[SchoolMatters] School budget faces new funding cuts

Sat Jan 26 12:03:19 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/2008/01/funding_cuts.html ]

As with all my posts... This important message on the school budget
represents my views as an individual School Board member.

Last year, the "January surprise" of the budget process was an ever dropping
tax rate target that had the Albemarle County School Board constantly
cutting and adjusting the budget for 2007-08.  The School Board ultimately
passed a balanced budget (it has to by law), but a number of major
initiatives went underfunded or unfunded.

This year's "January surprise" is the rapidly changing state and local
revenue picture.  Once again, the funding request prepared by Superintendent
Pam Moran for the School Board's consideration is having fundamental
financial assumptions shaken by matters outside the School Board's control. 

Earlier this week, the School Board was facing a $832,637 funding gap for
next year.  The School Board was told Tuesday to expect state revenues to
drop by $250,000.  Not a huge amount.  I can deal with that in a $153
million budget.  We were also told that our competitive market for employee
salaries was now forecasting smaller raises.  So compensation targets for
classified employees were ratcheted back trimming that gap by $332,420.
Teacher salaries remained at the targeted 4% increase.  Still some more work
to do, but certainly not impossible to balance the budget.

Yesterday however, I learned that local Albemarle County revenues for next
year are now expected to drop by $2.16 million from the projection used by
Dr. Moran in her December 2007 funding request to the School Board.

Let's do the math.

In 2007-08, the schools were supposed to receive a transfer from local
government of $98.4 million for operations (i.e. not debt service, capital,
or self-sustaining).  That amount is 44.9% of the total County general fund
expenditures of which 62% is funded by real estate property taxes.  (Note:
This is from the perspective of the general fund for Albemarle and that
there are other sources of local revenue) 

This year, we had been projecting since October a $100.67 million transfer
from local government (assumes the real estate property tax rate would
remain at $0.68).  That would have resulted in an additional $2.2 million
from local government, or a 2.2% increase for the schools.  The lowest
change in memory according to our staff.

Based on revised data from yesterday, that number is now projected to be
$73,311 (0.074%) of TOTAL additional revenues from local government to the
schools.  Yes, I have those commas and decimals in the right place.  Local
government may look at reducing capital investments in community
infrastructure to help plug the hole. 

But wait, there is more.  With real estate tax bills in the mail this week
and dropping local property values, the County also has to face shortfalls
in the CURRENT budget.  We had expected that and Dr. Moran had previously
prepared the schools to accommodate a $2 million hit.  Yesterday local
government informed the schools that the figure has reached the $3 million
mark.  So the $98.4 million that we should have received from local
government this school year is now $95.4 million.

Our community has some serious work to do.  My assessment of Dr. Moran's
funding request, as one School Board member, was that it ALREADY very lean
and strategically focused.  Overall the projected growth of the budget was
only 3.37%.  Yet, she figured out how to fund a $6.2 million initiative to
ensure competitive compensation.  Given the budget was only growing by $5
million, she accomplished that by cutting positions and programs in other
parts of the division.  An additional $73,311 from local government doesn't
go very far on a $6.2 million initiative. 

Further, in late 2007 the School Board hired the Commonwealth Educational
Policy Institute (CEPI) at VCU to conduct a 5 month proactive study of the
efficiency and effectiveness of our school operations.  Implementing the
recommendations in this study will be an essential part of funding the
future, but only so many adjustments can be made in the first year, and as I
said previously, many cuts were already in the budget and other initiatives
were already left unfunded or deferred to year two.

Unless the revenue picture changes for the better, the School Board will
soon be in the process of planning reduction strategies with the
Superintendent.  Those specifics will not be clear before the public hearing
next week, but it is essential we hear from YOU regarding your priorities
for our public schools.  What are you willing to do without?  What
investments are you willing to make to accomplish the educational goals of
this community?

The public hearing is being held at Monticello High School's new auditorium
this Tuesday, January 29, 2008 starting at 6:30 PM.  The sign-up sheet for
speakers will be available starting at 4:30 PM.

Brian Wheeler

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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
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 <http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/> Click here to visit my blog and comment
on the latest school news 

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