New Kent School Board considering proposed $30.9 million school budget for 2016-17

A proposed $30.9 million next year school budget aimed at raising the county’s competitive posture in a quest for quality teachers is now under consideration by New Kent School Board members.

School superintendent Dave Myers and school finance director Haynie Morgheim unveiled the FY2016-17 proposal before board members Monday night. The total figure ($30,916,241) is more than $1.4 million or about 5 percent higher than the current year’s $29.5 million budget.

As it stands for now, funding the budget proposal would require $13,854,595 in county money, a figure that is exactly $300,000 more than the county’s contribution for the current school year.

About $1.1 million more in state money has been penciled into the proposal. School officials expect to receive $14,758,601 in state funding, based on a projected next year student enrollment of 3,000. Current year state funding totals $13,664,688.

The proposal includes a 3 percent salary increase for all employees. Just over 83 percent of the budget proposal is dedicated to salaries and benefits.

Myers told board members that the budget-building process has centered on making New Kent teacher salaries competitive with other state localities. Although New Kent is a small, rural school division with somewhat limited resources, he said, the county strives to offer students the same opportunities as larger counterparts.

“We are in the lower tier of salaries and want to remain competitive,” he said. “If we do not have top quality people working with students every day, all that is for naught.”

A major challenge facing New Kent, he said, is “decompressing” a teacher salary scale that is already severely compressed, meaning in some instances there is less that a half percent difference in salaries from one year of experience to the next on the scale.

“It’s not about paying people more money,” he added. “It comes down to being competitive if you’re one of the lower ones [statewide].”

Only a handful of new teaching positions and modifications to existing jobs are included in the proposed budget at a cost of just over $208,000. New positions are a first grade teacher (actually filled during the current year) and an instructional technology resource teacher at the secondary level.

Changes to existing employee roles include converting two aides (one elementary, one high school) to special education teaching positions, converting one Individual Student Alternative Education Plan teacher (for students involved in pre-GED work) to a career and technical education teacher, adding supplements for two administrative aides at the middle school, and converting a part-time car driver to a part-time bus driver.

The lion’s share of the budget proposal ($28.8 million) falls into the general fund category. Almost 69 percent of the total proposal is slated for instruction.

On the expense side, school officials expect the 3 percent salary hike to cost just over $561,000. Factoring in salary scale adjustments for “decompression” and other related costs raises the salary line increase to a little more than $981,000.

Increases in health insurance premiums present another budgeting problem and could cost almost $359,000. Rising premiums could effectively wipe out any pay raises, Myers said.

The superintendent told board members that, for now, revenue and expense sides of the budget proposal are not quite balanced. Just over $61,000 in additional revenue or expense cuts or a combination of both are needed to bring both sides in line.

“We have a lot of needs, and staff has tried to prioritize the needs,” he said. “If we’re able to do all of this, it will be a pretty good step in the right direction.”

Also, the superintendent said the proposed budget is “a living document.” Changes will take place as state and county revenue pictures come into clearer focus, he said.

“In my 13 years,” said board vice-chairman Gail Hardinge, “this is probably one of the best budgets I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing.

“It’s a more practical budget to fit our needs,” she added.

Board members are aiming toward a March 21 public hearing on the proposed budget. The board is also scheduled to meet with county supervisors for a budget work session on March 11.

The entire budget proposal, meanwhile, can be viewed at budget@nkcps.k12.va.us. The public is invited to provide feedback and voice questions or concerns.

In other matters, board members:

–Adopted a school calendar for the next school year (2016-17) that includes 181 teaching days. First day for students is Sept. 6 while classes dismiss for summer on June 16. Winter break is Dec. 19-30. Spring break is April 10-14. Thanksgiving vacation, meanwhile, covers three days, Nov. 23-25.

–Amended student handbook policy governing participation in athletics on the middle and high school levels. All rules currently in the handbook, including maintaining a 2.0 grade-point average, remain in place, but the amendment allows the superintendent discretion to grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

–Learned that New Kent Elementary School has been named a 2016 Distinguished Title I School by the state board of education. Students at the school have met all state and federal requirements by reaching the 60th percentile or higher passing rate for two straight years in reading and math. NKES students reached the 80th percentile in the second year.