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posted 02/17/2010 I have received several inquires regarding the 2010 School Board Budget Proposal.
Please note the budget proposal was sent out to our county citizens via email on Tuesday, January 26th. There are several citizens that DID NOT receive this email.
Below is a copy of the email sent via the county office. I highlighted the area of interest regarding school sports.
I ask that everyone take an interest in this topic and voice their opinion on this proposal at the school board meeting on March 8th.
Lynell Yates
2010 Commissioner
From:
To: xxx
Subject: FCPS Budget Update 1-26-10
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:16:15 +0000
Last night Division Superintendent Jonathan Lewis provided the School Board with an overview of proposed reductions to the school division’s 2011 budget. Below is a summary of the presentation.
Recap: The total budget shortfall for the school division is $7.7 million, based on former Governor Kaine’s proposed budget. The shortfall consists of a loss of state revenue ($2.9 million) and county revenue ($3.3 million) and an increase in costs for employee benefits ($1.5 million to cover VRS, group life and health insurance). To reduce the budget by $7.7 million, senior staff were guided by four priorities: limit the impact on class size and direct services to students, sustain our commitment to continuous improvement, protect jobs, and limit the impact on VRS and health insurance costs to employees.
Proposed cuts fall into three areas – Personnel, Programs and Operations.
First, in the area of Personnel, proposed cuts total $4.3 million. Nearly half of that reduction ($2 million) would come from what is known as “anticipated salary differential”; simply put, this is the difference in the salaries of employees who retire (or vacate positions) from those of new employees hired in those same positions, typically at lower salary levels. The other $2.3 million in proposed cuts in personnel are as follows:
· Cut seven current positions.
· Cut 12 positions, including administrators, teachers and classified personnel, through attrition.
· Reduce the contracts of certificated personnel and 11- and 12-month classified personnel by two days; this affects every FCPS employee except bus drivers, instructional assistants and food service personnel. Affected employees would work two fewer days in school year 2010-2011 and receive two days less pay. It is our hope that this reduction in contract days will be for one year only. This single move saves 15 to 20 current positions.
· Reduce supplemental pay by 10 percent. Supplements are paid to coaches, department heads, activity sponsors, etc.
· Revise the formula for calculating pay for bus drivers. After determining actual time needed for a bus route, the driver’s pay will be rounded to the next quarter hour rather than half hour.
· Reduce transportation overtime.
· Eliminate supplemental insurance. For a period of time employees who opted not to participate in a school division health insurance plan could purchase supplemental insurance; the school division will no longer contribute to this cost for these grandfathered employees.
Second, in the area of Programs, proposed cuts total $462,629. Just under half of this reduction ($216,363) would come from eliminating freshman sports and increasing athletic fees to $100 (high school) and $50 (middle school) per sport per child with no cap for families. Other program cuts include eliminating after-school remediation, reducing summer school to only those courses students need to graduate, eliminating the LPN program (students currently travel out of county for this program), eliminating Cognitive Ability Testing (COGAT) at the first-grade level, eliminating courses with low enrollment, and reducing the tuition reimbursement benefit.
Finally, in the area of Operations, proposed cuts total $2.9 million. This includes a $1.4 million reduction in the operations budget (energy, equipment, materials, supplies and purchased services). The remaining $1.5 million reduction would come from eliminating bus replacement and technology replacement, reducing textbook purchases, recovering trailer rental (turning trailers back in when their leases end), reducing energy costs by 5 percent and reducing fuel costs.
These proposed cuts – $4.3 million in personnel, $.5 million in programs, and $2.9 million in operations – total $7.7 million, our anticipated shortfall in these early stages of budget preparation. Please remember, we will not receive final word on state and local funding until later this spring, so we may be forced to cut the budget additionally before the process ends.
I remind you that there will be an opportunity to speak publicly to the School Board about the school division’s proposed budget; a public hearing will be held on Monday, March 8, at 7 p.m. at the monthly School Board meeting.
Senior staff and I made many difficult decisions in proposing these cuts, all based on established priorities. As a school community, we must believe that, despite the difficult job of cutting positions and programs we value, we will have the resilience, confidence and creativity needed to provide our children with the personalized education they both need and deserve. I am certain that we are up to the task. As the budget process unfolds, I will be back in touch.
Respectfully,
Jonathan Lewis
Note: A PDF of a PowerPoint listing the dollar amount of proposed cuts is available by clicking here.
