The York County Schools superintendent said Monday the division will have to fill a $2.9 million budget gap in the next fiscal year.
Superintendent Eric Williams gave his preliminary budget recommendations to the School Board during its work session, the first of many to settle how to satisfy the board’s desire to increase employee compensation while decreasing expenses. The fiscal challenges are compounded by the unknown contributions from the federal, state and local governments, represented as question marks on the division’s balance sheet.
With the numbers currently available, York County Schools is anticipating a $247,835 revenue increase and an expenditure increase of $3.1 million. A 20 percent increase in health insurance costs accounts for $2.6 million of the increased expenditures. For the second year in a row, the division had an above-average amount of employee claims.
Other proposed expenditures include funding for two special education positions mandated by state guidelines, janitorial supplies, the Integrated Preschool Outreach Program and reinstating the Zweibrucken Student Exchange Program.
The division knows it will see less money from the state government because of declining enrollment. The enrollment projection of 12,230 students in 2014 is down from 12,350 in 2013. The difference will cost the division $482,604 in basic aid. Williams said the division has recently seen fewer kindergartners entering the division each year than the same year’s graduating class.
In his presentation, Williams recommended $570,060 worth of reductions to help reduce the division’s expenses. The largest cut would be 12 positions — five teachers, three custodians, one School Board Office clerical staff member, one warehouse position and two para-educators — for a savings of $452,950. The teaching position cuts can be attributed to the enrollment loss, Williams said.
In addition, Williams recommended $92,610 in miscellaneous reductions to contractual services, printing, supplies and more; a $15,000 reduction in school supplies, because of enrollment loss; and realizing $9,500 in savings by grandfathering payments to National Board Certified Teachers. The division will also save $1.2 million in compensation costs due to positions lost to attrition.
The issue most likely to dominate budget discussions will be employee compensation. School division employees haven’t seen base pay increases, step increases or position regrades in the past four budgets and the board directed the superintendent to include compensation increases in his proposals.
On Monday, Williams suggested the division allocate $1.5 million toward a 2 percent market adjustment of salaries for all employees. This scenario would be dependent on the General Assembly’s passage of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed funding for 2 percent raises for state-required instructional personnel. If the GA passed the proposal, York Schools would receive $565,000 toward raises for the teachers required by the Standards of Quality; the division would have to come up with the difference to extend the raise to all staff.
While the 2 percent pay increase proposal would be the first increase in five years, the School Board members and administrators fear it would not go far enough. For a first-year teacher, it would equal a raise of $781, or $15 a week before taxes. But to provide an increase beyond 2 percent, the board might have to consider passing some of the rising health insurance costs to employees or putting previously considered staff reductions back on the table.
The board will also have to decide how to address a state mandate to increase employee contributions to the Virginia Retirement System. Last year, the General Assembly required local and school employees to contribute 5 percent to their retirement savings plans, provided their employers offset the contribution with an equal or higher pay increase. Employers could either tackle the entire 5 percent increase in one year, or phase it in for up to five years. York County Schools opted to require a 1 percent contribution, providing a slightly higher pay increase to cover taxes.
This year, Williams is suggesting the board attempt to cover the remaining 4.08 percent increase in fiscal year 2014, at a cost of $1.2 million. He said it would help attract employees to fill vacancies, and bring the division up to par with York County, which implemented the full 5 percent requirement for its employees in the first year.
The board reached consensus to pursue at least a 2 percent pay increase, but member Cindy Kirschke is concerned about requesting nearly $3 million from the county to finance that increase. The board acknowledged it will need to consider several options in order to get the most bang for its buck.
At the same work session, the board selected its leadership for 2013. Barbara Haywood will continue to serve as chair, and Mark Medford will serve another term as vice chair of the board.
