Proposed FY2015-16 budget for New Kent schools close to $29 million

New Kent superintendent of schools David Myers has announced a proposed budget of close to $29 million for county schools for FY2015-16.

School board members heard the recommendation during Monday night’s regular board meeting.

Myers’ proposal for the schools’ general fund comes in at $26,997,618. That amount is a $676,660 increase over this year’s budget, equivalent to a 2.6 percent addition. Projections for sustaining categories including the school textbook fund ($164,594), school grant fund ($936,388), and school nutrition fund ($947,506) bring the total recommended budget to $29,046,106.

“We want to use the money and utilize the funds and do what’s best for the students,” Myers said. “This budget is a conservative budget and based on a projected average daily membership [ADM] of 3,000 students for next year.”

The superintendent is asking county supervisors for $13,254,595 in local funding, an increase of $300,000 over the current fiscal year. Myers indicates that amount is needed to cover increased healthcare costs for school employees.

State revenue for schools is expected to increase by $375,910, giving New Kent a total of $13,532,773 in state money.

Of the near $27 million general fund budget, 68.3 percent ($19,828,190) is slated for instruction. Transportation ($2,549,268), operations and maintenance ($2,108,929), administration and health ($2,108,929), and technology ($1,131,397) account for the rest of the expenditures.

Myers is also targeting other items that he believes are necessary to keep high quality employees in the school system. Funds are needed to cover a 12 percent increase in health care ($335,556), expected participation in the Healthcare Plan ($186,472), a one-percent salary increase for eligible staff ($210,000), and the addition of a network administrator for technology ($80,860).

The superintendent, however, expects some of these costs to be offset by savings through an adjustment in retiree health care ($17,554), a group life insurance rate adjustment ($20,788), and additional savings through attrition and departmental adjustments ($173,839).

Position changes under the proposed budget include adding one network administrator, converting a full-time teaching position to an elementary school counselor, and reducing a full-time culinary arts position to part-time (with Culinary Arts II taught at Bridging Communities Career and Technical Center).

As another focus for the superintendent’s FY2015-16 proposal, he emphasized the need for students in the secondary schools to be prepared with 21st century skills. Myers is aiming for a 1-to-1 technology initiative that will provide technology and digital learning materials for nearly 1,800 students in the middle and high schools.

Myers expects it will cost $300,000 a year for hardware/software to initiate the program. However, that price could drop to $165,532 due to revenue garnered from implementing a technology fee of $50 per student ($57,750) and a decrease in the technology budget by $76,718 in savings from the conversion. A digital conversion could also result in middle school computers being reconfigured into regular classrooms. That change may have financial savings of $140,000 that had been penciled in for bringing in two mobile classrooms.

Myers was hopeful that any additional funds could be used to help with “decompression” of pay scales.

“We want to give our teachers some sort of pay increase,” the superintendent said. “Right now, a teacher who has been here three to four years is making slightly more than a teacher who has just come in. If we receive additional funds, that is something I want to address.”

Myers concluded by saying any additional funds would be used to continue to recruit and retain highly qualified staff, add a teacher reserve position, and minimize health care costs for employees.