Inside SUPPLEMENT: Business & Professional Guide
Powhatan, Virginia B1 Hawks too much for Indians in opener
Vol. XXXI No. 38
March 21, 2018
School budget still has unknowns By Laura McFarland News Editor
P
OWHATAN – The Powhatan County School Board was set to present its proposed $47.2 million budget for fiscal year 2019 to the board of supervisors at its meeting this week with the understanding that it will likely change with the final approval by the General Assembly’s state budget. The school board’s fiscal year (FY)
2019 budget was scheduled to be presented to the supervisors during their meeting on Monday, March 19, which happened after press time. At that point, school officials had planned to know how much the school division would be receiving in state funds, Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, said during his latest presentation on the budget on March 13. However, with the General Assembly adjourning on March 10 without coming to an agreement on
the budget, school districts across the state, including Powhatan, are in some degree of limbo while they wait to see how much state funding they will receive. Powhatan’s school district built its budget using the governor’s proposed budget, which called for it to receive $22,226,568 in state funds. This would have been an increase of $73,982 from the adopted FY 2018 budget. But with the General Assembly still
Students honor fallen, stand against violence
debating the budget, the version recommended by the House of Delegates would mean a shortage of $265,830 for Powhatan schools and the one from the Senate would mean a potential shortage of $435,280, Jones said. “The issue that really affected Powhatan County the most is that the governor included a no loss provision in his budget for divisions that saw an increase in their local composite index, including see BUDGET, pg. 9
Forward runner-up at regional spelling bee
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND PHOTOS BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Powhatan High School students particpate in the national walkout to honor the victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida and make it known violence in schools is unacceptable.
By Laura McFarland News Editor
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
POWHATAN – At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14, somewhere between 100 and 150 students at
Powhatan High School stood up and left their classes as part of a planned national school walkout. The 17-minute walkout was organized to remember the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School shooting and make it known that violence in schools is unacceptable. The students walked through the halls that were already populated at see WALKOUT, pg. 8
Cabrey Forward, a seventh-grader at Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School in Powhatan, was the runner-up in the 44th annual Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee held on March 10 at the Library of Virginia. Cabrey lasted until the 15th round. Some of the words she spelled successfully were xylophone, cafeteria, strategy, innocuous, taupe, fluke, polities, carboniferous, and bulbul. See more photos page 10
Legislators give recap of General Assembly session By Laura McFarland POWHATAN – Discussing what the General Assembly accomplished but also failed to get done was the focus of a talk given by Powhatan’s two representatives to those bodies at a recent Powhatan Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Sen. Glen Sturtevant Jr., R-10, and Del. Lee Ware, R-65, continued the annual tradition of giving a general overview of the most recent session during the March 15 chamber luncheon. A good portion of their 40-minute talk focused on the General Assembly adjourning from its 60-day session on March 10 without coming to an agreement on the state’s budget because of continued debate over Medicaid expansion. Other measures they discussed during their shared time in front of local business people included the shift in power with the recent election; the state’s efforts toward increasing broadband coverage; dealing with the rising costs of health care; the ac-
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Sen. Glen Sturtevant Jr., left, and Del. Lee Ware speak to members of the Powhatan Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon on March 15.
ceptance of dual enrollment college credits; a bill to provide for mandatory water and sewer hookups along Route 60, and the possible re-opening of Beaumont Juve-
nile Correctional Center in Powhatan. The General Assembly did not finish working on the budget because the House see CHAMBER, pg. 6
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