SchoolMatters Blog

'City, county, get together': Daily Progress calls for talks about consolidation of schools

Speaking as one school board member, I would support joint discussions about consolidating Charlottesville and Albemarle public schools.  I think the time is right to get that conversation going.

Brian Wheeler

2/24/10 * Daily Progress EDITORIAL [full story]

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[I]t is cooperation that has the best chance of addressing the two localities’ financial problems.

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County and city leaders need to stop saying they believe in cooperation and start practicing more of it. A joint meeting moderated by an impartial third party, perhaps a trained mediator, is a necessary first step.

City and county have traditionally found fault with the idea of a consolidated school district, but with the intense financial pressures facing both districts — with or without the disputed $2.8 million — this might be the time to take that idea more seriously.

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Right now, Charlottesville and Albemarle must start talking together about cooperation, not independently. They must cooperate more, not less.

School Board approves $145.2 million funding request; Needs another $8.8 million in revenues to avoid Tier 2 & 3 cuts

The Albemarle County School Board passed its FY2011 funding request Thursday evening.  I have updated my budget analysis spreadsheet (with a look at hypothetical tax rates) and provided a list of the Tier I cuts that were implemented to arrive at the current budget.

You can also download the EXCEL file to evaluate tax rate changes for your household.

If you were following me on Twitter Thursday night, here were my running notes:

• Getting ready to start the last budget work session before we send request to Board of Supervisors for support #acpsbudget
• AHS redistricting as cost savings measure-athletic fix (AAA->AA) has been taken off the table entirely for this budget #acpsbudget
• McDonnell's budget for education reduces funding for standards of quality (SOQ), eliminates no SOQ mandates, we pay difference #acpsbudget
• Alb Co School Board approves $145,226,797 funding request for FY11 operations #acpsbudget
• Funding request for FY11 exceeds currently available revenues by $8.8 million #acpsbudget
• Making up difference only w/real estate property taxes is approx +10.68 cent rate increase #acpsbudget
• A +10.68 cent tax increase in Albemarle costs median sale price home $227.53 more in taxes vs. 2009 #acpsbudget
• School budget now gets transmitted to Albemarle County Board of Supervisors for review #acpsbudget

Brian Wheeler

Albemarle County Public Schools budget is now facing catastrophic cuts

The Albemarle County Public Schools budget is now facing catastrophic cuts if we do not find new sources of revenue.  This is the result of the national economy, declining sales taxes, declining property values, a proposal to lower taxes collected in Albemarle, and significant state funding cuts for education. 

Remember that 2-year federal stimulus money that was supposed to put people to work?  Well we used it that way last year and then the state decided to keep the second year of some of those stimulus funds ($2.4 million) to balance the state budget.  That’s just one example of the challenges.

Speaking as one school board member, I cannot support implementing all of the drastic cuts contemplated in our school budget.  Those cuts are well documented in the budget documents and I won’t go into those details in this post.

Our ability to deliver on our strategic plan, a plan strongly supported by this community, will be set back by many years, probably all the years today’s kindergarten students will be in school.  We simply will not have the same public education system that attracts new businesses and promotes economic vitality in this community.

Even if ALL the cuts itemized by Superintendent Pam Moran are implemented, even that likely won’t be enough if we don’t find new revenues.  This was my big take away from the latest school board budget work session last week.

I look forward to hearing what the public has to say and I hope the weather will permit us to hold the public hearing tomorrow night.  I hope we will come together as a community and support a school budget that positions us to meet the needs of our children for their futures.

In an effort to get my head around the numbers, I have prepared the attached spreadsheet which evaluates (to the best of my ability with the data available), the impact of the different budget scenarios and what different property tax rate increases necessary to close the funding gap.

• http://www.wheeleronboard.com/docs/20100214-analysis-wheeler.pdf (Acrobat PDF); or

• http://www.wheeleronboard.com/docs/20100214-analysis-wheeler.xls (Excel spreadsheet)

If you download the Excel spreadsheet, you can even plug in your own home assessments from 2009 and 2010 to measure the personal impact of adjusting the tax rate.

At this point in the process, I don’t like trying to address a budget challenge by manipulating the tax rate, but I think the public deserves some factual information about the different scenarios and how that might impact their personal pocketbooks.  At this point, the burden has been put on local government and it has few revenue tools at its disposal.  We all need to understand the cost-benefit of the status quo, the current tax rate, which in reality is a tax reduction.

