[SutherlandMatters] Albemarle Cpunty Schools Budget Proposal

[David Rogers]

DATE:                        February 20, 2007

CONTACT:              Sue Bell Friedman, Chair

                                    Albemarle County School Board

PHONE:                    (434) 981-3515

 

School Board Forwards $151 million Funding Request to Board of
Supervisors 

 

(ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Virginia) - Albemarle County's School Board will send
a $151 million Funding Request for the 2007-08 school year to the Board
of Supervisors. The School Board approved the budget proposal during a
special work session Thurs., February 15, 2007. 

 

"This Funding Request represents our continuing commitment to recruit,
develop and retain highly qualified teachers and administrators.  This
Funding Request also expands on our instructional initiatives to prepare
all students for a global economy and to eliminate all achievement gaps.
Finally, this Funding Request makes a significant move towards creating
a continuous improvement focus, which fosters our goals to be recognized
as world class and to be effective and efficient with our resources,"
said Sue Bell Friedman, chair of the Albemarle County School Board. 

 

The School Board received a Funding Request proposal from Superintendent
Pamela Moran in January 2007. It held four budget work sessions and a
public hearing before making adjustments and approving a revised
proposal to the Board of Supervisors. A major change was the removal of
the living wage initiative from original proposal. The initiative
emerged from work by a joint subcommittee of the School Board and Board
of Supervisors. During a recent joint meeting of the two boards, the
living wage initiative was taken off the table for the 2007-08 budget
development cycle. 

 

"The School Board and Board of Supervisors agree that more study is
needed on living wage. Funding a living wage would mean a move away from
the market approach we use to create and maintain competitive
compensation packages for employees. We are seeing positive results from
this approach," Friedman said. 

 

"With future funding projections revealing a deficit in revenue in the
next few years, there also were concerns that pursuing a living wage now
may, in the long run, hurt the employees we're trying to help. The
boards already face difficult decisions when selecting initiatives to
fund. The School Board, at this point, is not willing to cut core
educational services for students or positions to free funding to pay
for a living wage. Living wage involves a serious, long-term financial
commitment the joint boards are not taking lightly. Further study will
give both boards more information to consider related to living wage and
may generate ideas for other programs to help these employees," Friedman
said.  

 

In finalizing its Funding Request, the School Board moved several
initiatives from an unfunded list into its budget proposal. The 18
initiatives added to the budget proposal are those the School Board
believes necessary for the School Division to continue progress toward
achievement of strategic plan goals. They are: 

*      Computer replacement cycle ($250,000) 

*      Emergency staffing position restoration ($62,649)

*      Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction Institute expansion
($150,001)

*      Suspension Center ($93,323)

*      Specialty Center support ($100,000)

*      Utility lines ($88,080) 

*      Intervention/Prevention Services staffing ($31,324) 

*      Intervention/Prevention Services operational increase ($170,730)

*      Increase to full-time 2 high school assistant principal positions
($72,840)

*      Walton Middle School testing specialist ($15,662)

*      4 math specialists ($310,596)

*      Administrative intern program ($150,293)

*      Board reserve ($182,000)

*      Data warehouse staffing ($83,488)

*      4 Office of Technology positions ($298,235)

*      Increase to full-time Hispanic/Latino community relations
coordinator ($44,662)

*      Curriculum Technology Integration Partners (CTIP) staffing
increase of 4.25 full-time equivalents ($286,258)

*      Improve top quartile competitiveness for T21-T30 teachers
($492,714)

 

The School Board's Funding Request assumes the county property tax rate,
which generates most local revenue, will not change. The Board of
Supervisors recently placed $0.02 of the current tax rate in reserve for
a possible tax break for residents or for other purposes.  A cut in the
current tax rate will reduce the funding to the School Division by
slightly more than $1.9 million. Should the Board of Supervisors reduce
the current tax rate, the School Board must make a proportionate cut to
its Funding Request. 

 

The Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings on its budget
proposal, which includes the allocation of funding for the School
Division, on March 7 and April 4. Both public hearings begin at 6 p.m.
in Lane Auditorium in Albemarle County Office Building at 401 McIntire
Road in Charlottesville. The School Division will present its Funding
Request to the Board of Supervisors on March 14.

 

The School Board's Funding Request can be viewed on-line at
www.k12albmarle.org <http://www.k12albmarle.org/>  under the "2007-08
Funding Request" link. 

 

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