Albemarle schools cut 40 positions

The Albemarle County School Board unanimously approved a spending plan for next fiscal year that’s $6.1 million lighter than this year’s budget.
But, first, a School Board member accused the Board of Supervisors of waging “a direct assault” on the county’s education system and vowed to fight for more money next go around.

“We will swallow this pill. We will take our medicine,” Eric Strucko said, adding that it’s time for the School Board “to fight back.”
The $142.9 million budget includes the reduction of more than 40 school employees, including about 22 teaching positions, which will increase class sizes by one student in grades 4 through 12.
For months, the School Board pushed for an increased real-estate tax rate. School Board members asked that the Board of Supervisors at least keep real-estate taxes about the same for the average household.

The Board of Supervisors instead voted to keep the real-estate tax rate at 74.2 cents per $100 of assessed value, which decreases taxes for the average property owner by about $90 because reassessments declined on average.
Several hundred residents, mostly parents, came to a public hearing earlier this year to urge supervisors to increase funding for the school system. At that time, the school division had estimated it had an $8.8 million budget hole; but the school division ended up receiving more schools funding from the state than originally anticipated.
Of the $142.9 million budget, about $3.4 million is considered by the school division as “one-time funding” because the General Assembly has indicated that those funds won’t be provided to the school division next fiscal year.
The school division decided to use about $626,000 of one-time funds for recurring expenses, including for two principals at small elementary schools and family support workers from the local social services department.
“Those folks need to understand we have enough for 12 months,” Strucko said in an interview, adding that the School Board will have to fight for those positions next budget cycle.

School Board members shared Strucko’s sentiment about the budget being sub-par.
School leaders said the school division could face a funding cliff in coming years because of the disappearing one-time funds.
School Board member Steve Koleszar noted that the state had school divisions pay less money into the retirement system, which will mean the Albemarle school division will have to pay millions more in future years to fill the gap.
While the school division is planning to reduce 22 teaching positions, officials are still unsure whether enough teachers will quit or retire, to avoid layoffs.

Assistant Superintendent Bruce Benson said in an interview that about 100 teachers have received letters that warn teachers they might loss their jobs. However, 25 of those letters have been recalled already, and only a small portion of those who received the letters will be laid off, if any.
“Whether or not there’s enough attrition in the division such that folks won’t lose their jobs, it’s too early to tell,” Benson said. “We’ve got several weeks to go yet.”
“My goal is to be able to tell folks as soon as possible whether or not they have a job with us, because anyone that doesn’t have a job is going to be looking elsewhere,” Benson said. “And we don’t want to lose any highly qualified teachers.”