The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors and the school board attempted to take steps during Tuesday’s joint work session to heal a relationship that had been fractured by years of contentious negotiations.
The boards are close to finalizing their respective fiscal year 2026 budgets. The supervisors unanimously approved their FY26-30 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that provides $228.4 million to the school division over the next five years, including $47.7 million this year and $81.7 million next year.
The supervisors are also working to close the school division’s $46 million shortfall in operational expenses, built up over the years. They’ve devoted $11.7 million toward that gap in FY26.
School board member Nicole Cole of the Battlefield District said new leadership with first-year Superintendent Clint Mitchell communicating with County Administrator Ed Petrovich has given the boards an opportunity to repair their relationship.
“I want to thank Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Petrovich for the work that they did together,” Cole said. “I am happy that we have school division leadership that allowed a fresh perspective and an openness from the board of supervisors as well as [county] administrative leadership to hear us out and be a little more open minded than what I’ve experienced in the past.”
A meeting scheduled for Thursday to adopt the FY26 operational budget of $953 million and the real estate tax rate of 73 cents per $100 of assessed value was canceled. The board will instead meet April 22 to approve a resolution to adopt the FY26 budget and CIP.
In addition to the schools, the county’s $840.6 million CIP over the next five years provides $325.4 million in utilities, $133.4 million in transportation costs, and $153 million in general government expenses, which include facilities and equipment ($31.7 million), solid waste ($23.8 million), parks and recreation ($23 million), fire and rescue ($67.7 million) and the sheriff’s office ($7.3 million).
“We are very passionate about our schools. That’s what we focus on,” School Board Chair Megan Jackson said. “We focus on our students and teachers, but like [Livingston District Supervisor Jacob Lane] said, we do have to acknowledge that the county is responsible for many different services … We have to be mindful of all the services that benefit us living in this county.”
Despite the positive vibes in the meeting, Cole said she remains cautiously optimistic that the supervisors will remain “courageous,” eventually fully funding the schools and using business revenues to benefit the division. School board member Belen Rodas (Chancellor District) also mentioned areas in which she believes the FY26 operational budget falls short of fulfilling all the division’s needs.
Rodas said that stipends for special education teachers and measures to increase capacity for special education programs are not being funded. Rodas added that it will be more costly in the long run because special education students must attend a private day program “which costs our entire county way more money than those positions would’ve cost.”
“When we put stopgap measures in place, it ends up costing us more,” Rodas said … “Not being able to attract more qualified special education teachers with a stipend means that we’re going to have more students needing more support and maybe needing to go to that private program because their classroom isn’t able to meet their needs. So, I just would’ve hoped we could keep the long-term investment lens on and remember that’s the most fiscally responsible way to be looking at this.”
Board of Supervisors Chair Chris Yakabouski said he’s appreciative of Rodas sharing that perspective. After years of contentious communication, he said that’s the kind of dialogue the supervisors need to hear.
“That’s what this is all about — hearing that and trying to understand as much as we can — staying in our lane, too — but realizing what you guys actually have to do,” Yakabouski said … “I hope we have more of that. So, thank you very much.”
