More support from locality asked in Charles City superintendent’s $10.6 million budget

With a prediction of a $345,000 reduction in state funding due to the local composite index (see related story on website), Charles City superintendent of schools David Gaston is hoping county supervisors will provide funds to compensate that deficit as well as provide additional money to help sustain adequate educational services to students.

Gaston presented a proposed $10.6 million operational budget for FY16-17 during the county’s school board meeting Tuesday evening. That figure is up from $10.2 million in the current school budget.

“As you all heard at last week’s joint work session [with the board of supervisors], we are already looking at a decrease in funding from the state,” Gaston said, pointing to the $345,000 figure. “A worst case scenario would be a $450,000 impact and that’s before I even started presenting this budget of need.”

The superintendent spoke about possible increases in the Virginia Retirement System (0.89 percent or $44,000) and a 12 percent increase in health care contributions ($61,000). Gaston said the impact from the 2009 recession continues to have an effect on funding from the state.

“Some localities are paying twice as much because the state has dropped funding,” he commented, pointing to a $1 billion decline in overall state funding since 2009.

“These are real dollars that affect real children and we know these children by name,” he added.

A first glance at the $10,695,655 budget shows a decrease in state revenue from $3,208,211 to $2,863,211. Gaston has proposed a local contribution of $5,794,408, an increase of $780,855 from the current year’s funding. The increase includes compensating for the $345,000 reduction from the state as well as requesting $435,000 in new funds. Federal dollars are pegged at $1,084,730 while the state sales tax contributions remain the same as the current year at $952,110.

“It is a 4.3 percent increase we are asking for,” he said, speaking specifically on the new funding requests. “It is the same we received last year.

“We have to keep the momentum, keep moving forward, and still have to support our students who are our bright and shiny atmosphere of pride,” Gaston said emphatically. “This is a budget of need and will help us continue to provide the services to our students, teachers, and employees.”

The proposed budget’s major additions include a one percent raise plus step salary increase, an increase in pay scales for food service employees and teacher assistants, and restoration of the Teacher Assistance Program to provide assistance to educators taking college courses. Other proposals include a full-time science educator at both the elementary and high schools, conversion of one full time employee in special education to a teacher assistant, increasing professional development support, increasing technical services from three days to four, and reductions in contracted services, transportation, administration, and school improvements.

“I provided our local contributors a glimpse of what we were looking at last week, and speaking with DOE (Department of Education), it doesn’t look like the LCI will change,” Gaston added. “I hope they can see that this is something we need in order to keep up going forward and that this is the start of the walk.”

School board members will have time to provide recommendations and requests. They convene on Jan. 11 for a budget work session. A public hearing on the proposed operating budget as well as the school’s proposed capital improvement plan (CIP) is scheduled for Feb. 2.