There were numbers galore at a joint meeting of the Roanoke City Council and School Board on Monday, from school classroom square footage to enrollment totals to budget figures of millions of dollars.

But important figures that will impact the future of school funding and possibly the relationship between the two bodies are yet to come. 

A task force — which includes two members of each body and some city and school staff — met for the first time recently. From that group will come a recommendation on whether the city will start taking leftover local school money to spend on other needs. That hasn’t happened for years, as the school division built enough cash reserves to pay for large projects such as the $17 million William Robertson administration building downtown.

The task force is planning to have recommendations in the November to December timeframe, according to a short report presented during Monday’s joint meeting. The task force is meeting privately, as allowed by state law based on its makeup.

School Board Chairwoman Franny Apel said during Monday’s joint meeting that the upcoming decisions “could potentially represent a fundamental shift in how we’ve approached our budget.”

The other board and council members on the task force include Mayor Joe Cobb, Councilman Peter Volosin and school board member Eli Jamison.

The school’s surplus money became the highlight of a tumultuous budget cycle this year when City Manager Valmarie Turner and Superintendent Verletta White exchanged accusatory letters in April. Turner wrote that the school district had built up $22.8 million in reserves and $26.2 million for building projects that “should have been returned to the City” for appropriation by city council. The city also questioned other unspent funds and hired a lawyer to look over the school finances. Turner wrote that the practices of school officials could be defined as “malfeasance.”

White responded, writing that the allegations amounted to "defamatory language” and “veiled threats.”

A meeting was quickly held after the letters were made public and tensions eased. It was later agreed to by the city and school system that no malfeasance occurred, and the task force was formed. 

At the end of the task force update Monday, White made a plea for city elected leaders to keep the importance of school funding in the forefront.

She said the school division is growing, progressing and getting results, including better Standards of Learning scores presented Monday.

“There’s no way to continue this good work when public education is being deprioritized,” she said.

Cobb did say Monday that the task force generally agrees that the city’s contribution of $5 million annually for school capital projects should continue. 

Another issue on the task force’s agenda is discussing the school division’s return of its leftover local funds to the city at the end of each fiscal year, and how that process will work. The return of that money to the locality is part of state law but hasn’t been a normal process between the city and RCPS in recent years.

That, at least to some degree, was prompted by a funding formula agreement between the city council and school board approved more than a decade ago. It guaranteed RCPS 40 percent of the city’s annual revenue. Over the past few years, council altered the agreement, first to tie the 40 percent to budgeted versus actual revenue. Then, during the last fiscal year, it was changed so that RCPS gets “up to” 40 percent of budgeted revenue. What happened during the use of the formula: RCPS was getting its share of revenue, and city officials weren’t asking many questions.

The task force is discussing further changes to the formula.

Council members, in recent interviews with The Roanoke Rambler, have not specified what they would like the task force to recommend. 

But Councilman Phazhon Nash said, “we should evaluate everything, every year.”

Meanwhile, another significant number could also affect school funding decisions. There are now two city council members who can’t vote on school fiscal matters. It’s the first time in decades, if ever, that there are multiple council members with such a conflict. 

Councilwoman Vivian Sanchez-Jones, who is employed by the RCPS as a student support specialist, has not been participating in discussions or votes on school money issues for some time. And when Vice Mayor Terry McGuire took a full-time teacher’s assistant job with RCPS this year, he faced the same conflict.

It’s a legal no-no for a council member to be actively involved in fiscal decisions for RCPS, which is overseen by the school board that the city council appoints, City Attorney Tim Spencer said.

Based on council’s protocol, votes dealing with school appropriations will still require a four-vote majority, even though there will be five council members participating, not the usual seven, Spencer said. So, a 3-2 majority vote on a school money matter would render the issue moot until a fourth vote could be secured.

That could be important in the coming months, with the discussion of the unspent local school money. 

RCPS completed or is in the process of finishing numerous capital projects in recent years, from the $3 million Community Empowerment Center at Booker T. Washington to the construction of a new $34 million Preston Park Elementary School.

The empowerment center, in the renovated former school administration building on Douglass Avenue Northwest, is now serving as an entry point and one-stop-shop for families to enroll their children and take advantage of other services, including English learning, vaccinations and a store that provides food and clothing for those in need.

School officials presented more needs Monday, including an update on a potential new high school — or the expansions of William Fleming and Patrick Henry.

RCPS Chief of Operations Chris Perkins said expansions of the existing schools — at an estimated total cost of $50 million — are problematic based on the campus layouts and restrictions. It would take years to complete expansions. 

 A new school, estimated at a cost of $150 million, would require the acquisition of an 80-acre site and would be on a longer 10-year timeframe, he said. 

No decision on a high school option is imminent.

There is also a need for more elementary school expansion or construction, but Perkins said RCPS will look at changing attendance zones as a solution.