WJCC schools could lose $1.2 million in state funding if enrollment dip continues
Good morning! Also today, taxpayers file tor injunction to stop JCC's new office center, and Williamsburg City Council approves a $15 million round of funding for the regional sports center.
Williamsburg-James City County schools could lose $1.2 million in state funding if the dip in enrollment that occurred this fall continues.
During a school board work session Tuesday, Superintendent Daniel Keever provided the enrollment numbers so the board could understand their potential fiscal implications.
Enrollment at WJCC schools have never recovered from losses they suffered after they were closed during the Covid pandemic. The number of students rose marginally over the past four years to 11,379 in the 2024-25 school year, which was still slightly below pre-pandemic enrollment levels.
But September enrollment figures for this school year dropped by more than 200 students, to 11,146.
Keever told the board that enrollment figures fluctuate day to day, and the schools report a snapshot each year in September and March. The March figures are used by the state in determining how much money to give local schools, he said.
If the number does not improve by then, the state could cut its funding by $1.2 million this fiscal year, Chief Financial Officer Rene Ewing said. That would be offset in part by projected interest income of $311,000.
The net loss would be less than half a percent of the school system’s $191 million budget this year.
Earlier, the board received 10-year enrollment projections from its consultant at Future Think. The company’s president, Tracey Healey, said enrollment trends are down nationwide due to a lower birth rate and smaller families.
She presented the board with four estimates for the next decade, ranging from a best-case scenario showing an increase of 1,876 students by 2035, to a worst-case scenario that shows enrollment dropping by 807 students, to 10,339.
Schools generally use the worst-case scenario to plan their budgets, Healey said.
Healey noted that last year’s worst-case scenario had proven too optimistic, because school enrollment slipped this fall by 1.8% from what the group predicted.
Most of the students who left the schools this year transferred to other public schools in the state or elsewhere, Ewing told the board. Interestingly, the percentage of parents who placed their children in home schooling was nearly twice as large as the state average, 6.4% for the local schools vs. 4.3% for the state.
Suit: Stop James City’s new govt. center construction, hold referendum
Correction: We are correcting throughout to note that the complaint says any type of long-term debt requires a referendum under the Virginia Constitution and State Code.
On the same day James City County held a groundbreaking for its new government center, six taxpayers filed for an injunction against it –sending a process server to hand the complaints to the board of supervisors as they sat at the dais for a board meeting Wednesday evening.
Attorney Christopher M. Woodfin, representing the plaintiffs, filed a motion for an emergency injunction against work on the center with the Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court Wednesday. The suit says the county must hold a referendum and get permission to use long-term debt to legally build the government office center.
When we passed by the center site Thursday afternoon, a small crew was still working there.
“We have asked for an injunction against any further activity relating to the building until they put the bond to a referendum, which is required by the state code,” Woodfin said.
Woodfin announced the injunction during the public comment period. His announcement was met with applause from some members of the audience.
“(The supervisors) had not had time to open and read (the lawsuit notices) so they may not have known,” Woodfin told us.
County Administrator Scott Stevens and the five members of the board of supervisors are defendants in the suit in their official capacity, not personally, Woodfin said. The six plaintiffs are Charles and Sandra Colegrove, Kathleen Rothschild, Karen Rollins, Agnes Manzie and Michael Joseph. Among them, they include residents in each of the county’s political jurisdictions.
The complaint asked the court to order the county to stop work on the building at the corner of Longhill and DePue roads; pay the plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees, and order the county to begin the process of calling for a referendum on a bond to build the center.
It argues that doing the financing through bond proceeds from the Economic Development Authority is still a “long-term debt” under the Virginia Constitution and State Code, and requires a voter referendum.
Neither Stevens nor County Attorney Adam Kinsman wanted to comment on the suit.
The story of the controversial center began in August 2020, when the county received a space needs analysis for all the offices used by the government to serve citizens.
Powhatan District Member Michael J. Hipple argued that the county should consolidate all its spaces into a single location for efficiency.
Over time, the plans changed from updating existing facilities to building a new consolidated government center on land the county owns next to the county recreation center.
The consultants said that by selling the current county complex off Mounts Bay road, the county could get a new office space for roughly the same $100 million it would cost to rehab and operate the old offices. That construction cost has now nearly doubled.
Woodfin said the motion asks for an emergency injunction until an actual hearing can be heard on the case. The county has 21 days to respond.
City council approves 2nd round of funding for sports center
Williamsburg City Council members unanimously agreed to help repay up to $15 million in additional borrowing by the Historic Triangle Recreational Facilities Authority to complete construction of the regional sports center.
The authority agreed earlier this week to accept an offer from TowneBank for a five-year revenue note of up to $15 million. The city agreed to make any payments for the debt service that is not covered by other income.
City Manager Andrew O. Trivette, who is also chairman of the authority, said the debt was a line of credit, because the 3.78% interest the bank would charge would only apply to the balance due at any time.
At the authority’s meeting the previous day, Trivette noted “there’s confusion already” about what the city was committing to “in the sense that this is not a standard bond.”
The regional authority issued a standard bond last year for $63,985,000 to partially fund the sports center, whose cost will be $80 million.
Williamsburg committed to paying 64% of the debt, or $2.5 million each year, with the authority responsible for the balance. James City and York counties, which are also part of the authority, did not commit to repaying the debt but agreed to pay an operating subsidy, ranging from $400,000 each the first year to $800,000 each for the next four years, then $300,000 to $800,000 depending on the center’s operating losses for the balance of the 30-year agreement.
Council member Barbara Ramsey noted during the discussion that the additional funding might have caused some residents to think the cost of the sports center had increased.
Trivette said the guaranteed maximum cost from the contractor was always $80 million.
“We always anticipated we’d have to borrow some money to finish out the project,” Trivette said. But he said waiting until the authority had received the best bids from all suppliers allowed for better pricing.
City Council approved the motion 4-0. Council member Ayanna T. Williams was absent.
Passings
Sharon Joyce Wells, 81, Nov. 6.
Paulina Martinez, 91, Nov. 10.
Frances Ann Givens Ashley, 95, Nov.10.
Russell George Wuestefeld, 82, Nov. 9.