MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County School System has started to make reductions as part of an impending budget cut.
The Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) moved forward on the reduction of 5 positions within the school system as part of the approval of the levy rates for FY 2025-26 during a special meeting of the board on Tuesday. The reductions were made in response to levy revenue projections that declined by over $4 million in regular property tax levy revenues as well as a projected decline of excess levy revenues of approximately $3.6 million.
“The district is required to cut a minimum of 9.75 county-funded positions, and every effort is being made to implement these reductions in a manner that impacts the fewest number of students,” said Monongalia County Schools General Counsel Jennifer Caradine ahead of the start of personnel hearings hosted as part of the cuts decided on Tuesday.
The positions that were removed either through a repurposing of job responsibilities or eliminated entirely were focused on administration, a Chinese education teacher for South Middle School, and three positions focused on healthcare training at Monongalia County Technical Education Center (MTEC). According to Caradine, the decisions were made based on a multitude of factors, primarily focused on the redundancy of services and the transferring of programs to Pierpont Community and Technical College, which accounts for EMS, health occupation, and surgical technical education classes that are affected by the cuts. With programming not expected to be affected in the short term, with the exception of the Chinese world language offering at South Middle School being discontinued, the cuts are not expected to have immediate repercussions for students looking to take part in healthcare training while attending Monongalia County Schools.
“Our goal is to make these reductions in a way that impacts the fewest number of students while preserving educational quality and opportunity,” said Caradine. “It reflects our responsibility to align resources with student interest and program success.”
Monongalia County Schools Treasurer Nicole Kemper described the financial situation ahead of the personnel hearings, where she stated that the county school system now projects regular tax levy revenues of approximately $36.4 million, a little over $4.4 million difference from FY 24-25. This is separate from the approximately $35.64 million projection for excess levy revenues, which reflected an approximately $3.6 million decline from the previous fiscal year. With the total losses resulting in an over $4 million projected loss in total revenues, the tough decisions were shown to be necessary in the perspective of the school system.
“Our regular levy, the net effect, once we work through the state aid formula, will be $400,000, going into Fiscal Year 2026, we are seeing a $4 million property tax revenue decrease,” said Kemper.
After the presentation of the cut in levy revenues, a combination of former students of the MTEC EMS training program and members of the EMS community spoke out against the cutting of the positions related to the Pierpont takeover of the program. Their concerns mainly stemmed from the exclusivity of the program towards a profession with high job demand in the state and the potential removal of classes at MTEC preventing high schoolers from becoming interested in the profession. With students as recently as last year finding work in the healthcare field, the BOE was strongly urged to reconsider the moves.
“The support from this program is strong, widespread, and deeply rooted in the reality of what our state needs,” said former MTEC EMS student and current EMT Gabrielle Chico, who spoke at the meeting. “Eliminating the program only worsens the crisis, we need more trained EMS professionals, not fewer.”
The decision to repurpose or completely remove the five positions was made after a nearly hour-long executive session by the Mon County BOE, with the vote ultimately landing 5-1, with member Christina Fattore Morgan as the dissenting vote. This round of position cuts is expected to not be the only one to take place in the coming months, with the Monongalia County School System recommended to reduce 9 total positions to account for the loss in revenues. With more cuts expected to take place in the coming months, the Monongalia County School System, as well as the BOE, hopes to make decisions that impact as few students as possible.
“The administration is committed to honoring the educational experiences of students currently enrolled in the program and ensuring a smooth transition that does not impact their academic progress,” said Caradine.