Christopher Carney: County Commissioner Candidate Statement on Sussex County Tech Budget

This years’ Vo-Tech budget has me very concerned. I feel the board of commissioners has been  misled regarding the current state of affairs of the school. During this years’ budget we were told  there would be some cuts to help with teacher contracts, but never to this extent. We also issued  the funding that was requested this year, which went up by $166,346, a 2.85% increase from the  prior year.

As for what needs to be done differently, a grant writer needs to be in place, along with board  member subcommittees that would work with teachers and the administration to see what classes  are being utilized and to what degree. The price per student given to Vo-Tech from sending districts  needs to be looked at immediately. My understanding is the price per student is not where it should  be and likely needs to be increased due to the uptick in enrollment. There also needs to be further  efforts to share services with the college. These are both county entities and should be working  together not against each other.

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There are limits on what the commissioner board can control in regard to the school. Our main  duty is setting the budget and appointing board members. Speaking for myself, I have been in  discussion with our director and will be asking the board to support term limits, and a vetting  committee to all new Vo -Tech board member appointments. I will also ask our county  superintendent to have more oversight not only on Vo-tech but all county schools, because  although state aid has been cut over the past several years situations like this shouldn’t occur.

Finally, superintendents’ contracts should not exceed three years moving forward. Too much can  change over the course of several years and shorter-term contracts tend to lead to higher levels of  accountability and urgency.

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