With his “Superintendent’s Circle” newsletter (below) and a narrated PowerPoint presentation, Dr. Jonathan Lewis makes his case for a “significant increase” in the fiscal 2013 school budget.

The budget for public education this year stands at $119.2 million. Of that, the county contributes $76.9 million.

January 30, 2012
By Jonathan Lewis
School Superintendent

Over the years Fauquier County citizens have enjoyed relatively small schools with small classes; robust electives offerings, particularly in visual and performing arts; a wide array of extracurricular programs, including very competitive athletic teams; highly specialized programming for children with special needs and children who are gifted; outstanding career and technical courses to prepare students for success in a global workforce; and adult and alternative programming to meet the instructional needs of students for whom traditional schooling simply hasn’t worked.

Fauquier County Public Schools in so many ways reflects the unique character and deeply personal qualities Fauquier citizens have grown to hold dear about their county. Unfortunately, as local funding for schools has been cut in recent years, we find much of what we value now at great risk.

Why is this so? Between 2009 and 2012 the Board of Supervisors has cut local funding for schools by $7.2 million. In contrast, over the same period County government’s budget has actually grown by over half a million dollars. In other words, in general, County government has balanced its budget during the recession by dramatically cutting funding for schools and retiring capital debt.

In April of 2010, in a letter to the editor of the Times-Democrat, written in response to the unprecedented $8.1 million cut to the school budget that spring, I wrote:

In response to this dramatic revenue loss, the school division has eliminated funding for important instructional positions and programs and for essential purchases such as school buses and textbooks… While these cuts have been difficult, our staff worked to avoid impacting class size and compromising the personalized educational experiences that are the hallmark of Fauquier County Public Schools… Looking forward, however, these cuts are not sustainable. Rising costs of health insurance, retirement, and energy will further erode the division’s ability to maintain quality instructional programming, and if local government does not restore funding for schools in the years ahead, education in Fauquier County will look very different.

Ladies and gentlemen, that day has arrived.

As the School Board considers its increasingly difficult budget position, it is important to note that last year the County’s economic picture began to improve. Local revenue actually grew, up by nearly $1.6 million over the previous year, and that positive trend appears to be continuing this year, with local revenue on schedule to increase by an additional $2.5 million. Despite this favorable economic news, Fauquier County Public Schools did not receive any additional funding for operations last year. As we plan for the upcoming school year, I will recommend a budget that anticipates a significant increase in local funding in response to the unprecedented budget cuts of 2010 and in light of significant increases in local revenue received by the County in the current and upcoming year.

Despite the extraordinary loss of local revenue, state funding for Fauquier County Public Schools is improving. In the Governor’s budget released in December, due in large part to a change in the composite index, FCPS is slated to receive an additional $5.3 million in state funding. Remarkably, this significant increase in state funding won’t cover projected cost increases for VRS and health insurance, let alone address the School Board’s five budget goals.

The School Board has five budget goals for 2013:

Goal 1: Increase compensation.

Most FCPS employees have not received a raise since 2008. Without a raise, most employees will receive the same paycheck for the fifth consecutive year. When financial conditions were poor, it was simple to explain why salaries were frozen. As conditions improve, however, so should compensation. Our new budget will include a 3% increase for most employees, with an additional 1% or 2% for certain employee groups.

Goal 2: Cover additional operational expenses.

Each year, like all organizations, FCPS experiences increases in operational costs. This year’s budget will recognize and include these costs, such as increases to group life, health insurance, and VRS, transportation, technology licensing, services contracts and agreements, benchmark testing, utilities and high school band funding.

Goal 3: Restore previously cut operations items.

In 2010, in response to unprecedented cuts to local school funding, many critical programs and operational line items were cut deeply to protect classroom instruction. As I wrote in 2010, such cuts to vital school division functions are not sustainable and those items must now be returned to the budget. Among these items are after-school remediation, elementary summer school, Teacher Resource Center support, school bus replacement, testing, and textbooks.

Goal 4: Reevaluate health insurance cost sharing.

Over the past few years, with the exception of one year when a small portion of the health insurance increase was passed along to employees, the division has incorporated the entire increase into its budget. As a result, the employee share of the insurance cost has become artificially low relative to the marketplace and the division has absorbed annually an unsustainable, rapidly increasing cost. This practice of holding employees harmless for rising health care costs is creating a bubble that will eventually burst, requiring extraordinarily high cost increases for staff. We need to share these escalating costs equitably and in a way that requires modest increases to staff over time.

Goal 5: Eliminate consumable materials fee.

For many years the School Board has been considering reducing or eliminating the consumable materials fee charged to parents annually. In response to Aspirations 2015, action plan 6.6, this year the Board proposes eliminating the fee for the upcoming school year.

What’s at risk? The School Board cannot continue offering a school program with a scope greater than available resources. If local government chooses not to return funding to schools, then the overall scope of the school program must be reduced in order for the School Board to realize its budget goals. This includes the possibility of reducing staff and increasing class size, as well as reductions in adult education, athletics (including middle school, freshman, and partially funded sports), computer assistants, elective offerings (including music, foreign language, PE, and Career and Technical Education), health services, kindergarten staffing, special education specialists, salary supplements, gifted education programming (including the Thomas Jefferson School), transportation services, wellness and strength training, and other valued programs.

Going forward, important dates in the budget process include the following:

• February 13, first reading of the superintendent’s budget.

• March 12, second reading of the superintendent’s budget and the School Board’s public hearing on the budget.

• March 15, Board of Supervisors’ public hearing on the County budget.

• March 26, School Board budget approval.

• March 28, Board of Supervisors budget adoption.

• April 10, School Board budget revision and adoption.

In closing, the budget process this winter presents many challenges for FCPS. Decisions made during this process by the Board of Supervisors and the School Board will have long-term consequences for the school division and, most importantly, Fauquier County children. The School Board cannot afford to maintain the current level of school programming in the absence of sufficient local funding. If local revenue for schools does not increase, there will be significant, substantive changes to the school program. Citizens of Fauquier County must understand what is at risk now, not when the budget process is finalized this spring. The proposed School Board budget will be presented for a first reading on February 13.

I hope the community will encourage the Board of Supervisors to support the School Board budget and, in doing so, preserve the quality educational programs the Fauquier community has grown to expect and value.

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