York School Board Receives Updated Budget Forecast

By Amber Lester Kennedy Tuesday, February 15, 2011

When the members of the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate sit down to hash out the state budget in the next week, school divisions will be hoping the Senate gets its way.

York County Schools Chief Financial Officer Dennis Jarrett told the School Board members Monday that if the Senate budget passed with no changes, the division could gain $1 million in state revenue more than if the House budget passed. It’s the biggest spread between the budget proposals that he could remember, Jarrett said.

Either General Assembly budget proposal would be welcome compared to the proposal offered by Gov. Bob McDonnell in December. If that budget passed without changes, the division would lose $947,077 in state funding. His budget proposal suggested the state eliminate a hold harmless provision that would have provided some relief to divisions that would have received less state funding after a change in the local composite index.

The House budget would give the division $54.9 million. It eliminated lottery funding for textbooks and school bus replacement, but moved that money to a new account called “Support for Personnel and Operating Costs.” That account would allow school divisions to give one-time 2 percent bonuses for positions funded by the state’s Standards of Quality that dictate the minimum of employees necessary for schools. If the school division opted to give that bonus, it would be up to the division to pay for the bonus for any non-SOQ positions. Jarrett said it would cost $1.4 million for York County to give the bonus; the House would give the division $704,477.

“It’s kind of a chess game and we’re the pawn,” said Page Minter, a member of the school board.

The Senate’s budget is the most friendly to K-12 education. It proposes keeping the hold harmless money in the budget, but renaming it “Support for Construction and Operation Costs.” It would give the division a little more than $1 million to use for any purpose. The Senate also added more money for textbooks, an area where divisions have faced cuts in the past two years.

On the expenditure side of the budget, school divisions have been most concerned about paying more money into the Virginia Retirement System. McDonnell went as far as to propose school employees pay into their own retirement funds, but York has already pledged to continue to pick up that tab. The House recommended paying a VRS rate of 10.76 percent, the same amount approved in 2010, while the Senate recommended paying a VRS rate of 12.76 percent. Although it would cost the division more money, Jarrett said the Senate’s VRS rate would “better contribute to the long-term viability of VRS” and noted that the VRS board recommended a rate of 17 percent last year.

House and Senate members will begin working this week to merge the budget proposals into one cohesive budget. The General Assembly is set to approve its budget on Feb. 26.