I also know how much work has gone in to trimming our school operations, withholding raises, and implementing efficiencies over the past several years.  Those that tell you we should just simply cut more from the school budget don’t know what they are talking about, don’t care about the impact, or both.  We have an efficient and effective business here that is being asked to DO MORE for MORE children WITH MUCH LESS.

In the analysis I have provided, here is the bottom line for the median household (2009 sales price) in Albemarle. 

• With the worst case state funding scenario (new reductions of $9 million), a property tax rate of 86.5 cents would fund Dr. Moran’s budget with only Tier 1 cuts implemented.  That rate would increase ANNUAL tax payments by $272.08 for the median priced home when compared to 2009. 

• In the best case state funding scenario, a property tax rate of 81.9 cents would balance the budget and increase ANNUAL tax payments by $146.19 for the median priced home when compared to 2009.

I also came across this interesting data:

Report on the Comparative Revenue Capacity, Revenue Effort, and Fiscal Stress of Virginia's Counties and Cities 2006/2007 (most recent year available)

• Albemarle County in 2006-07 ranked 118th out of 134 localities in "revenue capacity" - with 134th being highest capacity
• Albemarle County in 2006-07 ranked 96th out of 134 localities in "revenue effort" - with 134th being lowest effort
• Albemarle County in 2006-07 ranked 123rd out of 134 localities in level of "fiscal stress" - with 134th being lowest stress

Brian Wheeler

Notes from 2-11-10 school board meeting - budget & 4x4 block schedules

At the Albemarle County School Board meeting tonight, I took my notes in Twitter.  I was even able to share some graphs from a PowerPoint presentation with a person following the meeting online.  Here is a summary of the tweets which highlight a number of important announcements and some key points about our current budget discussions (more state funding reductions and discussion of switching to 4x4 block schedule in our high schools).

Brian Wheeler

Brian's tweets from the February 11, 2010 Albemarle Co. School Board Meeting:

Follow tweets from Albemarle Co Public Schools' Dir of Transportation @JoshDavisTPort

RT @JoshDavisTPort: Albemarle County Public Schools will be closed on Friday February 12.

In budget work session-Albemarle Co. Public Schools could see state funding shortfall of $5.2 to $9 million

Superintendent Moran's budget already has ~$5.2 million in reductions - new state shortfalls would add to challenges

Add up all the potential budget reductions in Moran's budget--doesn't cover worst case scenario with state funding picture

SCHOOL BUDGET: Severe financial challenge makes 4x4 block / 8 period day in high schools attractive option for Albemarle Co.

#acpsbudget 4x4 block / 8 period day proposal in high schools eliminates 9.24 Albemarle Co. HS teaching positions

jwill101 @bawheeler#acpsbudget 4x4 pros v. cons for student learning?

@jwill101 I am going to try and attach an image showing one of the presentation slides - hope it helps http://tweetphoto.com/11097436

#acpsbudget 100% of surveyed Albemarle Co. principals have positive view of 4x4 block - see pie chart http://tweetphoto.com/11098090

Albemarle Co School Board approves changing Mon Feb 15th from teacher workday to regular school day for students

Albemarle Co School Board ALSO approves changing Fri April 2 (before Spring Break) from teacher workday to regular school day for students

Daily Progress Editorial: Revenue fight hurts region

2/7/10 * Daily Progress EDITORIAL [full story]

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All this at a time when cooperation — not competition — should be part of the solution for both localities’ budget woes. Greater cooperation — even consolidation of services, such as schools — could save money by eliminating overhead and duplication and creating economies of scale neither could achieve singly.

But some leaders are hinting at reduced cooperation. Whether that’s a deliberate, if veiled, threat or simply an inexorable consequence of the standoff, the result still is likely to be reduced services to the community as a whole or increased costs for those services.

City and county should be coming together, not taking stands that divide.

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City, county in clash over cash

2/6/10 * Daily Progress [full story]

The clash over money between Charlottesville and Albemarle County is turning into a political civil war, with warnings that each step from here will undermine collaborations that would cut expenses and instead possibly cost taxpayers big bucks down the road.

What started as a budget amendment in the General Assembly to account for the two localities’ revenue-sharing agreement, introduced by Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, has now transformed into a tit-for-tat battle between the City Council and the Board of Supervisors, with each elected body looking to get even.

Following the Albemarle County School Board, Albemarle supervisors last week passed a resolution in support of stripping $2.6 million from Charlottesville school funding in fiscal 2012 and directing that money to county schools.