The York County School Board passed its budget for the upcoming fiscal year Monday despite a funding contribution proposed by the county that fails to meet what the board members identified as a needs-based request.
With palpable frustration, the four school board members present for Monday’s meeting blasted the proposal put forth by York County Administrator James McReynolds on March 18 that would up the county’s funding contribution to the York County School Division by $880,000 — a figure that falls more than $2 million short of their request.
After remarks from all the members with the exception of the absent Barbara Haywood, the board voted 4-0 to pass a $128.5 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which runs from July through June 2015. That budget assumes the county would contribute the full $2.9 million in additional funds they requested as opposed to the proposed $880,000. Once the York County Board of Supervisors passes their budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the school board will then have to potentially adjust their passed budget depending on what the supervisors elect to do.
“I’m frustrated,” said board member Robert George. “I’m very frustrated as a board member and as a parent. The cuts are visible with my children now, so I not only see it throughout the division but affecting my own home. I don’t think that’s going to get any better if we don’t have some changes.”
George said the supervisors ask the school board every year to tell them if the sky is falling, and he said this is the year where that is the case.
“I know [the supervisors] are trying to do the best they can, but it’s been a lot of years since any of them had any kids in the schools,” George said. “But we’re living it, and somebody needs to somehow make that point clear that this is bad news this year.”
York County Superintendent Eric Williams said the recommended increase from McReynolds is “clearly not sufficient to meet our most urgent needs.”
Williams said YCSD is facing a $2 million mandatory increase in contributions to the Virginia Retirement System along with a projected 190 new students in the upcoming school year. Furthermore, the division must contend with mandated cost increases in special education services and costs associated with maintaining the existing technology infrastructure.
The budget also seeks to restore $300,000 in textbook funding, which would allow YCSD to maintain the current 13-year textbook cycle. Under the current cycle, kindergarteners in the division use the same reading and language arts textbooks as seniors in high school used when they were in kindergarten.
“I appreciate the support school board members have expressed for the budget before you this evening, because I think the vote on this budget is a commitment to wanting to maintain and build on the success of the schools in our county,” Williams said.
Among the chief concerns of the school board was how to give YCSD employees a 3 percent pay raise without the full funding contribution. Other than 2 percent cost-of-living raise last year, the pay scale for YCSD employees has been frozen for five years. The school board members were frustrated McReynolds’ proposed budget has a 3 percent raise for county employees without including a large enough funding contribution to ensure the same could be done for YCSD employees.
“I’ve never experienced the sentiment with the staff and teachers that I’m hearing this year,” George said. “Whether it’s in my dental chair or in the halls of the school or in the Food Lion, they’re frustrated. They’ve been frustrated because this is nothing new.”
School board chairman Mark Medford said the proposed funding contribution from McReynolds “leaves us hanging out there and devalues our employees.” He said a longtime YCSD teacher approached him a few weeks ago and told him she is leaving her profession at the end of this year to go into the private sector.
“I’ve known this person a long time,” Medford said. “She has to do what’s important for her family. She has to do what she needs to do to survive. It’s not just one story — it’s multiple. Our employees are working two, three jobs.”
School board member Cindy Kirschke repeatedly referred to YCSD’s budget as “needs based.” She said the budget for the upcoming fiscal year falls short of the funding levels in 2007 after subtracting state-mandated contributions to VRS and surging healthcare costs.
“[This budget] doesn’t have niceties, it doesn’t have frill, it is trying to recoup our budget to 2007,” Kirschke said.
School board member Page Minter brought up the millions of dollars of funding from the state — the largest funding contributor to YCSD — that has been slashed in recent years.
“I admit the state has made some serious cuts that have impacted everyone, but that’s when the community has to decide — what kind of schools do we want?” Minter asked. “We’ve been able to Band-Aid this for quite a while now, but it’s getting pretty serious.”
George and the other school board members all said they would like to have a second joint work session with the supervisors. The school board and the supervisors met for a joint work session on Feb. 4 that lasted less than an hour. The joint work session had originally been scheduled for an earlier night, but after that was canceled due to winter weather, it was rescheduled for the same night as a regular meeting of the supervisors. The joint work session began at 6 p.m. and was over by the 7 p.m. start of the supervisors’ meeting.
“[Donald] Wiggins, you’re the board [of supervisors] chair: we request as a board a joint work session soon so both boards can sit down televised and transparent and discuss the needs of the school division,” Medford said.
The supervisors are about to host a series of work sessions to iron out the county’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The county’s largest expenditure is YCSD. A public hearing will be held on the county’s proposed budget at 7 p.m. April 24 at York Hall.
The budget passed by the board Monday includes a total of $7.5 million in new spending, which is partially offset by $4.6 million in projected new revenues. The largest new expenditures are the $2.9 million to give YCSD employees the 3 percent raise and $1.9 million for VRS. The remainder goes toward the cost of hiring new teachers for the projected 190 new students, the costs of maintaining the existing technology infrastructure, the cost of keeping the 13-year textbook cycle in place and other operational spending.
Other new spending includes money to hire at least two more school counselors for middle and high schools, which would leave the division with one school counselor per 301 students.
The Code of Virginia requires school boards to pass a budget by the end of March. The board passed its budget despite uncertain funding contributions from the state, where Republicans in the House of Delegates and Democrats in the Virginia Senate and governor’s mansion remain in a stalemate over a budget due to their disagreement over the expansion of Medicaid as prescribed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare.
More information about YCSD’s budget is available here.
Related Coverage:
- Proposed York Budget Keeps Taxes Level, Offers 3 Percent Raise for Employees
- York School Board Continues Work on Budget Despite Uncertainty About Local, State Funding Contributions
- Support for Teacher Raises in York Schools’ Budget
- York Superintendent’s Proposed Budget Asks County for 5.8 Percent Funding Increase
- York Superintendent’s Preliminary Budget Includes Employee Compensation Increase
- CFO: Budget Outlook Uncertain for York County Schools
- YCSD in Need of Disability Resources, Administrator Says
- YCSD Needs More Time to Consider Teacher Pay Scale Increase Options
