[SchoolMatters] School Board approves $151.7 million funding request

Sat Feb 9 08:48:50 EST 2008

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This message is not an official communication of the Albemarle County School
Board. It is a private, e-mail-only newsletter written by Brian Wheeler,
At-Large Member of the Albemarle County School Board. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Want to share some public comments on this message?  See the weblog version
here: http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/budget-1.html]

On Thursday, the Albemarle County School Board unanimously approved a $151.7
million funding request for FY 2009 which will be sent to the Board of
Supervisors next week.  That is a 2.57% increase over the current year's
operational budget.  Revenues from all sources (federal, state, and local)
are increasing by only 1.68%.  The funding request is $1.3 million more than
the revenues that are expected to be available at this time.  

The request would have been about $2.16 million over expected revenues had
County Executive Bob Tucker not made an additional $848,854 available
earlier in the day by reducing the County's allocation to the capital
budget.  Before that adjustment, the School Board's available local revenues
were projected to increase by only $73,311 (or 0.074%).

After the vote, the Daily Progress asked me about my opinion as to whether
the School Board should have submitted a "balanced budget" to the Board of
Supervisors.  I responded, "Balanced to what?"  Earlier that day I was in
Richmond with Governor Kaine and he said next week he would be releasing a
revised state revenue forecast.  It is not going up.  Also that day the
School Board learned Mr. Tucker was making more money available in the local
government budget from the capital allocation.  That increased revenues at
the very last minute before our vote.  Any guesses as to what the
Supervisors will do to the tax rate?  All these factors make the budget a
moving target this early in the process.  

Thus I voted with my colleagues to send what I believe is a funding request
that best supports the school division's strategic goals--This community's
priorities for public education. In the words of our Parent Council
President, Mary Huffard Kegley Scott, "Strong public schools build strong
communities."  This funding request moves the community's vision forward.

The School Board cut more than it added to the Superintendent's original
request. I voted to eliminate almost a million dollars from the budget based
upon recommendations from our recently completed resource utilization study.
That includes cuts of $400,000 in central office expenditures (on top of
$200,000 last year) and $500,000 in transportation expenditures.  The
funding request will also include a contingency plan detailing another $3
million in potential cuts.

I voted to keep teacher salaries at the 4% average market increase.  I am
not happy about voting to lower the merit pool for our classified staff from
4.35% to 3.35%.  We are still not paying our lowest paid classified staff a
"living wage."

I voted to support a $200,000 research and development initiative related to
the creation of specialty centers.  These programs could include an
International Baccalaureate (IB) program as well as specialty science
center.  Superintendent Moran had this as something to fund in the second
year of her request. The School Board voted to move it forward a year. 

NOTE: If you are interested in our specialty center initiatives, there will
be a work session on this topic at our February 28, 2008 work session.  I
view this $200,000 as a placeholder in the budget until we receive more
information from staff and the community at the work session. 

The School Board moved our budget process forward in the calendar in order
to accommodate the state law that changed related to when local government
has to advertise a proposed property tax rate.  Yesterday, Bob Tucker
announced that the County did not have to comply with that law since
property assessments increased by less than 1%.  Tucker said the Board of
Supervisors would now wait until late March to advertise the tax rate (they
have to do so 7 days before their April 2, 2008 public hearing).  

The Board of Supervisors had previously scheduled a public hearing for
February 20, 2008 thinking they were going to have to advertise the tax rate
shortly thereafter.  That public forum will still be held and that is the
next opportunity for the public to provide feedback on the County budget. 

Important dates on the budget calendar:

*	February 20, 2008 * Public forum on preliminary budget priorities 

*	March 5, 2008 * Public hearing on County Executive's budget 

*	April 2, 2008 * Public hearing on final budget and Tax Rate 

*	April 9, 2008 * Board of Supervisors adopts budget 

*	View calendar: http://www.wheeleronboard.com/calendar.htm

Finally, I want to thank the public for all the feedback I have received on
the budget.  Your input does make a difference.

Brian Wheeler

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Brian Wheeler, At-Large Member & Chairman
 <http://www.k12albemarle.org/>  <http://www.k12albemarle.org/> Albemarle
County School Board
89 Langford Place
Charlottesville, VA 22903
 <mailto:bwheeler at k12albemarle.org> bwheeler at k12albemarle.org
tel: 434-984-2233
 <http://www.wheeleronboard.com/> www.wheeleronboard.com
 <http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/> Click here to visit my blog and comment
on the latest school news 

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