York Superintendent Presents Deeper Budget Cut Options

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, January 19, 2012

The York School Board met Wednesday for its first work session in a series that will look at the division’s budget under the proverbial microscope.

Wednesday’s meeting focused on how the division would make deeper cuts if denied the $4.5 million in additional funding Superintendent Eric Williams recommends requesting from the Board of Supervisors.

At a Jan. 9 meeting, Williams informed the board the division faces a potential $9 million budget shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year. Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed requiring employers to increase their contributions to the Virginia Retirement System, to begin to repay payments deferred in 2010; York County’s VRS contributions could increase by $4.5 million.

In addition, the division’s health insurance costs increased by $2.1 million. State support will decrease $1.1 million because the local composite index score, which evaluates a locality’s ability to pay for schools, will go up.

Last week, Williams shared a preliminary list of cuts that could be made, provided the Board of Supervisors approved the $4.5 million request. Those cuts included the elimination of 44 teaching positions, 13 para-educators (who offer classroom and instructional support) and nine full-time custodians. He also recommended introducing athletic fees for middle and high school students and supply fees for elective courses.

On Wednesday, Williams and staff members showed the board deeper cuts that can be made to magnet programs and special programs, sports and elementary teacher and paraeducator staffing levels.

Magnet and Special Programs

York has seven magnet and special programs, including its charter school, York River Academy.

At the elementary level, Waller Mill has a fine arts magnet program that feeds into the arts program at Queens Lake Middle School and the School of the Arts at Bruton High School. Yorktown Elementary has a math, science and technology magnet program.

At the middle school level, Yorktown has an International Baccalaureate program that is scheduled to extend to the entire school next year.

In high schools, York High has an IB diploma program and Bruton has the School of the Arts. York River Academy specializes in computer technology education.

Going through each line item, staff shared how even deeper cuts would affect each program. At Waller Mill, a full-time drama teaching position would be reduced. Purchased and contracted services, such as bringing in guest artists and authors, would be cut by $10,000. The materials budget would be trimmed by $3,500. Together, those cuts would save $38,500. If the program were cut entirely, it would save the division $107,184.

At Yorktown Elementary, the full-time math and science resource positions and funding for materials and supplies could be reduced, for a savings of $53,500. The total program cost is $124,198.

Because schools with International Baccalaureate programs have to pay fees to the organization and are required to provide teachers with additional training and supplies, the program’s funding could not be reduced and still be maintained, said Chief Academic Officer Stephanie Guy. She said the board would have to decide whether to fund it fully or completely eliminate the program, for a savings of $54,939.

The IB Diploma program at York High School would be in the same situation. If the board chose to eliminate that program, it would save $139,409.

As with the IB programs, the arts magnet program at Queens Lake Middle School could not be reduced and maintained, Guy said. If completely cut, it would save $80,908.

At the School of the Arts, six full-time teaching positions could be reduced; the employees would likely have to teach more courses at Bruton. The budgets for purchased and contracted services, employee development and materials and supplies could also be reduced. Reductions to the program would save $40,100; a complete elimination would save $286,785.

As a public charter school, York River Academy could not be eliminated, but its budget could be reduced. One full-time teaching position could be cut, which would raise class sizes. The guidance counselor position could be reduced, Williams said. Reductions at YRA could save $75,000.

Athletic Funding

The York County School Division provides funding for athletic directors, coaching supplements, school-based allocations that pay for equipment and supplies, athletic training services and transportation.

Schools also receive revenue from the admissions collected at the gate and booster contributions. Schools receive the allocations from the division to pay their athletic costs at their own discretion.

Four years ago, the division made the transition from having teachers serve as athletic directors to having full-time athletic directors. Chief Operations Officer Carl James explained that because so much of the athletic directors’ work occurs at night, it was difficult to have teachers spending six nights a week at games, then returning to the classrooms in the morning.

In fiscal year 2011, the division allocated $960,549 for high school sports and $119,893 for middle school sports. York paid $268,317 in salaries and benefits for high school athletic directors and $33,463 for middle school athletic directors. Athletic directors also received supplements, of $15,488 for high school and $6,120 for middle school; coaching supplements cost the division almost $501,000. Secondary school-based allocations totaled $59,100.

For high schools, gate receipts provided an additional $252,424 in revenue, plus $33,000 in donations from the boosters. For middle schools, gate receipts provided $26,464.10 and boosters gave $579.88.

Charging a participation fee could result in $48,800 in revenue for middle school sports and $84,000 for high school sports. But if deeper cuts are necessary, Williams will propose a user fee of $100 per student, per season at both the middle and high school levels. Waivers would likely be granted to students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.

He also said the division could consider eliminating middle school sports. If that happened, eighth-graders could try out for the junior varsity teams at the high schools.

Elementary and Para-educator Staffing

Administrators shared estimates of how elementary staffing could be reduced with the present shortfall or the deeper cuts, but Williams reminded the board the numbers are highly likely to change because enrollment figures won’t be updated until late spring.

Williams said that with cuts to elementary staffing, it will be impossible to meet the board’s strategic plan goals of capping kindergarten to second grade classes at 20 students and third to fifth grade classes at 25 students.

With the present shortfall, 17 elementary teachers could be reduced. If local revenue dips further, 28 elementary teaching positions would need to be cut.

In the initial reductions, several classes in third, fourth and fifth grades would swell to 27 students. If further reductions were needed, class sizes would surpass the target class sizes at every grade level. For example, the kindergarten classes could rise to 23 students at Magruder Elementary; to 28 students in third grade classes at Waller Mill; and to 29 students in fifth grade classrooms at Seaford.

The division also has to consider Williams’ preliminary proposal to cut 13 paraeducators; if further cuts are needed, that number could rise to 26. That would increase the ratio of paraeducators from 55 to 77 students for each paraeducator. Three resource teachers — instructors of art, music and physical education — could also be cut.

If all of the additional cuts presented Wednesday were approved, the division would meet $1.3 million of the potential $4.5 million shortfall that would come if the Board of Supervisors didn’t increase funding. On Monday, the administration will present more potential cuts to secondary staffing and other positions.

The next work session begins at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the East Room of York Hall.