Dr. Sentelle talks with students at Buffalo Elementary.

May 26, 2009

"A change has been underway for some time in the way states pay for their school buildings," Dr. Sam Sentelle told Putnam Rotarians today. "A generation ago, school districts built their own schools," he said.

"In Putnam county, a farmer would donate a quarter acre of a corn field, and the neighbors would throw up a one-room or two-room frame building. Local communities supported the schools, sometimes even to room-and-board for teachers.

"In 1939, the school board authorized electricity for Valley Belle, Scott and Chestnut Grove schools -- providing that there would be no charges to the board.

"But over the past fifty years, support of the public schools has been taken up more and more by state government.

"With the Recht decision in 1982, we realized in West Virginia that the state -- not counties and county school boards -- is responsible for equal opportunity in education. And with that understanding, the legislature a few years later established a state School Building Authority.

"The building authority built schools, and coupled with a 'salary equity' measure, the state side-stepped changes to the property tax system and declared that the greatest deficiencies had been addressed. Now the state public schools met the requirements of our constitution.

"For Putnam, this meant that extra state support and money for new school buildings went to poor counties -- counties with a low tax base, and many of them without an excess levy in place.

"For those who might not know, local property taxes for businesses are double the rates for homes. So when we do business at Southridge or the Nitro Marketplace, we help support the schools in another county. When we shop at Barboursville Mall, we help support the schools in another county.

"Putnam schools prospered for a time with its taxes from the new John Amos Power Plant. But in 1984 the legislature began sending that money where the power lines went. And Putnam was forced to cut thirty-two teaching jobs. That's one why Putnam today is short on elementary counselors, music teachers and art teachers. Parent volunteers keep the elementary libraries.

"Twenty years ago, the state building authority gave out money for consolidation of schools. Fewer and larger schools made more money for teacher pay raises.

"But the state wanted to avoid a voter backlash. So the local schools had to submit a plan: If your project was funded, the state gave out the money. If your project was not funded, it was your fault. You had a "bad" plan. You weren't operating efficiently -- because you were not consolidating schools.

"Putnam schools got through this time by efficient management of limited resources. As student numbers grew, we put up temporary classrooms, up to 84 portables by 2000. We had four schools with more classroom space in portables than in permanent buildings -- Hurricane Middle, Winfield Middle, Scott-Teays and Confidence.

"Voters turned down bond calls in 1993 and 2001 by seventy-five percent. A desperation effort in 2002 lost by only four percent.

"People were satisfied with their schools. Test scores led the state year after year. Salaries were competitive -- even if classrooms were crowded.

"And teachers, for some reason, wanted to teach in Putnam County -- even if they had to teach in portables.

"In recent years there have been changes at the state level. With the governor, with the legislature, and with the school building authority, there was a realization that larger schools were not necessarily better schools, that Putnam schools already operated efficiently without consolidation. And there was a growing awareness that counties like Putnam brought new business into the state. And that helped everybody.

"And one of the first things new businesses looked for was good schools.

"So we got state money to replace the portables at Hurricane Middle School. We got state money for Hurricane High and Winfield High. We got a state-of-the-art elementary school in the valley. We got state grants for Scott-Teays, and Eastbrook, and Hurricane Town. By careful management of our insurance portfolio -- and a few good lawyers -- we were set to build a state-of-the-art middle school in Eleanor when the Depression-era school was destroyed by fire.

"And now the state building authority has made a grant of $22 million for Putnam schools.

"But there's a catch: We don't get a penny of that money unless we can pass a local bond for school buildings. Most people don't realize that.

"We have not passed a school bond in Putnam County in thirty-three years.

"Putnam will have to pass a school bond before the state will send down the $22 million -- funding a building program to build a new Buffalo High School, to build a new Confidence elementary school on a new site, to replace the 1926 building at Poca, to replace most of Winfield Middle School, and to get rid of the portables once and for all."

Sentelle told the group that a bond will be placed before the voters in late August, and he encouraged Putnam Rotarians to get the word out.

"School building economics are like houses or cars," he told the group. "You usually pay for them over a period of time. When you pay more for maintenance and repair than you would make in payments, it's time to trade.

"It's time to replace the rotting floors in deteriorating trailers, and the energy-wasting window walls in our 1950s-era schools.

"It's time to rally for our children and our community," he said, "while interest rates are at an all-time low."

Part of the classroom trailer park at Winfield Middle School