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Consolidation supporter joins Wise County School Board

Published November 4th, 2009 | 0 Comments

WISE — Wise County voters again delivered a pro-consolidation message during a local election, at least in one of the county’s four voting districts.

The election of Nolan Kilgore, a pro-consolidation candidate, over consolidation foe Jess Roy Powers in District 4 strengthens the pro-consolidation majority on the Wise County School Board by 6-2. Wise County voters presented a 5-3 pro-consolidation majority on the school board two years ago, and the board is currently pursuing a plan to consolidate the county’s six existing high schools into three new facilities.

The Wise County Election Board was expected to certify the results of Tuesday’s elections to state election officials by late afternoon today. Election night results presented the District 4 seat to Kilgore by 1,049 votes (52.79 percent) to 925 votes (46.55 percent) for Powers.

Consolidation foes retained a vote in District 1, however, representing the anti-consolidation hot spots of Appalachia and Pound. Still, the margin was narrow even there with Rocky Cantrell defeating Terry L. Shortt by 1,050 votes (53.48 percent) to 903 votes (46 percent).

“I’ve run before, and I’ve got beat before. It’s a lot better than losing, believe me,” Cantrell said Wednesday. “I’ll do the best I can pertaining to the whole county. I’m just one single vote out here. I am opposed to consolidation, but the board right now — after yesterday — is a 6 to 2 vote. But I will continue to work for what I believe in. I will work for what I feel needs to be done. I’ve always said the majority rules. I won by only 150 votes, but the majority voted me in there, and I’ll work for what I believe is best for our school system.”

Kilgore, a retired administrator of the county school division, said he respects the views of consolidation foes but believes the school division has been on a fiscally and academically unsustainable course for several years.

“I think (Tuesday’s election) says there are many people who are concerned about the educational opportunities for all our students and feel the best way to improve opportunities is to combine resources through consolidation, to use the savings there (a projected $3.4 million annually by going from six high schools to three) to add courses and get more flexibility in scheduling, and reduce costs for the entire K-12 program,” Kilgore said.

“I think from my heart (consolidation is) what we need to do. Our inefficiencies have grown so great we must rethink our program where inefficiencies reside,” he added.

Kilgore said Powers raised the specter of tax increases as a result of consolidation, and while the strategy seemed effective in hotly contested Coeburn, “almost 70 percent of the vote was for me” in Wise.

A tax increase as a result of consolidation isn’t likely, Kilgore said.

“That, I don’t believe, is the case. I think keeping six high schools is not the best use of our resources,” Kilgore said.

“I think the Board of Supervisors has made clear whatever they do, it will be without a tax increase,” Kilgore added. “We are committed to get as much efficiency as we can out of our operational budget and address the facility issues. It’s past time to do something about our existing high schools, especially the five very old ones that would be very costly to renovate with no resulting efficiencies.

“We must recognize we’ve lost over 4,000 (students) since the late ’60s, and that loss of student population has created tremendous disparities in education. I respect all of the people of St. Paul who voted against me, but I will fight hard to make sure their students get better educational opportunities in the future.”

In other local contests, incumbent Democratic Supervisor Ronnie Shortt of Pound fended off a challenge from Marlene Bush of Exeter. Bush ran as an independent and is best known for her grass-roots opposition to consolidation.

On Wednesday, Shortt said his focus on economic issues likely had something to do with his 2-to-1 margin of re-election victory.

“I’m truly honored the people in District 1 found me worthy to be re-elected by such a good margin,” he said. “I look forward to continue to represent the people of District 1 and help move Wise County forward. I thank everyone who took part in the election yesterday on my behalf, and I look forward to meeting the challenges to move our county forward.”

Shortt said county officials “need to continue to work on job creation and economic development. I truly want to see the Appalachia cell phone tower built, and I appreciate all the work (9th District U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher) is doing on that. I want to see sewer projects start to move forward and for Wise County to move aggressively on sewer projects like we did water. I think the biggest issue for us are the ways we can continue to promote jobs and businesses here, especially our small business. We talk about making the county a hub for energy research — be it wind, solar or coal — and I think we need to move forward on that.”

Also winning new terms on the Wise County School Board were Betty Cornett of Big Stone Gap and Phillip Bates of Wise, both supporters of consolidation. Unopposed re-elections also return to the Board of Supervisors new four-year terms for Robbie Robbins of Tacoma, Virginia Meador of Big Stone Gap and Robert Adkins of Wise.

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