Laptops in Henrico County middle schools are up for contract renewal next year, and the county is soliciting input. The current four-year contract, which ends June 30, supplies an Apple laptop computer for every middle school student. Considerations in the renewal process will include whether to stick with Apple models, switch to Windows-based computers and/or go to smaller netbooks.

On the heels of a touchy-at-times budget process, elected officials for Chesterfield County and its school system are still having trouble seeing eye to eye. The two School Board representatives on a joint committee with the Board of Supervisors recently pulled out, citing a lack of progress on key issues. The long-standing committee was re-established last year to allow members of the boards to communicate more closely, but it produced little clarity.

After about 16,000 e-mails on redistricting proposals in the past six months and online comments from 1,600 people last weekend, Henrico County has a school redistricting plan. The School Board voted last night to adopt the revised third pairing, an option drawn up to meet complaints about the first two redistricting options. “We cannot address all the concerns,“ Linda McBride, the School Board representative for the Brookland District, said during an afternoon work session. “With the revisions to Pairing 3, I think we have done as much as we can for as many areas of the county as we can.“

DINWIDDIE—The Board of Supervisors yesterday removed a proposed 3 percent salary reduction for Dinwiddie County employees before approving a $102.7 million budget for the 2010 fiscal year. The approved financial plan is based on a real estate property tax rate of 68 cents per $100 of assessed value and includes funding reductions to most county agencies. It includes $11 million for the school system, the same amount allocated to the system in the current fiscal year.

This isn’t the first time issues have arisen from meetings between members of the Chesterfield County School Board and the Board of Supervisors. In 2004, members from both boards met in private to resolve a bond-referendum impasse, the chief issue being the location of Tomahawk Middle School, now located at state Route 288 and the Powhite Parkway.

After failed attempts to meet during this year’s budget process, the Chesterfield County School Board and the Board of Supervisors will get together Thursday to talk about the future, improve communication and resolve differences. But the delay hasn’t sat well with some members of both boards. “It should have happened 30 days ago, when budget decisions were being made,“ said the School Board member from the Matoaca District, U. Omarh Rajah.

Millions in stimulus money for the Chesterfield County school system saved hundreds of jobs, but not those of 64 employees, including 12 teachers and 33 instructional aides whose contracts will be terminated because of budget cuts. The School Board made the announcement yesterday during its monthly meeting. In May, 11 of those employees—all math and literacy specialists—will be rehired with stimulus money, said school spokesman Shawn Smith. Also next month, 50 other employees’ jobs will be shifted down a grade, meaning that they will take a pay cut, he said. The $794.5 million 2009-10 school budget has a $32 million shortfall.

Millions in stimulus money for the Chesterfield County school system saved hundreds of jobs, but not those of 64 employees, including 12 teachers and 33 instructional aides whose contracts will not be renewed for next year because of budget cuts. The information was disclosed yesterday in a personnel report to the School Board during its monthly meeting.

Henrico County’s school redistricting isn’t a done deal yet. Within minutes of a presentation by a community committee that has spent six months preparing two proposals for the largest school redistricting in the county’s history, the School Board asked its staff to develop a third option. Since October, the 70-member volunteer committee has spent hundreds of hours creating options that take into account necessary enrollment numbers and redistricting guidelines, while considering about 11,000 e-mails, comments and letters from the public. Henrico will open a new high school and middle school in 2010.

There is money to build a new high school in the eastern part of Henrico County—but who has that money is not quite so clear. The School Board repeatedly has claimed that it needs the Board of Supervisors to approve about $3.5 million in school planning money designated in its capital-improvement budget—a budget that has been deferred because of the economic downturn.

The Richmond School Board made a mistake—an odd one at that—when it imposed a gag order on itself. But to its credit, the board quickly reversed the decision. Gag order might be too strong a term for the policy, which was part of a broader 20-point communications and government plan approved in March, and which asked board members to “maintain fidelity . . . when communicating with the media.“ A charitable reading might take that to mean staying on message or not bad-mouthing other parts of the school system, as opposed to refusing to say anything at all. But even such a limited reading would be too much of a bad thing. School Board members’ first duty is to their constituents, not to the school administration.

The Cumberland County school system is proposing a $16.6 million budget, Superintendent James Thornton says. The 2009-10 budget adopted by the School Board on Monday is being sent to the county’s Board of Supervisors for inclusion in the county budget. The school budget calls for $4.1 million from the county, $10.6 million from the state and $1.9 million in federal funds. The county’s allocation is the same level as last year.

Trammell Some members of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors feel frustrated by what they see as a lack of cooperation and ineffective communication with the school administration and School Board in this year’s budget process. They expressed their concerns in a county budget meeting last week. “There has not yet been a serious effort to itemize what they do or what it costs to run the services they provide,“ said Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker.

The Chesterfield County School Board has postponed tonight’s meeting to approve its $551.4 million budget until next Tuesday. A work session before the meeting has been canceled. The board decided to defer its vote on the budget to wait for the General Assembly’s action on the state budget this week. Last week, Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome announced that he would be restoring 150 positions into his proposed budget by reshuffling some funds from other areas. Employees, parents, students and community members have encouraged county and school officials not to lay off teachers and support staff members.

The Amelia County School Board is considering a $17.2 million budget for next year. The proposed budget, presented to the board by Superintendent David Gangel and recently outlined, includes at least $1 million in reduced state funding but also includes funding from a federal grant. Last year’s budget was $18.2 million. Gangel’s proposal calls for level funding from the county.