District overview
Montgomery County Public Schools
How Montgomery County Public Schools is governed and paid for, and what its board worked on this year.
Who runs Montgomery County's schools, and who pays for them?
Montgomery County Public Schools serves about 9,700 students in 21 schools around Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Radford in Virginia's New River Valley. The school board meets at the School Board Office at 750 Imperial Street SE in Christiansburg and works to the motto 'Engage! Encourage! Empower!'. Like every Virginia division it cannot levy a tax: it adopts a budget and the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors appropriates the local share, alongside state aid and federal grants. That dependence is why the two bodies met jointly three times in the year, twice specifically about the budget and building projects. The dominant fact of the year, though, was leadership. The board appointed an interim superintendent in September 2025, interviewed three search firms within days, spent the autumn building a leadership profile, held four closed search sessions in December, and approved a contract for a new superintendent on January 20, 2026.
A leadership handover that took five months
An interim superintendent was appointed on September 2, 2025. The board heard from BWP & Associates, the Berkley Group and McPherson & Jacobson on September 4, chose a search firm on September 10, discussed a leadership profile on October 30, and held closed search sessions on December 1, 9, 11 and 16. A contract and announcement for a new superintendent came to the board on January 20, 2026, and agendas from May 2026 name Dr. Kelly Guempel as superintendent.
The county holds the purse strings
The board adopted its FY2026-2027 budget calendar in October 2025, heard employee budget presentations in November, received a recommended budget on January 6, 2026, held a public hearing on May 19 and acted on the budget on May 28. It met the Board of Supervisors jointly on September 29, 2025, March 16, 2026 and August 31, 2026 to work through the budget and capital projects.
Buildings are the next big question
A facilities study was presented in September 2025, a Christiansburg High School renovations financial update in March 2026, and a new 2026-2036 Capital Improvement Plan in August 2026. Alongside them the board discussed a school project sales tax in July 2026 and reviewed capital funding options and financial consultant results with the supervisors in August.
The board negotiates with its teachers
The Montgomery County Education Association gives an update at nearly every meeting. The board approved a memorandum of understanding extending the current collective bargaining agreement for licensed personnel on December 10, 2025, and received a collective bargaining update on April 21, 2026. It also revised the salary scale for facilities and transportation positions in December 2025.
A long superintendent search is not in itself a sign of trouble; it is what a board is supposed to do when the job falls vacant, and this one ran to a published profile and a contract in about five months. What the public record here cannot show is why the previous superintendent left or how the board judged the candidates, because those discussions were held in closed session.
Where the division stands
Federal NCES Common Core of Data district directory, 2022 collection year. External federal data rather than a division document, so it is context.
Federal NCES Common Core of Data district directory, 2022 collection year.
Counted from the board's own published index: 11 regular sessions, 9 work sessions, 10 special closed sessions, 6 special sessions, 4 closed sessions for the superintendent search, 3 joint meetings with the Board of Supervisors, 2 budget special sessions, a reorganization meeting and a board retreat.
Every item the board listed, including procedural ones such as the pledge of allegiance and adoption of the agenda.
Four meetings in December 2025 titled 'Special Closed Session - Superintendent Search', held in Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Radford. Search updates also appeared on eight other agendas between September 2025 and January 2026.
September 29, 2025, March 16, 2026 and August 31, 2026, covering the budget process, the proposed FY27 budget, and school and county capital projects.
Major projects
Superintendent search and transition
Completed; contract approved January 2026The board replaced its superintendent over roughly five months, running an open process for the parts that can be public: firm selection, a leadership profile, and regular search updates on published agendas, with candidate discussion held in closed session.
- Board appoints an interim superintendent
- Board votes on the superintendent search firm
- Superintendent leadership profile and search logistics discussed
- Last of four December closed sessions for the search
- Approval of contract and announcement for a new superintendent
- New superintendent's 90-day plan executive summary presented
Funding
Division operating budget; the search firm contract and the superintendent's contract terms are not published in the meeting index
2026-2036 Capital Improvement Plan and Christiansburg High School
Plan presented August 2026; funding still under discussionThe division is moving from the capital plan that ran 2016 to 2026 into a new ten-year plan, with Christiansburg High School renovations already underway and reported on financially. How to pay for the next decade of work is an open question the board is working through with the county, including whether to pursue a sales tax dedicated to school projects.
- Facilities study presented at a joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors
- Christiansburg High School renovations financial update
- Review of the 2016-2026 capital plan
- Board acts on a capital improvement plan update
- School project sales tax discussed
- 2026-2036 Capital Improvement Plan presented
- Capital funding options and financial consultant results taken up with the supervisors
Funding
County capital funding and school bond proceeds, with a dedicated school project sales tax under discussion as an additional source
Student conduct and policy overhaul
Code of Conduct approved April 2026; wider policy review continuingThe board worked through its rulebook across the year, approving an alternative to the 10-day suspension, revising the weapons section of its student conduct policy, adopting a revised Student Code of Conduct, and then starting a section-by-section review of the wider policy manual.
- Alternative to 10-day suspension approved
- Revisions to the weapons section of Policy 7-3.1 acted on
- Revised Student Code of Conduct approved
- Policy review, Section 2, second read and approval
- Section Three policy plan presented
Funding
Division operating budget; policy work is staff time rather than a funded project
Recent news
Built from the Montgomery County School Board's own BoardDocs meeting index, an XML feed the board publishes covering every meeting it has posted since 2002. The trailing-year slice, September 1, 2025 to September 1, 2026, contains 47 meetings and 898 agenda items with their categories, titles and action types, and each meeting's posted description and location.
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