Luray School Board Puts Closure Vote On April Ballot

It’s official.

A vote to close the Luray #33 School District will appear on the April ballot.

At the district’s meeting on January 13, the board voted 5-2 to place the measure before voters. They will seek to close the school at the end of the 2015 school year, and merge with Clark County R-1.

“The deciding factors were finances, and the fear that the Luray community would have to pay extra if anything went wrong,” Administrator Ann Dever said.

At a special meeting in December, the board reported having less than $350,000 reserve funds available, with the balance declining steadily. Two of the school’s four furnaces were not working, and they don’t have the money to repair them.

In April, Luray voters will be asked to give their approval to the closure and merger with CCR-! at the end of the year. If they fail to pass it, the district will likely run out of money sometime in the next year, and be forced to merge with CCR-1 at that time, and probably leaving Luray taxpayers on the hook for any debts owed by the school district.

Note: An earlier version of this story reported a 4-3 vote, which is what was first reported to us. The actual vote was 5-2 in favor of putting the issue on the ballot.