By Bridget Manley, publisher
The Rockingham County School System signaled a move on Wednesday toward taking greater control over the Massanutten Technical Center — the professional and technical school that the county and Harrisonburg City Public School district share.
In a press release issued Wednesday afternoon, the county school district announced its intention to request changes to the Massanutten Technical Center’s operating agreement between the county and city districts.
The press release expressed a wish for greater control over the technical school’s executive board, effectively giving the county school officials a majority. The announcement didn’t sit well with the city school board.
“The Rockingham County School Board has expressed their desire to hold more than 50% of the vote when it comes to making decisions that affect the students within our shared school,” said Harrisonburg School Board Chair Emma Phillips in a statement to The Citizen. “The Harrisonburg City School Board cannot agree to anything less than equal voting authority on the MTC Executive Board.”
Phillips’ statement added that the city school board members have received a formal proposal to change the Massanutten Technical Center’s operating agreement, which has been in place for nearly 60 years.
“Our board has constitutional and statutory obligations to our school division and our students and those cannot be waived,” she said. “Harrisonburg City Public Schools greatly value the career and technical education our students receive through MTC and appreciate the dedicated staff who provide essential instruction.”
Rockingham County School Board Chair Sara Horst didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
This comes as the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors is collecting bids for a potential new MTC campus. Rockingham County officials say they want to explore all options before making “costly renovations” to the current facility, as first reported by TSAHarrisonburg.
The partnership between the two systems governs MTC through both school boards. The center’s executive board has 10 voting members —five Rockingham County School Board members and five from the city’s school board, with the city’s sixth school board member serving as a non-voting member at each meeting.
The county’s announcement said that while the agreement has assured that students from both the county and city have “access to high-quality career and technical education,” the county system seeks to explore “all available options to enhance” career and technical education opportunities. And the press release seems to take issue with the even split in voting members on the MTC executive board even though the county is responsible for a bigger share of operating costs.
The county school officials say in the press release that they cover 80% of MTC’s operating and capital costs, while the city pays 20% of both the operating and capital costs—a figure that HCPS Superintendent Michael Richards disputes.
Richards said the city school district owns 20% of the real estate and equipment and is responsible for 20% of capital improvements. For example, if Rockingham County officials decide to build the new facility, the City of Harrisonburg would assume financial responsibility for 20% of it.
However, Harrisonburg contributes a portion of the costs for students each year. This year, the city is paying 29% of the operating expenses, while its student enrollment stands at 23.5%. This percentage fluctuates each year based on how many city students attend classes at MTC, including those in adult continuing education.
The two entities voted unanimously at their biannual meeting on Monday, March 17, to approve the proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.
Change in governing structure?
During the board meeting on Monday, all members were present except for RCPS board member Matt Cross. And a normally benign vote to confirm a vice chair seemed to foreshadow Wednesday’s press release.
In an unusual vote that night, a trio of county board members opposed the nomination of Andy Kohen, a longtime city school board member, to serve as vice-chair for the MTC board. Horst, the RCPS board chair, and her fellow members Hollie Cave and Ashley Burgoyne opposed Kohen’s nomination.
“Despite this financial and enrollment disparity, governance of MTC remains evenly split (50/50) between the two school boards,” the press release said. “If all members are present, one HCPS board member must recuse their vote to maintain the balance. However, if any RCPS members are absent, HCPS retains full voting power, effectively shifting the decision-making authority in a way that does not reflect financial or student representation.”
Richards said although the number of voting members on the executive board can be modified, it is their “constitutional authority and responsibility” to maintain a voting board evenly divided 50/50, ensuring that schools have equal representation for their students.
Both schools are also 50% liable for everything that happens in the school.
“These regional schools always have equal representation no matter how the proportion divides up in terms of enrollment,” Richards said.
Richards said he agrees that the voting structure can — and should — be changed. Because the city’s board is one seat larger than the county’s five-member board, Richards acknowledged that the county s at a disadvantage and said a more appropriate board consisting of three members of each board would help even the playing field.
RCPS Superintendent Larry Shifflett issued a statement to The Citizen, saying, “While we value our partnership with HCPS and the educational opportunities that MTC offers our students, it is important that the governance of MTC reflects the financial and enrollment realities at MTC. For the 2024-2025 school year, RCPS is covering 75% of operating costs based on the current enrollment yet decision-making remains split evenly at 50/50.”
