Residents have been holding their breath for weeks, fearing massive state funding cuts that could turn Albemarle schools upside down, but recent state budget figures indicate the cuts might not be as deep as previously anticipated.
A General Assembly budget, crafted Sunday, relieves the Albemarle schools of a $5.2 million state education funding cut that had been scheduled to go into effect next fiscal year because of a change in the state’s education funding formula.
Albemarle school officials say they are still analyzing the state budget and hope to have new revenue projections as early as this week.
“It appears there are revenues greater than what were contained in the School Board’s request, which was $8.8 million short,” Fiscal Services Director Jackson Zimmerman said, adding that the state funds are less than what former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had called for late last year.
The School Board created a budget proposal last month that included a reduction of about 45 employees, including 22 teachers, along with technology spending cuts and other reductions. But even after axing millions in spending, the school division was expecting to face the $8.8 million funding gap.
At the time, the school division anticipated receiving about $34.4 million in state funds. Sunday state budget figures would actually give Albemarle nearly $43 million. Gov. Bob McDonnell has not yet signed the budget.
Zimmerman said Albe-marle school administrators have not determined exactly how the state will distribute funds to Albemarle. Albe-marle has received very broad funding figures from the state and it has not been made clear how the school division can spend the money, he said.
“I would need something more specific than what’s been provided in order to provide an accurate estimate of what available revenues are there. And even then, it appears there’s a lot of one-time fixes,” Zimmerman said.
The state budget, for example, temporarily excuses localities from making payments into the Virginia Retirement System.
“I think it’s frustrating that they’re messing with the retirement system, because that’s going to be a short-term fix that we will have to pay for later,” School Board member Brian Wheeler said.
Wheeler said that the school division has had a challenging time making revenue projections, because figures from the General Assembly and the governor’s office have varied drastically.
“The fluctuations this year between all the different budget proposals have been quite dramatic,” Wheeler said.
Because of the lingering uncertainty about both state and local funding, Albemarle official say it is too soon to say how many teachers will have to be cut.
Charlottesville school leaders on Monday did not return messages inquiring about the city’s funding situation.
City Manager Gary O’Connell, however, said at a City Council meeting Monday that Charlottesville schools could see a reduction of $800,000, a figure far less than the $2.1 million the city was expecting to lose.
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