Negotiations on the Loudoun County Public Schools fiscal year 2006 budget have gotten off to a cordial start with supervisors.
The supervisors' first of many budget work sessions kicked off with preliminary discussions with School Board members on March 9.
When County Administrator Kirby Bowers presented the FY 2006 budget for the entire county in February, he recommended granting the entire $536 million operating budget requested by the School Board. It represents a $75.5 million increase over FY 2005.
"The majority of what we're doing is salaries, managing growth, that sort of thing," said School Board Chairman John Andrews in his opening statement.
The major change in the FY 2006 budget is the salary scale. New teachers with bachelor's degrees would start at $40,000, an increase from $35,784, under the proposed budget.
"This is the spot in the budget where we're going to get the biggest bang for our buck," said School Board member Priscilla Godfrey (Blue Ridge). She added that under the current salary scale, a teacher with a family of three could qualify for an affordable dwelling unit.
Due to an estimated 3,500 new students expected next fall and teacher relocation and retirement, Superintendent Edgar Hatrick expects to hire between 800 and 900 new teachers this year.
SUPERVISORS ASKED how much would it hurt schools if they cut one cent from the real estate tax rate, the equivalent of about $7 million from the budget?
The current real estate tax rate is $1.1075 per $100 assessed value. Bowers has recommended cutting the tax rate to $1.07.
Andrews did not support the idea of cutting the budget any further. The School Board has already cut $7 million from Hatrick's original proposed operating budget.
"We feel we've tightened this thing down and accomplished the goal we wanted this year," Andrews said. "Seven million ... I don't know how far we'd have to go. We will not put ourselves at competitive disadvantage with all the hiring we have to do."
"There's no way the School Board can save the taxpayers $7 million," said School Board member J. Warren Geurin (Sterling). "If there were, we would have done that already."
Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) queried the School Board on what he called the "creative rubber-stamping" of certain programs that he deemed superfluous — especially, he pointed out, adult education classes.
Hatrick disputed Delgaudio's assertion, pointing out that adult education classes are only held when enough students sign up to pay for the cost of the course and instructor.
"It pays for itself," he said.
No straw votes were taken on line items. Supervisors Lori Waters (R-Broad Run), Bruce Tulloch (R-Potomac) and Jim Clem (R-Leesburg) were absent.
SUPERVISORS WILL MEET again on March 17 to discuss the proposed schools operating budget in more detail. They have agreed to submit questions in writing to the School Board in the meantime in preparation for the second work session.
The shadow of the recent Virginia Supreme Court ruling that wiped out restrictive zoning in the western two-thirds of the county hung over the first work session. The ruling could mean 58,000 or more new homes in the west, bringing with it thousands of new students and requiring a major shift in planning for the school system.
This development led Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) to give pause.
"I'm at a point where I'm not sure I'm going to continue to support the debt cap we've adopted over the past year," Burton said. "If my colleagues are not willing to place restrictions on buildings ... then I think it doesn't make sense to put restrictions on the building of schools."
Schools Operating Budget At A Glance
<lst>How much? $536 million
How much from local funds? $414 million
How much goes toward personnel? 87 percent
How much per pupil? $10,266, a 10.9 percent increase
How many new students? 3,500
How many total students? 47,467
How many new schools? 19 in the next five years
To see the entire proposed operating budget, visit www.loudoun.k12.va.us.
The shadow of the recent Virginia Supreme Court ruling that wiped out restrictive zoning in the western two-thirds of the county hung over the first work session. The ruling could mean 58,000 or more new homes in the west, bringing with it thousands of new students and requiring a major shift in planning for the school system.
This development led Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) to give pause.
"I'm at a point where I'm not sure I'm going to continue to support the debt cap we've adopted over the past year," Burton said. "If my colleagues are not willing to place restrictions on buildings ... then I think it doesn't make sense to put restrictions on the building of schools."