Atkins proposes smaller '11 budget for city schools

The superintendent of Charlottesville’s public schools is proposing a $69.4 million budget for next fiscal year, a slight decrease from current spending.

Last year, Superintendent Rosa S. Atkins proposed a budget of roughly $68.3 million, but it ended up increasing to $70.4 million after the division received federal stimulus and state fiscal stabilization funding. During the formal presentation of the proposed budget to the School Board on Thursday, Atkins and other administrators were already warning of an additional round of funding cuts that are likely to happen, and what that might do to the proposed budget and those for years to come.

“There will be a what’s next that we’ll have to face,” Atkins said.

The division had to account for a deficit of about $1.3 million in the proposed fiscal 2011 budget because of increased costs and decreased revenue from different sources. To make up for the difference, several measures were taken — including reducing summer school and travel, taking money out of reserves and renegotiating some service contracts with the city government and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center.

“I’m seeing in the future that this budget might be short-lived,” board member Kathleen Galvin said.

The superintendent is proposing to spend about $17.2 million on general education teacher salaries, a decrease from this year’s $17.8 million. About $4.1 million is proposed for special education teacher salaries. Because of a decrease in the number of teaching positions, no pay cuts will be required. There are no raises or staff additions planned.

The money set aside for superintendent and School Board salaries is set to remain unchanged, at $174,458 and $21,500, respectively. The $21,500 figure is split among the seven board members.

Additionally, the schools will be shedding more than 13 teaching-related positions to adjust for declining student enrollment. According to division figures, Charlottesville schools had 4,406 students enrolled between kindergarten and 12th grade during the 1991-92 school year. That number has shrunk to a projected 3,781 for next year.

The cuts, which will save the division more than $700,000, include general education and special education teachers and instructional assistants. Though there is a net decrease, Johnson, Clark and Greenbrier elementary schools will actually see an increase in instructional staff.

“We’re not proposing to increase class sizes at all,” said Ed Gillaspie, the school division’s finance director.

Some staff positions will also be funded by stimulus dollars for the upcoming school year, about which some board members were wary. Nearly three full-time positions for the division’s Talent Development program — which aims to boost achievement by kindergarteners and first-graders through group lessons and mentoring — are proposed to be funded with stimulus dollars.

Board member Colette Blount said she was concerned that the positions might not be able to be financed after 2011.

“My concern in moving those positions into that area of revenue is that — that is, I would say, one of the largest programs we have in place that directly supports our goal number one of closing the achievement gap,” Blount said.

Yet, Atkins said, “Putting it in stimulus funding would help us retain those positions for another year.”

The proposed schools budget’s largest piece comes from local dollars. The Charlottesville government is expected to allocate just more than $40 million, down from about $40.2 million in the current budget.