A lower-than-anticipated number of students attending Lunenburg County Public Schools (LCPS) may result in cuts in funding from the state.

James Abernathy, executive assistant to the superintendent, gave a report about the school division’s budget during the Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors’ Dec. 14 meeting and during the Nov. 9 meeting.

Abernathy said during the November meeting that the total enrollment of students in the county had dropped from an enrollment high of 1,468 to a low of 1,447.

“Our fiscal year ‘18 budget was based on a budget of 1,473 students,” Abernathy said during the November meeting. “We have had as many as 26 students below what we based our budget on.”

He said the discrepancy may result in a reduction in state funding of approximately $172,506.

“Hopefully it won’t be that much,” Abernathy said, “but that’s what we’re planning on right now.”

He noted that to combat that potential shortfall, the division will continue to employ part-time employees to replace two full-time employees who left the school division in October. Abernathy noted the employees are not teachers.

He said the division also had 24 employees retire or leave the division for other employment before the start of the 2017-18 school year.

He said that following the holiday break, the administration will get to work on the 2018-19 fiscal budget for LCPS.

Abernathy said a public hearing for the LCPS budget will be held Monday, Jan. 8, in Central High School’s Room 104 at 6 p.m.

“This will be the time the community and individuals can speak to the school board,” Abernathy said.