The Virginian-Pilot
©
CHESAPEAKE
Chesapeake Schools Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols unveiled a proposed budget Monday night of $382 million – $24 million less than last year’s budget .
The budget for fiscal year 2010-11 could be trimmed even more, Nichols said, based on Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed revisions to the state budget. State revenues are expected to decrease by $7.69 million for the division because of a projected statewide shortfall that could exceed $4 billion.
“The decisions the board has to make this year are going to be more difficult than last year,” Nichols said. “The decisions the board will have to make next year will be even more difficult.”
The budget decrease was initially projected to be $15 million, or 3.9 percent less than the budget for 2009-10. However, increased expenses in medical and life insurance account for an additional $9 million in cuts.
The largest bite comes in not filling the 90 positions that have gone unfilled since a hiring freeze implemented two years ago. Those vacancies are in addition to the 83 vacant positions that went unfilled last year.
The majority of those positions are support staff, which includes teachers, custodians, bus drivers and nurses.
Nichols said layoffs were not currently planned for next year, but he cautioned that if the state makes the expected changes, it will be an option . “Unless there is major change for the way money comes in for public education, you’ll have no choice but to do that,” Nichols said.
The budget proposes 114 job positions be paid for with money from the stimulus fund, which will no longer be available in September 2011. While those jobs are saved for the upcoming fiscal year, that means 239 positions, or $12 million, will have to be absorbed in next year’s budget.
Salary increases have been eliminated for the second straight year under the proposed budget.
Summer school, which was consolidated a year ago, did not escape cuts either. It would be offered at two sites instead of three in 2011, saving $1.1 million.
The proposed budget includes an increase in tuition for adult education and driver’s education that would yield $106,720. Instead of $50 per student, driver’s ed would cost $200 next year.
Nichols said the quality of education in the city will diminish if the economic downturn continues, noting, “Rebuilding or regaining that which has been lost will take years.” Vicki L. Friedman, (757) 477-6874, vickil120@cox.net
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
You're right, not all
You're right, not all classes are for HS grads, however, there is a school that teaches many of these things, for post grad adults as well as students. As I mentioned before, the Center for Science and Technology teaches courses that actually help people gain a leg up on life. Flower arranging? Unless someone is planning to open a flower shop, in this day and age, during these hard times, that is useless. People need jobs, and to get those jobs, they need good skills brought about by proper training leading to the certifications needed to start in the job market.
As for the number of assistant principles in each middle and high school? I always thought back then that it was stupid to have 4 assistant principles in high school. One was for each grade, and i always thought that you could assign 2 grades to one assistant. But now that i look back, with the student numbers increasing, where high school can have up to 4000 students in one year, and no matter the generation, there will be trouble makers. I've seen in the office 4 or 5 kids sitting in line waiting to see the assistant principle of our grade. Now imagine if that one principle had to take on 2 of the 4 high school grades?
again, it is not a revenue problem, it is a spending problem
Notice the types of jobs that are not filled or are on the cutting block. The administration jobs should be the first to go. These are high cost jobs that produce little other than more red tape. How many school attorneys or there? How many director or assistant director of (fill in the blank) or there? A few years back I had to get involved with Suffolk Public Schools chain of administrators. I was amazed to find out just how many superintendents and assistant superintendents and other administrative personnel there are. These are highly paid positions that could be eleminated with huge savings and little loss to functionality. Teachers are the biggest need and the biggest producers. I would rather loose four administrators than one teacher. It seems today we have the importance of positions confused and the cart somehow ended up before the horse. Cut the fluff and there is more than adequate revenue to fund the schools.
Adult Education
Not all adult education courses are targeted on those who did not complete high school - check out "community education" where adults can take classes in flower design, welding, computers etc. This is a program with potential for some self sustainability - it is just not managed in a forward thinking manner by CPS. While adult education is a small part of the total budget, the fact that known fiscal problems are not corrected makes one wonder what goes on elsewhere in this system. On that note, why does every school have its own bookkeeper? This should be a centrally managed function.
LOTTERY $$$
I wonder what back door diversion those funds took!
it was a gamble
The Lottery money was designed to augment education. Rather, it replaced money from the general budget. Ergo, the lottery was a tax on the poor and the mathematically challenged to fund projects not related to education.
Adult Education
CPS and its board have long known that adult education fees, and Gold Card fees, do not nearly cover the cost of instruction in their adult education classes, yet changes were not made until now? This program needs evaluation of its most basic accounting principles. Classes have been reduced, summer sessions eliminated rather than tweak the pricing or make internal adjustments. Shame on you CPS - please do the math and put someone in place that can make adult education more of a self sustainable program - like others cities do. