The Loudoun County School Board has come under fire from residents and some supervisors for proposing to increase class size and cut all extra-curricular activities in response to a mandated $12 million cut in the FY05 budget.
Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run) said she was upset about the flurry of e-mails she has received from displeased residents. "Let me tell you how outraged I am," she said, her voice rising, at a supervisors' meeting last week. "You are purposely inciting fear in our parents."
She said there is ample cushion in the budget to not eliminate these programs.
The Board of Supervisors first told the School Board it needed to find $17 million in reductions. The School Board reduced health insurance costs by $2 million by renegotiating its contract with MAMSI. The Supervisors decided then to reduce the cut by another $3 million — bringing the total to $12 million. This mandate was in addition to an earlier reduction of $23 million made by the board.
The county also could be receiving as much as $7 million less in educational aide from the state, based on the governor's proposed budget. With the latest cuts, the budget is 16.8 percent higher than FY04, said Sue Hurd, assistant superintendent of business and financial services. Supervisor Bruce Tulloch (R-Potomac) countered that by his calculations, the increase is actually 21 percent.
Supervisors voted Tuesday to consider giving more money to the School Board if the state legislators declare a budget impasse or significantly cut school aid to the county.
The School Board responded to the Supervisors' $12 million reduction last week by making a lengthy list of ways to meet the requirement without cutting teacher salaries. The public has responded by sending thousands of e-mails to members of both boards.
School Board member Bob Ohneiser (R-Broad Run) said he doesn't want any of his constituents to think he supports making those drastic cuts. "We're not going to cut sports, extra-curricular activities, art and music," he said. "It's sickening to hear we might even cut these programs."
School Board Chairman said John Andrews II (Potomac) said he does not agree with everything the board members put on the list. "But I operate on a democracy," he said. "I asked for all ideas and those were some of the ideas."
On behalf of the School Board, he wrote a letter to the supervisors explaining that the school board could handle $5 million to $7 million in cuts without damaging the progress that has been made with the students so far.
Scott York, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the supervisors are doing a real disservice to the schools by requiring such a deep cut.
Tulloch said the School Board should follow the supervisors' lead and go through the budget and make reductions line by line. He told York that this Board of Supervisors is giving a higher percentage increase than York's board did last year. "I think this new board has done one heck of a job in 90 days," Tulloch said.
Andrews said he hopes the School Board will not have to cut salaries.
Ohneiser, however, said there are people in the school system who are making more than $100,000. "There should be a limit as to how much someone can earn in the school system," he said. He said he agrees with Waters that the school board should set a 10 percent reduction at the top level of the salaries.
Ohneiser said the school board also should try to find alternative funding to relieve the tax burden. He recommended:
* Implementing an Affinity credit card program to generate money for the schools and public libraries. They would receive money for every card registered to a county resident.
* Naming fields and auditoriums after corporations and estates that provide significant funding.
* Allowing for-profit organizations to use the schools for a fee. Currently, only nonprofits can use them.
Ohneiser said the budget problems are only going to worsen next year. "We are going to have more and more of a struggle to get any amount of our income tax that goes to Richmond back in the form of reasonable support for our schools," he said. "What do you expect from Richmond? They are the capital of confederacy."