“RCPS is exploring potential options for governance that would better align with the financial commitment and student representation of each division,” the statement continued. “This is not about limiting collaboration, but rather ensuring fairness, transparency, and responsible stewardship of resources to best serve all students.”
Also mentioned in the press release was a perceived frustration that RCPS students remain on waitlists for classes “due to limited available seats.”
Richards said students land on waiting lists for various reasons, including younger students seeking to enroll in classes that upper-level students need to graduate.
In emails exchanged between RCPS board chair Sara Horst and HCPS board chair Emma Phillips, which The Citizen obtained through a Freedom of Information Request, neither side was willing to compromise on the requested amount of voting power.
“I hear you when you say that your Board will not move forward without having 80% of the vote, and I think you hear me when I say HCPS can’t give up the current 50/50% votes that allow us to have a say in the education our students receive,” Phillips wrote Horst.
“We are open to creative solutions, but our board will not agree to 50/50 when our investment is 80/20. Perhaps there is a solution to increasing your investment above the 20%,” Horst wrote back.
Tensions have been simmering for months between the two boards following RCPS’s decision to fire their longtime attorney, Botkin Rose, and replace them with Litten and Sipe. The lawyer for Litten and Sipe, Daniel Rose, also represented the Alliance Defending Freedom in their lawsuit against the HPCS school board which was settled out of court last December.
The HPCS school board raised concerns over conflicts of interest, and the two systems ultimately agreed to hire additional counsel for MTC.
A possible new MTC building is floated
RCPS and HCPS have long been planning for massive renovations to the current MTS building, with Harrisonburg City and the HPCS School Board already voting to allocate around $6 million to the project.
In January, Rockingham County sought Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) from builders for a potential new MTC facility. The proposed location would be in the county’s tech park at the corner of North Valley Pike and Research Drive.
Casey Armstrong, the Rockingham County administrator, told The Citizen that county officials reviewed the figures for the renovation of MTC and wanted to determine the cost of a new facility, considering the option to construct it on property owned by the county.
Armstrong said once the county received proposals, they could present those to the city and county school boards and move forward from there.
Armstrong said the current renovation plan would cost the city and county $35 million and would only renovate about 30% of the building. Their hope, according to Armstrong, is to present another option for a brand-new building with options to expand in the future.
“We just don’t know what that number is,” Armstrong said. “We fully expect to coordinate and discuss it with our school board and the city school board, but we don’t have anything to share at this moment.”
“They would have room to expand, room to grow,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong stated the intention was never to exclude the city school board or Harrisonburg city officials from their plans. Instead, they aimed to explore options and present alternatives to city and county stakeholders.
“Nothing has stopped with the renovation plan for $35 million that you are proceeding with, we just want to offer another alternative,” Armstrong said. “Just in case you want to build a new one, here is what that looks like. …we just felt like that number was so large and touches so little of the building, that the responsible thing to do would be to investigate a new building.”
City spokesman Michael Parks declined an interview about the decision by Rockingham County to explore the idea of a new building but responded with a statement.
“We have been part of ongoing discussions with our partners at Rockingham County about a potential renovation of Massanutten Technical Center, and considering potential budget implications of a renovation as part of our budgeting process,” Parks’ statement said. “We have not looked into any other options at this time and do not have any information to share regarding Rockingham County’s efforts.”
Three bids were submitted to the Rockingham County Supervisors, which will be presented on Monday, June 2.
At the MTC executive meeting on Monday evening, Shifflett filled the board in on the updates for the county’s RFQ proposals and where they stood. During the meeting, Richards questioned Shifflett about how the county would have obtained the important information needed for the proposed new school parameters, signaling that HPCS was not involved in the process.
Richards told The Citizen that while there is no formal way to build a new MTC building, a better way to proceed under the current operating agreement would have been for the two systems to work together to explore the options.
Richards said that he hopes the partnership between the two systems can be maintained, but he will advise the HCPS school board to not concede any less than a 50% voting stake on the executive board.
“What we have is a partnership that provides high-quality CTE for all the students in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County who want to participate, and that is an amazing thing,” Richards said. “For 56 years, it’s been that equal partnership.”
Editors note: this story has been updated to include a statement from RCPS Superintendant Larry Shifflett, as well as to correct spelling errors.
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