CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Randolph County Schools is moving forward with a greater sense of stability after the state Board of Education removed the school system from emergency status at its July meeting.
The state board implemented the state of emergency on June 2025 as the county dealt with declining enrollment, consolidation considerations, overstaffing, and a budget shortfall. Since that time, the school system has made significant strides and appointed Dr. Derek Lambert to replace Dr. Shawn Dilly as superintendent following Dilly’s resignation.
“The board of education made the decision to close two schools and implement extensive personnel reductions. This included the elimination of 46.5 total positions,” Lambert said when addressing the board last week.
Since being placed under the state of emergency, the Randolph County Board of Education voted to close Harman School, a K-12 school, and North Elementary School. Officials reported a $2,8 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2025, but Lambert reported a positive financial outlook.
“As of June 30, 2026, the current expense fund revenues totaled $42.07 million, exceeding expenditures by approximately $1.47 million before the year-end closing activities,” he said.
According to Lambert, projections indicate promising developments in the future as well. He indicated to the state board that Randolph County Schools will have more unassigned dollars to work with moving forward.
“Preliminary calculations for the fiscal year ’26 show an estimated general current expense fund unassigned balance of over $4 million which is an increase from the prior year while successfully adopting a balanced FY ’27 budget that does maintain the required five-percent reserve,” he said.
The county remains under monitoring by the state, but Lambert is hopeful for more progress with the emergency status lifted. He believes the steps taken over the last year have Randolph County Schools on the right track.
“I and the new board of education in Randolph County recognize that there is still work to be done, but I do believe that Randolph County is in a much better place now than they were a year ago,” he said.