By KAILEE GALLAHAN
For the The Exponent Telegram
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Since House Bill 2711 was passed during West Virginia’s latest legislative session, county school systems are expected to have more local control as Regional Education Service Agencies will no longer be supported under the state Board of Education as of next July 1.
County superintendents and board of education members are in discussion regarding what their next move will be as they prepare for the shift next summer, said Jason Butcher, coordinator for the West Virginia Board of Education.
“When RESAs die at the end of the fiscal year, county superintendents and board members can decide if they want to create cooperatives within their region. The structure will remain in place for them to do so,” he said. “As of now, our counties seem to be in discussion with one another about how they plan to continue.”
Butcher said the legislation will give counties the power to determine how they want to provide services, and it is “entirely up to them.”
At this time, counties are able to begin forming cooperatives through the end of the fiscal year. Many are choosing to remain structured as they are while they consider their options, he said.
“The intent of the legislation was to give local control to the counties, and that is exactly what this does,” he said.
Along with the elimination of RESA programs, Butcher said the state Board of Education also eliminated the attached funding. The $3.5-3.7 million will no longer be distributed among RESA regions.
“What you are seeing right now is that some RESAs were able to use funds generated over the past years to continue providing services,” he said. “RESAs also provided services that were funded through grants provided by the West Virginia Department of Education.”
The counties haven’t paid for all of the services received through the RESAs, Butcher said.
“I think we are going to see counties looking at what services RESA provided that they’d like to keep and then looking at ways they can fund those services,” he said. “As far as using county funds after RESA programs are eliminated, that is another decision to be made at the county level.”
WVU’s Dr. John Deskins, director of the Bureau for Business and Economic Research, said when determining if the elimination of RESA agencies will severely impact the state, one must ask if the program is the most effective way to utilize funding and provide valuable education.
“Whenever government is removed, it poses the possibility of hurting the economy in the short run,” he said. “Over the longer term, what matters is the government spending and the value associated with government spending.”
If the elimination of RESA agencies hurts the way that the state delivers education, Deskins said that this would require more spending to receive the same outcome, potentially raising taxes.
Deskins said it is important to evaluate the full efficiency of the RESA agencies to determine if their elimination will have severe impact on the economy or if there is a more effective way to deliver the same services and programs.
Kathy Hypes, executive director of RESA 7, said the agency was able to provide Pre K-12 professional development sessions for 5,644 participants in 2015-16.
Adult education provided by RESA 7 has been able to extend over 400 high school equivalency diplomas, she added.
In the 2016 fiscal year, Hypes said counties that chose to use RESA-shared services saved the system approximately $7 million and eliminated the need for 113 employees. She said the savings take effect in counties and free up revenue for the classroom and student improvement
“In RESA 7 counties, the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies, the cooperative purchasing program’s yearly purchasing total was $4,266,297.40, which saved the counties a total of $797,637.22,” she said.
Frank Devono, Harrison County school board member and RESA representative, said the cooperative buying program with the agency has been able to provide services not only for Harrison County but for the other 11 counties in RESA 7 district at a shared cost.
“Through this cooperative buying program, Harrison County and other counties are able to share a school psychologist, safety person, or training programs and continuing education without having to pay full-time positions,” he said. “It has allowed us to hire services we might not have been able to on our own.”
RESA agencies offer the opportunity for counties to pool resources to get services and expand in education, Devono said. They cover anything from substitutes to continuing education, he added.
Butcher said the elimination of RESA agencies will not hinder the cooperative buying program in any way.
“This was something that we wanted to make sure that we pushed to keep for the counties,” he said. “They are currently purchasing off that system and will still be able to after the RESAs are eliminated.”
After having observed RESAs for six years, Dr. Greenbrier Almond, Upshur school board member and RESA representative, said it serves more than one purpose in their area.
“We have greatly populated counties and also very small counties,” he said. “Having the governing agencies available for our mixture in sizes is an advantage.”
With the differences in population, some counties are provided with less money than others, making it harder to receive services. Agencies like RESA supply valuable programs that separate counties couldn’t afford alone, he said.
“By meeting once a month, superintendents and representatives are offered information about how to improve the school systems,” Almond said. “Whether it includes teaching seminars and professional development, or safety and service trainings, it’s truly a benefit to the state education system.”
Butcher said these programs will continue to be offered throughout the remainder of RESAs’ involvement with the Board of Education.
Through monthly meetings with other county school systems, the sharing of ideas and program costs has impacted Lewis County Schools immensely, said Sylvia McNeish, Lewis County school board’s RESA representative.
“We have received a great deal of training through all of the RESA programs and services,” McNeish said. “I hope that enough people have seen the difference that RESA is making in the school systems across the state.”
Harrison County Superintendent Dr. Mark Manchin said he is unsure of what is expected in the future of the RESA 7 region, but he knows that the larger counties are looking forward to supporting the smaller counties in any way that they can.
“Harrison County is among the larger counties such as Marion and Monongalia counties and we know that the services are sometimes too great for the smaller counties to bare on their own,” he said. “RESA 7 counties have been meeting with the council and we want to make sure that these services can still reach the smaller counties like Preston, Randolph, Doddridge, and Barbour.”
Manchin said superintendents and school board representatives from RESA 7 counties have discussed the possibility of a cooperative agreements, but nothing has been determined at this time.
RESA 7 counties have remained as they are until they determine their final move forward in the future, he said.
“We want to make sure that we can execute services and work with other counties in order to purchase and provide services and programs for our faculties, staff, students and communities,” he said. “At the end of the day, we just want to make sure that we are able to provide for all of the counties, no matter how small or large.”
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