Charles City School Board faces $1 million shortfall

There is good news and bad news concerning the next year budget proposal presented by Charles City superintendent of schools Janet Crawley. The good news is the school system is projected receive an additional $600,000 in federal funding; the bad news is a budget shortfall of nearly $1 million.

Crawley presented her preliminary budget to county School Board members during a Feb. 5 budget work session.

Interim financial analyst David Papenfuse unveiled figures that reflected schools are expected to have $10,653,460 in revenue for the 2013-14 fiscal year. The number is $593,866 more than the current school year’s intake of funds.

Unfortunately, Papenfuse forecasted expenditures of $11,641,182, a shortfall of $987,702 and a task board members have to address. Of that amount, $139,312 is from the textbook fund.

“This is a budget to bring us up to standards,” said Papenfuse, saying how education and mandates are being regulated tighter than in previous years.

“It’s a systematic problem when you ignore needs year after year,” he continued. “We have a lot of things we have to do such as upgrade software, renew licenses, and change servers, and that’s just the technology part.”

The proposed budget is based on an average daily membership (ADM) of 714 students that could be enrolled next year in Charles City schools. That number is 15 more than what Gov. Bob McDonnell has projected in his state proposal. The budget also reflects level funding from the county, but a reduction in state money of $36,970.

Proposals in the budget call for a two percent pay raise for all employees, amounting to $116,777. Of that number, localities would be responsible for $76,070. Also proposed is addition of an assistant to the superintendent to assist in management of division operations. No existing jobs are in jeopardy, according to Crawley.

Operational costs have significantly increased, school officials say. Most of the items contributing to the costs were not budgeted in the past, such as maintenance of the physical plant, technology infrastructure, and the aforementioned technology upgrades. The school system also has to consider mandates on designating textbooks in preparation for future Standards of Learning (SOL) testing.

School board chairwoman Barbara Crawley could only shake her head in dismay when the figures began to roll out.

“I knew it was going to be bad news, but I was still hoping and praying for the best,” she said.

At-large member Steve Fuhrmann also had concerns over the worrisome figures.

“What sources of revenue would make that $1 million deficit up?” he questioned.

Papenfuse said that talks with the county’s Board of Supervisors were going to be serious during budget time.

“Whether we get it or not, they [supervisors] need to be made aware of it. I don’t think they understand the stress and seriousness of the situation that the school board is under,” concluded Papenfuse.

At a Feb. 12 work session, the first round of suggested cuts were presented to School Board members.

Papenfuse’s cuts include the assistant to the superintendent ($108,346), non-capital VSPA funds, and operating expenses ($360,127) that included reducing replacement vehicle numbers, a reduction in janitorial and groundskeeping contracts by 10 percent, and a variety of cuts on office supplies. Despite the proposed recommendations, $379,915 remains in play for the board to evaluate.

Papenfuse recommended board members ask supervisors to appropriate money to make the textbook funds hold. He is hoping that a surplus of $205,766 from the schools’ audit could be used for that purpose. Fuhrmann reiterated his concern about asking supervisors for textbook money.

“I have little confidence that they are willing to take money out of their fund balance to do that,” he said.

Fuhrmann also spoke on issues that he believes weren’t addressed when the budget was prepared.

“My personal view is to bring the beginning salary of incoming teachers to a competitive field,” he said. “I see no attempt in this budget to bring us to that level.”

Board members began the early stages of dissecting the budget, with the first suggestion being the possibility of eliminating one spot at each of the two governor’s schools, but only for incoming students.

“I think we’re spending $120,000 for 16 students,” said District 3 representative Martha Harris. “That’s a large amount of money for a small number of students.”

The suggestion entails looking at the incoming freshman class and only having one spot at each of the schools instead of two.

School board members continued to leaf through the packets, but Papenfuse summed up the job ahead in a mere statement.

“It’s a dubious task. You’re going to have to figure out what you can do without.”

Charles City’s regular school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday (Feb. 19), while the next budget work session is set for Feb. 21.