GATESVILLE — Faced with declining enrollment, tight budgets, and an uncertain financial outlook, Gates County officials say the time has come to consolidate schools — even as they brace for tough decisions and community pushback.

During a joint meeting of the Gates County Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education, leaders from both boards discussed the findings of a school consolidation study, which recommends reducing the county’s three elementary schools to two as early as next year. When asked by the Albemarle Observer which school would be closed, Superintendent Barry Williams said “to be determined.”

Commission Chair Emily Truman said she used artificial intelligence to transcribe the meeting so absent board members could review the discussion, noting that she was “pretty impressed with the way it works.” Truman added, “I did forward it to my board so that they had time to review, and I wanted to open that up for a discussion with both boards — conversation, questions, input?”

Commissioner Dave Forsythe said that while he appreciated the presentation summarizing the study, “the devil’s always in the details.” He added, “I really would like to see that actual report itself… A lot of times there are summaries, and looking at the details and a lot of the statements made in there, it’s hard to evaluate what’s in there without having more details.”

Vice Chair Jonathan Craddock agreed. “I would like to see the whole report myself,” he said. “You know, I think y’all already knew in the back of our minds that was probably the way they wanted to go with the direct recommendation that we came through. So it’s always been validating what you’re thinking as far as when you have a third party come in and make those type of recommendations.”

“We can’t afford not to go to two schools next year”

Board of Education Chair Sallie Ryan said the consolidation process is far from complete but acknowledged that the county’s financial realities make it necessary to move quickly.

“We will be… losing more than five positions because we will be, the state of course funds a principal at each school,” Ryan said. “That would just be them not giving us that funding. But there would also be a media specialist, a counselor, a full-time head custodian… there will be other positions that we will hopefully be able to put into other schools as needed.”

Ryan emphasized that Gates County has managed to avoid staff cuts so far. “We have been so lucky, even with our finances as limited as they are, that we have not had to do any cuts so far,” she said. “We have been able to handle with attrition and retirement, and we pray that we will continue to be able to do that.”

She said the Board of Education will follow the state’s official school closing procedures, which include reviewing “cost of operation, transportation, maintaining diversity at all of our schools, the alternative uses for the building that is not used, program consolidation considerations, tentative decisions, and informational meetings.”

Still, Ryan said the board’s immediate challenge is clear. “We can’t afford not to go to two schools next year,” she said. “It’s just black and white… We want to do what is best for and help us save money… and if in the future when I’m gone, you want to go to one, that may be the way to go. But that’s going to be four or five years down the road.”

She acknowledged that the process will be difficult for families and staff. “It changes the life of so many people when you close a school,” Ryan said. “And no matter what we do, we also know there will be people that are not happy. There will be people that are happy and people that are not happy. But I can promise you that this group is going to do with your help, with your opinions, with all the school people’s opinions, we will do the very best we can.”

“We weren’t elected to make the easy decisions”

Truman praised the school board’s transparency and agreed that the consolidation timeline must move quickly. “We need to figure out how to move forward. We need to make decisions,” she said. “We need to do better at being transparent and being open on the forefront.”

She said her understanding was that “the goal is two years with an undecided school at this time or closing,” noting that consultant Dr. Lewis “said that the first step would be the new attendance zones when decided, students’ impact, the staff restructuring, and then those informational meetings.”

Ryan said the board should have all the data needed to decide by February 1. Truman added, “We weren’t elected to make the easy decisions. They entrusted us to make the hard decisions when we have to, and it hurts. But we have to be transparent and we have to be open and we have to be willing to listen and to move forward — as hard as it is — for the best of the entire community.”

Superintendent: Decisions coming early 2026

Superintendent Dr. Barry Williams outlined a tentative timeline for the consolidation process, saying a December meeting will focus on data-gathering. “We gotta look at our attendance zones, we gotta look at our students, we gotta look at our staff, we gotta look at finance and maintenance, technology, child nutrition, and of course, transportation,” Williams said.

He said a special Board of Education meeting is planned for Dec. 10 to review preliminary findings, followed by public information meetings Jan. 13–15 at each affected school. “We’ll have an informational meeting with county commissioners tentatively scheduled for January 27,” he said. “Then on Tuesday, February 10, we’ll have a special time to meet with the Board of Education to consider all information that’s been gathered and they’ll make a decision on whether to close the school and consolidate.”

Williams stressed that “every decision that we make in the school system is for students.”

Balancing a shrinking budget

The discussion shifted to the system’s finances, where several commissioners raised concerns about the district’s growing dependence on its fund balance — essentially its savings — to cover operational costs.

Commissioner Nathan Berryman said he spent the weekend “watching football and reading bunches of numbers and quotes” and came away concerned. “It seems to be that you’re budgeting in some fund balance to be used,” he said. “We always liken the fund balance to be a piggy bank… and some years you need to dip into it and take care of expenses. But… what is concerning is that we’re budgeting fund balance to be used for operational side of things.”

He noted that the district’s audit showed 26.6% of the overall budget going to support services, compared to 69.9% for instructional services — a proportion he said is too high. “That number is like at least seven to eight points high,” Berryman said. “Has there been any type of concerted effort to be able to reduce the support services costs?”

Berryman said the auditors even took the unusual step of warning the district to bring its overhead “back in line.” “I’ve never, in the 20 years that I’ve been reading one, actually had somebody say that in the actual statement from an accountant,” he said. “We really got to do something to be able to rein in all overhead costs… because basically the business of educating our children is a predominantly heavy labor-intense market.”

Forsythe added that he’s seen similar cost issues in his professional life. “I’ve been involved with federal contractors and I’ve seen many times we’ve said that company, we’re not going to maintain pricing from them because they exceed 15% overhead,” he said. “It’s a different world… but we’ve asked them to provide details of why their overhead is so extraordinary in order for us to pay bills for cost-plus contracts.”

“We have what we have”

Craddock said the county’s financial situation is not expected to improve next year. “There is nothing significant to ending this year that would indicate that next year’s funding is going to have any major increase from the county,” he said. “We don’t have any additional avenues of funding coming in.”

He said the county cannot raise taxes and will need to “make hard decisions.” “We have what we have,” Craddock said. “We’re not taxing our citizens more to get more. We have what we have, and we gotta make it work. That means we have to change stuff internally.”

“Doing the best we can”

Truman closed the meeting by asking whether the school system’s PowerPoint presentation could be made public so residents could better understand what’s being proposed. “I’ve had several ask if they could get access to it,” she said. “I think that would be helpful.”

As the meeting adjourned, she noted that both boards were aligned in purpose — if not yet in details. “Looks like we have things in motion,” Truman said. “And just wait until the next.”

Ryan nodded in agreement. “We will do the very best we can and come up with the very best possible solution,” she said. “With your help — and with the community’s.”