By Stephen Baldwin
RealWV, www.therealwv.com
“We don’t want to lose our community schools.”
That’s the bottom line for Superintendent Jeff Bryant, Greenbrier County Schools. He says schools have served as the centers of communities across the state for generations, but new trends in education are threatening those old ways.
“The Hope Scholarship is decimating public education,” he says candidly. “I don’t want to sound negative, but that’s the truth. They (the legislature) voted to fully fund it (Hope). We all need to be on the same playing field.”
Bryant says that Greenbrier County Schools lost 185 students this year as compared to last, which leaves a significant financial gap. He adds that the reasons for declining enrollment include families taking the Hope Scholarship and a general population decline in the state, particularly in the south.
“Schools are required to balance their budget,” he explains. “You’re forced to make those decisions.”
The loss of students in Greenbrier County forced their Board of Education (BOE) to vote on a personnel agenda, at a special meeting on Mar. 4, that abolishes 57 total jobs (32 professional teaching jobs and 25 service personnel jobs).
Those job cuts are in addition to 45 terminations. Bryant said some of the folks whose positions were terminated will be transferred to other available jobs and “hopefully some (of the abolished positions) will come back.”
The board will have to wait until summer to make those final employment decisions for the start of the 2026-27 school year.
Crichton Elementary grade levels will be combined
Particularly hard-hit in the job cuts is Crichton Elementary, a small school of 72 students located in Quinwood. The town library, city hall, and community center all operate on the school property.
The Greenbrier BOE considered closing Crichton last year, but decided against it due to an outpouring of community support. At that time, Crichton had 93 students. In just a year, they’ve lost approximately 20% of the total school population.
“We want to keep it open, but enrollment declines continue,” said Bryant. “That’s why we’re doing combined classrooms next year.”
The personnel agenda approved by the Greenbrier BOE last week includes termination of roughly half the school’s professional teaching positions. Pre-K will remain a separate classroom. Then Kindergarten will combine with 1st grade for one class, 2nd & 3rd grade will combine, and 4th & 5th will combine.
“I met with all the teachers personally,” Bryant said. “Every classroom will have a teacher and an aide, except the 4th & 5th grade class. There will be about 18 or 19 students in each combined class.”
Will the legislature change the school funding formula?
“It’s what we needed to do to keep the school up and running,” Bryant noted. “The BOE doesn’t want to take this action. It comes down to the amount of money in the student aid formula.”
Currently in the final week of this year’s legislative session, HB 5453 contemplates changes to the school funding formula. Bryant supports that effort, but says the timing is key as the original bill doesn’t make any changes for three years.
“Public education maybe can’t survive three years,” he says, noting that if legislators can work towards a compromise on a shorter timeline, it would significantly help county school systems. “Our hope is that if you’re gonna give us more special education funding, we’d like it in the 2026-27 school year.”
The Senate Education Committee considered that proposal earlier this week but shot it down with a 5-6 vote among senators.
The state budget included no funding changes for public education next year and has already been passed by both the House and Senate. However, Del. Joe Statler, R-Monongahela, told Brad McElhinny of WVMetronews that there is still time to act this week.
Stay tuned to RealWV for updates on HB 5453 and the state budget this week.
