By Sarah Vogelsong
CP Reporter
The School Board slashed the request it will take to the Board of Supervisors for additional funds for fiscal year 2015–2016 by almost half at a budget workshop held Jan. 20.
An earlier version of the budget projected that an additional $3 million would be necessary in order to hire extra staff, implement a new salary scale, and provide raises to employees, among other goals. A revised version of this budget presented by Superintendent Gregory Killough at the Jan. 20 meeting pared this number down to $1.7 million above the present year’s budget. The 2014-15 budget currently in operation totals just over $42.5 million.
The largest cut in the new budget proposal, shrinking the request an estimated $326,700, comes from reducing the number of additional staff hired, bringing on two instead of four new elementary teachers, one instead of two secondary teachers, and three instead of six new paraprofessionals for students in grades K–2. Other new positions, such as an additional technology support specialist, were axed.
Funding for three areas—instructional materials, technology, and professional development—was lowered significantly, but with the intent of steadily increasing the budget for those areas over the next three to four years to rebuild underfunded budget lines.
“Instead of hitting the community with a large number all at one shot, (the idea is) that every year, this number increases,” Killough explained.
He suggested that when the School Board presents its proposed budget to the Board of Supervisors, members outline this stepped plan so that the supervisors can begin looking for additional resources and “can’t say that they were caught off guard.”
Finally, the new proposed budget significantly reduces the cost of the new teacher salary scale that the School Board has spent the last several months wrangling with. This reworked scale starts beginning teachers at an annual salary of $39,200 instead of $40,000 and over the course of two years brings teachers up to the School Board’s desired salary targets.
“It cleans the scale up a whole lot,” Killough said.
A comparison of Caroline’s teacher salary scale with that of 10 surrounding counties shows that the proposed changes would increase the county school system’s competitiveness in the region, with Caroline rising to a ranking of fourth or fifth out of 11 for most steps of the scale.
Other major cuts were produced by lowering raises for administrators from 5 percent to 3 percent and for support staff from 10 percent to 6 percent.
Killough said that he realized raises for support staff are the “most needed” but suggested that these salaries could be raised over a three-year period, ultimately yielding a 20 percent increase.
The one item left unchanged from the earlier proposal was $90,000 allotted for the Virginia Preschool Initiative, which Killough explained was left intact because of a grant match from the state. The VPI provides aid to school systems for the purpose of supporting educational programs for at-risk 4-year-olds. Program costs are split between the state and local governments according to a locality’s ability to pay.
An area unaccounted for in the proposed budget is maintenance, which Killough suggested the School Board address in FY2016–2017 to help cut down on long-term renovation costs.
School Board members embraced the new proposal.
“I liked this,” Madison representative Shawn Kelley said. “The last time we talked to the supervisors, they had stated that that’s what they were more inclined to do, was get a plan over the next couple of years to implement, because they did not want to just drop a huge tax increase on the citizens.”
The Board unanimously voted to take the revised budget with the recommendation that it be the first step in a “couple-year build-out” to the Board of Supervisors.
The two bodies will meet for a joint session at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 27 at the Community Services Center. A public hearing on the budget will also be held at 6 p.m. on Feb. 2 at Caroline Middle School.
School calendar
In other news from the Jan. 20 meeting, the School Board approved a calendar for the 2015–2016 school year. The new schedule, which is a combination of two prior options, starts the school year Aug. 17 and ends it May 25. Winter break will begin Dec. 18, which will be a half-day for students, and children will return to the schools Jan. 5. Previous options would have brought students back Jan. 6.
The one sticking point identified by assistant superintendent Rebecca Broaddus is that if the schools are forced to close for two days during the first semester due to inclement weather, Dec. 19, which is a Saturday, will have to become a make-up day.
The calendar also incorporates the reductions to the school day suggested by Broaddus at the School Board’s Jan. 12 meeting. Next year the middle school will end at 2:35 p.m., the high school at 2:45 p.m., and elementary schools at 3:35 p.m.
Reedy Church representative Mack Wright balked at the changes to school hours, asking, “Why mess with the time frame?”
Vice chairperson Nancy Carson argued, however, that younger children are already too burned out by the time school ends.
“Ten minutes at the end of the day … makes a big difference,” she said.
Although Killough informed the Board that it didn’t need to take immediate action on the calendar, a vote proceeded on Carson’s motion. The calendar was approved 3–2, with Kelley and Wright opposing. Western Caroline representative Mary Anderson was absent.