GATE CITY — A frequent commenter at Scott County Board of Supervisors meetings has sued that board and the county School Board over claims that the county cannot admit out-of-state students without charging tuition.
Bobbie Powers, acting as her own counsel and filing for Appalachian Citizens for Community Efficiency, filed the suit on Halloween in Scott County circuit Court.
Powers, during public comment at Wednesday’s supervisors’ meeting announced that she had filed the suit after not getting responses under Freedom of Information Act requests regarding legal authority to allow Tennessee students to attend the county’s public schools.
County Attorney Sally Kegley – representing both the supervisors and the school board – declined to comment on the suit, citing pending litigation. Kegley told Powers during the meeting that she had responded to her requests.
Powers’ suit – which also names schools Superintendent John Ferguson in his official capacity – claims that Virginia law does not allow cross-state enrollment unless tuition is charged for those students or an agreement exists between the states.
Powers’ suit also claims admissions of Tennessee students “cause immediate, irreparable harm to taxpayers.
The suit asks for court declaration that:
- The defendants lack legal authority to admit non-resident students without “written authorization or agreement”
- Such admissions are violations of Virginia law
- “Misrepresentation of authority constitutes diversion of public funds.”
Powers asked for relief including:
- declaration that the supervisors and school board lack authority to admit out-of-state students without tuition
- declaration that admitting out-of-state students without tuition is unauthorized diversion and misuse of public funds
- stopping “unlawful tuition waivers or expenditures”
- require compliance with applicable Virginia law
- “other relief as deemed proper”
Admission of Tennessee students has been an issue at Board of Supervisors meetings for several months, with Supervisors Eddie Skeen and Danny Casteel criticizing the School Board for enrollment of Tennessee students at Yuma and Weber City elementary schools without tuition.
Supervisor-at-Large Stephanie Addington, in a July presentation on local-share funding for the school system, said she had researched the local funding issue based on Virginia Department of Education online information about each locality’s composite index.
The composite index – which determines a locality’s minimum required level of school; funding — is calculated from four factors, Addington explained:
- a locality’s total real property value
- taxable retail sales
- adjusted gross income for both residents only and residents and non-residents,
- the local school division’s March average daily membership
Under the current composite index – calculated for two year periods and effective through June 30 2026 – Addington said Scott County has an index of 0.1878. That translates to the state contributing $84 for every $16 in local funds, or less than a 20% contribution by the county.
Based on a range of 421 to 500 Tennessee students, Addington said charging tuition would remove that group from average daily membership under state guidelines for computing the county’s composite index. That index could climb to 0.2096 – a 21% requirement for local funding – and eliminate approximately $3,000 per student in state basic aid.
Charging tuition would a school board decision, Addington said, but doing so would cost the county another $1.5 million in local funding for schools.