Heather Bell
RADFORD – The Radford City School Board unanimously approved the 2021-22 school budget at its most recent meeting, including a six percent raise for all employees.
The $18,126,228 operating budget is part of a total $33,145,146 budget.
At the meeting, held March 23, Radford City Schools Superintendent Robert Graham said higher than expected state funds helped the school division come up with the $951,935 needed for the salary increases.
“The projected state funds came in much higher than we thought,” said Graham. “We really thought we were not going to be able to do nearly this much. We’re going to be able to give everyone — and they deserve every bit of this — a six percent increase. And that’s everyone.”
The budget will need to be approved by the Radford City Council before it is final. The budget does not include any increase in city contributions; it remains level at last year’s $5,929,528. The projected state funds in the budget total $12,196,700.
Also at the March 23 school board meeting, Graham updated board members on the status of the
McHarg Elementary School renovation project. Graham said that while COVID-19 has caused several delays in the project, things are moving forward at a good pace.
“There are more subcontractors up there right now than we have ever had, and that’s a good thing,” he said, noting that HVAC work grading and work on doors, frames, and the gymnasium is just some of the progress being made.
During a discussion of possibilities for next year’s school calendar, administrators said they hoped to move McHarg staff and classrooms back to the McHarg campus over the winter break in the 2021-22 school year, so McHarg students and staff would begin the 2021-22 school year at the shared Belle Heth Elementary School campus, switching to the newly-renovated school when they returned from winter break in January 2022.
The complete breakdown for the 2021-22 budget is as follows: Fund One (operating budget) $18,126,228, McHarg Project $8,401,804, Capital Projects $220,000, Health Insurance $2,595,251, Grants $2,625,404, Textbook Fund $326,545, School Nutrition $705,026, and Region 7 Virtual Academy $144,888.