By now nearly everyone has most likely seen the dire financial situation that the Hancock County school system currently finds itself in. Years of inadequate personnel management, overspending, and a lack of thorough financial oversight finally caught up with them when it was recently announced that the school system is facing a budget shortfall of approximately $8 million.

All of this occurred over the stretch of multiple superintendents and numerous county board members, and was finally brought to light this past fall when then-superintendent Dan Enich notified the West Virginia Department of Education of his discovery of the county’s financial deficits. Shortly after Enich did so, the county fired its financial director. Over the next several weeks, the county’s financial picture went from terrible to emergency level, as the fear that the county may not be able to meet future payrolls became a reality.

On January 19, the House of Delegates took steps to confront this situation, utilizing its rules to fast-track legislation aimed at establishing a loan program for financially distressed school systems needing a bailout. This legislation did not specifically name Hancock County, but the implication was clear.

I applaud the House’s swift actions, but the emergency payroll dilemma that the school system faced was thankfully eased several days earlier when, on January 16, the State Board of Education voted to take control of the Hancock County school system. In part, this unprecedented action meant the removal of several county-level administrators, including the superintendent, and severely limited the decision-making capacity of the county board of education.

Perhaps most importantly, in the short term the State Board’s takeover also meant that the State Department of Education could now issue an advance of the county’s state aid funds as a loan, allowing the county to use that money to cover its payroll. In doing so, the State Board has ensured that the county’s teachers and school service personnel will be paid and that its schools will remain open – and also negated the immediate need for the House’s fast-tracked legislation.

The State Board’s takeover and its advancement of state aid funding means that the Senate now has some breathing room in order to fully address this situation – and it will allow for a top-down review of not just how to best provide an immediate short-term financial fix for Hancock County, but to also determine how the county got to this point and more importantly, how to prevent other counties from falling into the same situation.

The legislation that the House passed over to the Senate from the House is a starting point for how to address this situation. While we absolutely must find a way to establish a way in which a loan can be made available to Hancock County so that it can fulfill its summer payroll cycles and other financial obligations, the Senate also wants to ensure that we do not create a program that would serve as an incentive for other counties to knowingly overspend on pet projects like athletic fields or mismanage their personnel decisions through willful neglect, and then come to the state seeking a bailout.

We cannot, through quick decisions that may create unintended consequences, incentivize poor decisions to be made on a local level with the knowledge that more taxpayer money will be there to rescue them afterwards.

I believe that it is also imperative for us to find ways to address the issues that brought us to this point, including the actions (or inaction) of school boards when a county, year after year, employs significantly more people than the school aid formula can pay for. I believe that we must also consider giving the State Board greater ability to review and potentially regulate local finances, and possibly even more directly manage the financial audit process followed by county boards.

With Hancock County’s emergency financial crunch having now been addressed by the State Board (at least for the next few months), the Senate has the opportunity – and the responsibility – to be more deliberative and address this issue strategically with a more statewide and long-term view.

We have an obligation to not only address the situation in Hancock County, but to also try to ensure that another county doesn’t ever get to this level of financial instability in the future.

Weld, R-Brooke, represents the 1st Senatorial District and serves as the Chair of the Military Committee in the West Virginia Senate. He is also an attorney with the firm of Spilman, Thomas & Battle in their Wheeling office.