determine who is retiring or moving and whether new staff are needed, and what market pressures may be present for different staff groups to be able to recruit or retain staff. Overall, year over year inflation is around 3% but staff will analyze potential health insurance and energy/utility costs separately. The good news is that the state has determined that pension costs will go down 2% of staff salaries. Dr. Hester also talked about significant facility needs that will are needed for each of the schools
From a revenue perspective, the state prepares a Calc Tool that is individualized for each school division based on the Governor’s budget (Youngkin in December), then the House and Senate budgets (in February) and finally the state’s appropriated budget (received sometimes as late as June). Federal grants can have a large impact, especially on personnel and there is considerable uncertainty going forward. Another huge uncertainty for Nelson County is the state’s Local Composite Index (LCI) which determines the cost share between the state and local government for minimum Standards of Quality (SOQ) expenses.
Because of higher increases in real property values and adjusted gross income than most other localities in the state, Nelson County expects its LCI to rise higher than the .6645 index assigned to it for the last two years. Nelson County dealt with over $1 million in loss of funding two years ago when the LCI rose from .5885. [This reporter saw that the new LCI calculations were released in the last week - they increased for Nelson County to .7269, one of the highest increases in the state and close to the maximum allowed of .80. This means that the local government is expected to pick up almost 73% of all SOQ costs while the state pays for 27%.] School Board members spent some time talking about this issue. This is a calculation that school and county staff as well as both county and school board elected officials have been advocating for a change - Nelson is rural but has a large resort which is skewing the calculations. Unfortunately, a recent JLARC study deemed that the LCI calculation was fair overall although the state’s determination of need based on “per pupil” rather than staffing/high-risk program needs (as most states use) should be reformed. Dr. Hester finished by talking about the high mental health needs of today’s students that were happening before COVID but exacerbated by the pandemic which creates higher school staff needs since specialized schools are very expensive and are often not available. In summary, Dr. Hester stated:
School Board member George Cheape gave a parting speech about his seven years on the School Board before, during and after the pandemic. He said he came in expecting to save costs from the School Board budget and found that was not possible if the County wanted to properly invest in the students as Dr. Hester stated above - good teachers and other staff had to be paid properly to be retained. He originally thought cost per pupil was too high - until he found out what goes into the calculations, including any special grants received. Mr. Cheape said historically the County has valued and funded schools for smaller class sizes which is even more important now with more student mental health issues. School Board member Margaret Claire then asked that people listen to the recent Board of Supervisor presentation on the county’s 2025 MAPP2Health report which included over 100 interviews with citizens in “remote” areas of the county and how citizen health affects schools.
During Dr. Hester’s Pathways to Success presentation she talked about being part of state-wide advocacy on slowing down the raising of SOL “cut scores” because of the impact on high school student’s ability to graduate (if they don’t pass, they can’t graduate). They were successful in getting a four-year phased plan approved. All schools have great programs and CITIZENS ARE ASKED TO FOLLOW THE SCHOOLS ON FACEBOOK to get the best information. She stated that the Nelson County Head Start programs at both elementary schools are still experiencing start-up issues. Tye River ES had a great 30th anniversary celebration and the division participated in the popular Lovingston Halloween trunk or treat with several decorated buses. The division is developing experiences for students with partnering organizations like Rockfish Valley Foundation, the Nature Foundation and Woodson’s Mill. Mrs. Elizabeth Knight is the new interim assistant principal at the high school and school staff are trying to stream more school events for community members to watch what is happening. The School Nutrition department continues to work on “scratch” or local meals for students and the participation in breakfast, lunch and dinners (485!) avaiable to all students was much higher than usual during the government shutdown.
There were several public comments. One from the vice-president of the Nelson County Education Association who thanked school board members for their service and for modeling to students how to have common agreements despite differences of opinion. A parent advocated for some leniency in absentee policies (much of it required by the state once there are over 7 days missed) which felt punitive when sometimes students were simply sick and needed to stay home.
Maintenance Supervisor Les Campbell said the HS renovation continues on schedule. A separate agency is starting commissioning on installed equipment, the renovation is moving upstairs, and brick renovation has stopped until the weather warms up in the spring.
Ryan Yarzebinski gave a presentation on Enrollment. Full-time enrollment is determined as of 9/30 each school year and Nelson County’s enrollment continues to decline (from 1492 last year to 1440 this year; most from moves to other Virginia school divisions) with more loss expected in the near future since the high school has the largest-sized classes and the kindergarten class came in fairly small. There are fewer English Language learners this year. The demographics continue to shift with this year showing more Hispanic than Black students:
The funded enrollment which excludes preschool students shows a 40 student drop from last year which will directly impact state funding this year.
Various staff presented information on state grants that were pursued and have been awarded in recent months that allowed the division to meet some of their needs without asking for County funding:
1) $40,000 Virginia Tiered Systems of Support grant which will help fund teacher leader stipends to analyze and support struggling students and a new elementary school “Character Strong” program.
2) $103,000 Telehealth Mental Health grant which will pay Uwill (a state-contracted provider) and allow the schools to hire a Telehealth Facilitator. There will be 24/7 365 day support for all students and their families through June 2026 with this grant.
3) $50,954 School Security grant which will allow the division to offset costs for safety initiatives started last year.
Action items that were passed by the School Board included support for hiring the Telehealth Facilitator with the grant funding and a Headstart Learning Specialist, both for this school year only. They also approved a contract for SPED Teacher contracted services since they cannot find a qualified teacher willing to work in Nelson County. They approved three new delegate positions to take to a state school board conference this month: any changes to cut scores or accountability and assessment changes needs at least one year for implementation; taking chronic absenteeism (which includes both excused absences and illness) out of the division’s indicators for accreditation (because most absences are not in control of the schools); and increasing the enrollment cap for students to take Virtual Virginia classes, a cap which hasn’t been adjusted for the last 20 years. NCPS uses it for AP and dual enrollment classes where NCPS teachers don’t have sufficient credentials to teach them and the students work well in a virtual environment..