ELKINS — All five Randolph County Board of Education members say that learning the school system’s budget has been balanced did not affect how they voted on the proposed closing of Coalton and Midland elementary schools.

Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly has announced that money was found to balance the school system’s 2026 budget, and that state officials have been notified. Randolph County Schools was placed in a State of Emergency by the West Virginia Department of Education in June, regarding an inability to balance the 2026 budget.

On Oct. 28 — a week after the BOE was informed the budget would be balanced, Dilly said — Randolph County BOE President Rachel Burns and fellow board members Ed Daniels and Janie Newlon voted against closing Midland. Dr. Phil Chua and Sherri Collett voted for Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly’s closure recommendation. Chua was the lone BOE member who voted for the closure and consolidation of Coalton.

Daniels told The Inter-Mountain he was dead set against closing the two schools before the BOE was informed about the funds being found.

“I was already set not to close those schools when we found out about the budget,” Daniels said. “Beverly School is a very old school and it needs more work than anything, and it has the lowest test scores. My move was to close it (Beverly) and bring the fifth grade from Beverly and George Ward to Tygarts Valley Middle/High School. And then take some of those students out of Beverly to Midland and the rest to George Ward. We can do all of that without having to do any building.”

Not wanting to build was something that influenced Newlon’s votes on the closures.

“The budget had nothing to do with the way I voted,” she noted. “I voted the way I did for several reasons.

“First, I knew those kids from Coalton would not fit into Third Ward without the addition of modular trailers, which I wasn’t for building at all,” Newlon told The Inter-Mountain. “And I couldn’t see the kids from Midland moving to Beverly, where they already have a mess with their parking. Beverly wasn’t equipped to hold all of those kids.”

Collett said the budget news did not have any impact on her voting decisions because the budget doesn’t address the issues the district is having.

“Having a balanced budget did not influence my vote,” Collett told The Inter-Mountain. “Having a balanced budget does not include the deficits that we currently have. Our building maintenance suffers, trying to staff buildings suffers, trying to implement new and improved teaching strategies are unobtainable due to funding shortfalls. Having a balanced budget doesn’t address the funding formula and our declining enrollment.

“I didn’t feel that the Coalton to Third Ward integration was the best plan for our families. I voted to close the Midland building because that structure costs us the most money and needs much-needed upgrades.”

Burns said her votes had nothing to do with the budget, but rather with issues at Beverly Elementary and Third Ward Elementary.

“In my opinion the schools do need to consolidate one way or another,” Burns told The Inter-Mountain. “At the time of the consolidating process, we didn’t know Beverly’s standing on performance. I wanted to give them time and resources to help students and staff before adding the chaos of consolidating. So next year, I’d anticipate this proposal of combining schools again. And I do not believe Coalton could fit into Third Ward without major additions at this time.”

When Chua was asked by The Inter-Mountain if the budget had anything to do with the way he voted, he replied, “No. My vote was based on future projections of enrollment and funding.”

In early October, in response to being placed in the State of Emergency, the Randolph BOE voted 4-1 to close the Harman K-12 School, and 5-0 to close North Elementary. 

A week later, a public hearing and vote on the closure of the Pickens K-12 School was canceled approximately 90 minutes before it was scheduled to take place. Dilly has said that the new budget information played a part in the decision to cancel the hearing.

The Randolph County Board of Education will meet today beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the BOE office.