SchoolMatters Blog

My resignation from the school board

Earlier today I resigned from the Albemarle County School Board effective immediately.  It has been a difficult decision because working on behalf of the students in our community has been a very rewarding experience and I will miss it very much.

I am grateful to the voters for entrusting me with the immense responsibility that comes with school board service. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve and represent the people of Albemarle County.  I am confident the school board will establish an efficient and effective process for appointing someone to complete my term which ends in December 2011.

My letter explaining my decision is below.

Brian Wheeler

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August 5, 2010

Mr. Ron Price
Chairman
Albemarle County School Board
401 McIntire Road
Charlottesville, VA  22902

Dr. Pam Moran
Superintendent
Albemarle County Public Schools
401 McIntire Road
Charlottesville, VA  22902

Dear Ron & Pam:

I am writing to inform you of my resignation as the At-Large member of the Albemarle County School Board effective immediately.  I have decided to resign for both personal and professional reasons.  

During the past year, I have mentioned to you both that I did not intend to seek re-election to a third term in 2011 so that I could spend more time with my family.  Having just watched my daughter graduate from high school and my son from middle school, I am reminded again of how quickly our children grow up right before our eyes.  My wife Jean is also re-entering the workforce and that will require more flexibility in my schedule.  Thus, after further consideration, I think it will be best for our family if I complete my work on the school board sooner than I had previously planned.

In my professional life, Charlottesville Tomorrow will be celebrating its fifth year of operations this September.  Our work to inform and engage the public on critical quality of life issues in this community is more important than ever.  As Executive Director, the organization needs more of my time and attention to ensure that we are successful with our strategic plan and fundraising goals.

I am very honored to have had this opportunity to serve and represent the people of Albemarle County.  I am grateful to the voters for entrusting me with the immense responsibility that comes with school board service.  With your leadership and this community’s support, I know Albemarle County Public Schools will continue on the path toward being the world class school division our community expects and deserves.

Sincerely yours,

Brian A. Wheeler

'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]

....

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

....

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.

....

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]

....

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.

....

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.

Bell moves to shake up funding of area schools

12/19/09 * Daily Progress [full story]

Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, said Friday that he is moving ahead with legislation that would strip Charlottesville of nearly $3 million in school funding, kicking off what could be an ugly battle between the city and Albemarle County.

If passed, Bell’s legislation would change the state’s school funding formula to account for Charlottesville and Albemarle’s revenue-sharing agreement, granting Albemarle schools an estimated $2.9 million more in state funding next fiscal year. That would mean $2.9 million less for Charlottesville schools. Some Albemarle school officials say the revenue-sharing agreement cheats county schools out of the money, wrongfully giving it to Charlottesville schools instead.

Bell's budget amendment and city-county relations

The Albemarle County School Board took action at its meeting Thursday and authorized Delegate Rob Bell (R-58th) to submit a budget amendment in the 2010 General Assembly session that would modify the state funding formula for education.  The amendment would have the state budget factor in the County's revenue sharing agreement with the City of Charlottesville and increase Albemarle's state funding by about $2.6 million. 

The current state funding formulas have the effect of giving Albemarle a greater "ability to pay" because it does not recognize the $18 million that will be paid next year to Charlottesville in revenue sharing.  Delegate Bell's budget amendment, if approved in both the house and senate, would take the $2.6 million from the City's state funding allocation for schools.

I voted against the proposal for the following reasons:

• Three members of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors encouraged me not to take this approach.  The Supervisors on Thursday suggested that a better legislative strategy would be to have the state's composite index take land use taxation into account for all localities.  Currently, Albemarle's "ability to pay" is based on the full assessed value of property, and not the reduced value for property in the land use program.
• Once the Albemarle County School Board decided to investigate this issue (which I fully supported), I had very positive conversations with both city councilors and city school board members.  They expressed a strong interest in improved cooperation and in efforts to jointly find ways to lower the cost of education for both localities.  Thus, I thought the fact we had raised the possibility of pursuing the budget amendment had already had a positive result and further action would cause the city to withdraw.
• I believed the $2.6 million, while certainly helpful for our schools in the face of a $8 to $10 million budget gap for FY2011, might actually cost Albemarle taxpayers more if the city responded by raising costs in other joint services to off-set the loss of education funding.

The budget amendment received the support of the school board by a 4-3 vote.  It was a tough decision and I changed my mind on this issue in the days leading up to our meeting.  Members in the majority emphasized that this was about fairness in the state funding formulas and not about Charlottesville's funding per se.  They said pursuing the amendment might result in greater opportunities for co-operation and negotiations about things like the 1982 revenue sharing agreement.

This is an important public policy issue and it was covered in both a Daily Progress article and editorial.  Below are links to those articles and a podcast of the School Board's 1-hour discussion. 

Brian Wheeler

Podcast produced by Albemarle County Public Schools * Player by Odeo

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20091210-ACPS

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City, county need to talk

12/13/2009 * Daily Progress Editorial [full story]

When money gets really tight, the gloves come off. They’re almost off between Albemarle County and Charlottesville.

County School Board members on Thursday voted 4-3 to ask the General Assembly to change the formula that determines how much the two local school divisions receive from the state to pay for educational programs. The “composite index” takes into account various factors, including population and local wealth to determine what share of local school funding a locality should foot, with the state paying the rest.

The county School Board vote reflects a belief that adjusting the index formula to better account for the money Albemarle gives the city every year via revenue-sharing will mean more state education money for Albemarle. The county is scheduled to give the city $18 million in the next fiscal year.

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Albemarle wants funds from city for schools

12/11/2009 * Daily Progress [full story]

By Brandon Shulleeta

The Albemarle County School Board took up a fight Thursday — with some reluctance — for an estimated $2.6 million that board members believe the state unfairly plans to give Charlottesville schools.

The state uses a formula to determine how much money to give localities for education, based on population and finances, but some Albemarle officials believe the formula cheats Albemarle and gives the money to Charlottesville.

“They have our money,” School Board member Jon Stokes said. “We need money.”

Albemarle owes Charlottesville about $18 million next fiscal year as part of a revenue-sharing agreement reached years ago to prevent the city from annexing land in the county. The state’s “composite index” counts that money toward Albemarle’s revenue wealth — but some Albemarle officials say it should be counted against Charlottesville, because Charlottesville has access to that money, not Albemarle.

A representative for Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, said that she’d report to Bell today that the School Board voted in favor of requesting state legislation that would adjust the composite index formula in favor of Albemarle and to the detriment of Charlottesville.

Our presentation on Teleforums at the 2009 VSBA conference

Albemarle County Public Schools was invited to give a presentation on our use of telephone conference calls, or TeleForums, at the 2009 Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) annual conference. 

We have conducted three of these telephone town hall meetings during 2008-2009 to get public input on the school budget and school facility long-range planning.

Albemarle's TeleForum provider is Broadnet.

Here are links to the presentation:

• Download the PowerPoint presentation
• Download a smaller PDF version

Brian Wheeler