CINDERELLA – The Mingo County Board of Education (BOE), voted to sign a letter in support of Regional Education Service Agencies (RESA), at a special meeting held Friday, February 3.
The decision to provide a letter of support comes after the resignation of two RESA proponents, Michael Green, who served as President of the West Virginia BOE, and Lloyd Jackson, who served as Vice President of the West Virginia BOE. Also concerning to the future of RESA is a post audit report released in January by the West Virginia Auditor’s Office which recommended that RESAs be eliminated and that going forward, the services they provide fall under the Department of Education’s regional staff.
According to the state legislative office’s executive summary, the purpose of the audit was to determine the continued need for RESAs. Currently, 158 individuals serve as RESA employees throughout the state’s eight RESA divisions. According to the summary, RESAs are failing to fulfill important duties.
However, those in favor of the services RESA provides, like the Mingo County Board of Education, state that RESA provides vital services to county school systems. “RESAs provide us with many things that we probably couldn’t get. It would put more of a burden on our funding level than many realize. They provide many services. Just off the top of my head, the legal aspect and technical part as far as having a technician here every day. They provide those services and it is a benefit for us,” Spence stated.
Spence explained that RESA allows the county BOE to have access to worthwhile services without placing an excess financial burden on the county. “It would be a burden for us if we had to do it on our own. It is a very worthwhile and valuable asset to us. We want the state department to know that as a county, we support our RESAs,” Spence said.
RESAs were founded for the purpose of providing coordinated and shared services, such as technical assistance and professional development, among county school boards. The first finding presented in the special post audit report states that based on total expenditures; RESAs are not fulfilling their most important responsibility. According to the report, “by law, technical assistance to low performing schools and professional development are the most important responsibilities for RESAs. But these services are a relatively small percentage of total expenditures.” The Performance Evaluation and Research Division found that, “on average 18 percent of RESA’s 2015 expenditures were for technical assistance and professional development.”
The post audit special report also states that although RESAs were founded to facilitate shared services among county school boards; half of those employed through RESA are non-shared employees. The audit summary report states, “RESAs employ 158 individuals who provide county- level services; however, over half (82) are non- shared employees. These non-shared employees provide services that can be shared and are shared services in other RESA’s.”
Another finding highlighted on the special report states that a quarter of RESA resources do not serve the county school system. The report states, “On average, 25 percent of RESA expenditures in 2015 were for programs that do not benefit county school systems such as adult education, public service training and workforce development programs.”
Finally, the report states that while providing education services to counties is needed, carrying out the duties associated with providing those services through autonomous agencies is inefficient. The report recommends removing the autonomy of RESAs by having those services emanate from regional Department of Education staff and not through regional agencies. Currently, RESA operates under the State Board of Education. The post audit’s recommendation states, “the State Board of Education should consider administering the regional service purpose through regional staff of the Department of Education as oppose to regional agencies.”
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By Courtney Harrison
charrison@civitasmedia.com
(Courtney Harrison is a news reporter for the Williamson Daily News. She can be contacted by charrison@civitasmedia.com 304-235-4242 ext. 2279)