York School Board to Give Budget Second Look

By Amber Lester Kennedy Monday, April 18, 2011

The York County School Board will revisit its budget for fiscal year 2012 in a special meeting Monday.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. in the East Room at York Hall to discuss its options, following the Board of Supervisors’ rejection of its request for level funding. Its regular meeting will follow at 7 p.m. in the meeting room upstairs.

Early in the budget preparation process, the supervisors told Superintendent Eric Williams they planned the cut school funding by $337,000. The division and board opted to ask for level funding, however, and approved a $116 million budget on March 21.

The approved budget included a $1.2 million step pay increase for eligible licensed and non-licensed employees. The raise was added to the budget after the division received an unexpected $700,444 in state funding and saved $569,718 originally budgeted for contributions to the Virginia Retirement System.

The budget also eliminated 15 positions tied to enrollment losses of 190 students, and trimmed the budgets for textbooks and bus replacements. It also added six positions for Special Education teachers to meet demand.

Supervisor Walt Zaremba objected to the schools’ plan to use the extra money to fund pay raises because county employees haven’t seen pay increases in three years. His fellow board members George Hrichak and Tom Sheppard also disapproved of the plan to use one-time funding for a recurring salary expense. Although Zaremba attempted to rally the board to cut more funding from the schools, the board members decided to stick with the proposed cut of $337,000.

Dennis Jarrett, chief financial officer for York County schools, said the school board will have to identify additional cuts in their budget and hopes to have a new budget complete before the end of April.