School Superintendents Take Aim at Kaine Budget Plan

Local
By Tara Donaldson
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28 2009

By Tara Slate Donaldson

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

Representatives from virtually every school district in the state descended on Richmond Jan. 22 to voice their opposition to the governor's budget plan for education.

At issue is Gov. Tim Kaine's proposal to cut spending for public schools in the wake of the economic downturn. While the state's superintendents don't want any cuts, their big problem is that the proposed $400 million in reductions is permanent, not temporary.

Fauquier County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Lewis was in attendance at the press conference. "A number of superintendents are concerned about the degree of impact of the proposed state cuts," he said. "The cuts will impact teaching and learning."

Lewis said the governor had indicated he didn't want to make any cuts that affected instruction, but "That would be difficult to do with the depth of cuts recommended."

With an approximate seven percent budget cut, Lewis said, "we are trying to keep from reducing force. We're cuttings areas we can do without for a year, but certainly could not do long-term." He anticipates other school systems are in the same situation, "They can do it in short-term, but not indefinitely," he said.

Others in attendance echoed similar sentiments. “School board members understand that in times of severe economic downturns, like now, the state may have to temporarily, but not permanently, reduce funding for public school students,” said Stuart Gibson of Fairfax, president of the Virginia School Boards Association.

Gibson was joined by other administrators and superintendents who all insisted that they understand the need for cuts this year, but that the governor's plan to decrease state aid permanently is unacceptable.

The plan, which still has a long way to go in order to be approved by the General Assembly, targets support staff and administrators for cuts, so as to leave classroom instruction funds intact.

But the superintendents countered that the reality is that state funding cuts will impact the quality of classroom instruction.

That's partly because the increasing number of state and federal mandates for paperwork, testing and reports means that school systems can't just lay off support staff. Since state and federal laws require the work has to be done, school divisions will have to make cuts elsewhere to ensure that they meet their legal obligations.

And the mandates are growing every year.

Pam Moran, the superintendent for Albemarle County schools, pointed to one example; in the next school year, guidance counselors will be required to meet with each seventh grader to develop an academic and career plan. While she acknowledged that the idea is a good one, it adds an hour for each student to a guidance counselor's workload. In her district, that means 33 extra days of work for the counselors, she said.

Cuts to administrative funds would mean fewer employees in the guidance office, which means more work for fewer people even before the counselors have to add in the extra job of planning seventh-graders' career paths.

“This represents the worst kind of trickle-down economics,” she said, noting that the career advise mandate is just one of dozens of new mandates being added amid funding cuts.

Another problem is the proposal to cut $83 million in school construction funding. Greensville Superintendent Philip Worrell said his county has been using that construction money to pay part of the debt service on schools that have already been built. Debt service must be paid no matter what, so if the county loses its $640,000 in state construction money, the small school district will have no choice but to lay off 14 teachers ? fully seven percent of the instructional staff.

Fairfax Superintendent Jack Dale weighed in too, saying that the county's school system is facing a $200 million shortfall and an estimated 5,000 new students next year. Budget cuts are going to mean 800 fewer employees, he said, which will result in an average of two more students in every classroom. That brings the average class size up to more than 30, he said.

“It will take decades to recover the world-class educational program that we have developed over the years,” Dale said.

Prince William Superintendent Steve Walts wasn't at the meeting, but school division spokesman Ken Blackstone said later that the Prince William School Board hasn't yet determined how the state cuts would affect the division's $800 million budget.

“We can't be specific particularly about the number of jobs or anything,” he said. “It's still in a very fluid state.”

The Prince William school systems gets 40 percent of its budget from the state and another eight percent comes from the state sales tax, Blackstone said. Forty-seven percent of the division's budget is county money, three percent is federal and the remaining two percent comes from various other sources.

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