WJCC Superintendent to Present Budget Proposal Tuesday

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Williamsburg-James City County School Board will have its first peek at the superintendent’s proposed budget on Tuesday.

New Superintendent Steven Constantino’s proposal will be presented during a work session, starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Stryker Building.

The proposed $110 million budget for 2011-2012 increased $675,550 over the current year’s budget, due to increases in state sales tax revenue and one-time money from the Federal Jobs Fund. The budget projects local contributions will return to levels not seen since 2009, with an increase of $1.4 million over the previous year.

While budgets are still tight for schools, they didn’t suffer quite as many blows in Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed budget amendments as they did last year. The biggest budget challenge this year is the loss of one-time Federal stimulus funds, but the division did receive $1.8 million from the Federal Jobs Fund.

In a letter to the School Board, Constantino and Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Scott Burckbuchler noted the budget proposal features several positives. The budget provides for 1 percent salary scale adjustments, a continuation of Virginia Retirement Services contributions for employees hired before July 1, 2010 and “largely keeps intact” longevity payments for faculty already receiving it, or eligible to receive it by September (read more about longevity pay here). The budget also includes additional local contributions due to an anticipated increase in sales tax revenue.

The continued VRS contributions will cost the division $1.8 million, while the 1 percent scale adjustment will cost $550,000.

The budget also maintains the division’s target student/teacher ratios of 22 students per teacher at the elementary level, 23 students per teacher at the middle school level and 25 students per teacher at the high school level. Special education positions initially funded with stimulus monies were also built into the operating budget. In addition, no cuts are recommended to athletics, summer school or extracurricular activities.

“We certainly face financial challenges ahead as one-time Federal revenue will disappear and we will need to restore funding for equipment, professional development, etc., but we can be confident in the fact that we continue to provide funding for our number one priority: teaching and learning,” Constantino wrote.

The proposal does not include funding for the Academy for Life and Learning, an alternative education school for struggling seventh- and eighth-graders. Since December, the school board has considered eliminating the program in favor of hiring one student advancement coach for each of the division’s three middle schools. That plan would achieve the board’s goal of potentially reaching more students than the 46 currently enrolled at ALL. It would also cost less money; ALL’s budget for this school year was $570,000 and the proposed budget for the student advancement coaches, plus program changes, is $300,000. The board has not officially voted to close ALL, but the board members have indicated they’ll approve the plan to create coaches instead.

Constantino’s budget was delivered to the board one month earlier this year than in the previous year, when the board received the superintendent’s proposal on March 15. Last year, the school division waited to see how its budget would be affected by decisions in the General Assembly, which gave the board less than a month to review the budget before its April 1 deadline to present to the City Council and the James City County Board of Supervisors for approval.

This year, the division started the process earlier by adopting a budget calendar on Sept. 18 and having its first budget discussion on Oct. 19. In March, the budget will be revised to reflect any actions by the General Assembly, and on March 1, the board will conduct a public hearing on the budget. The board expects to approve the budget on March 17, with adoption of the budget scheduled for May 17.