The Williamsburg-James City County School Board voted to approve the superintendent’s proposed $121.45 million operating budget and a capital improvements program that includes placeholders for a new central office and a 950-student middle school.
On a unanimous vote, the seven-member board put its support behind a 4.8 percent increase in its spending plan and a $40.2 million placeholder in the CIP — a five-year plan that prioritizes and budgets projects — for the most expensive of the four middle school options previously presented to the board.
The board and Constantino agreed it would be easier to request the highest amount of funding for capital projects than it would be to attempt to increase funding if the original request is not enough.
“Today’s decision is the best for our students, it’s the best for the taxpayer,” board member Jim Kelly (Jamestown) said.
Both the budget and CIP will go before Williamsburg’s City Council and the James City County Board of Supervisors in the coming weeks.
The $97.7 million CIP, which plans possible projects for the next five years, allocates about $24 million for fiscal year 2015. It includes $4.3 million for a fourth middle school’s design costs and $11.75 million for a new central office’s design and build costs. Another $35.9 million needed to build the fourth middle school is included in the fiscal year 2016 funding request to the city and county.
Though four options are on the table for the fourth middle school, the James Blair site is central to all of them. The central office currently operates out of James Blair, which functioned as a middle school until 2010. If that area is used for a new middle school, a new central office building would be necessary. The most recent iteration of a new central office plan uses land currently owned by the city and county, which estimates show could cost about $9.7 million — about $2 million less than the cost listed in the proposed CIP.
“We are moving forward with only the facts that we know,” said Ruth Larson (Berkeley). She said the school board cannot go out to find a new site for a school or central office, as that task would be left to the city or county if they do not support using the James Blair site for a school.
Now the board will wait to hear how much James City County and the City of Williamsburg will contribute toward operation costs and capital improvements, which could scale back the schools’ plan for a fourth middle school to a smaller 650-student school.
To fully fund the $121.45 million operating budget, WJCC is asking James City County to contribute $70.3 million and Williamsburg t0 contribute $7.6 million. The budget also includes a projected $11.6 million in state sales tax from Williamsburg and James City. The remainder of the budget would be supported through state and federal funds.
About $10 million not included in the operating budget is planned for school breakfast, lunch and snack costs; grant funding for programs that educate children with disabilities and homeless children; and programs at Merrimac Juvenile Detention Center and Eastern State Hospital.
If Constantino’s budget is fully funded, the schools could hire 16 additional teachers, and all employees could be given a 1 percent pay raise. While the pay increase would benefit existing employees, it is also intended to make the school system’s pay more competitive with surrounding divisions.
This year completes the phase-in of the state-mandated employee contributions to the Virginia Retirement System, which could decrease take-home pay. To offset the decrease, Constantino also proposed a 3.42 percent salary increase.
Ruth Larson (Berkeley) said she is frustrated because the state continues to put more pressure on teachers, but does not assist with salaries. She said the state ranks seventh highest in income, but teacher pay is ranked in the upper 30s when compared with other states.
The City of Williamsburg and James City County officials sat with the school board last week in a joint work session regarding the budget. Both municipalities are early in their budget processes, with City Manager Jack Tuttle slated to present his proposed budget later this month and Acting County Administrator Douglas Powell scheduled to release his proposal in April.
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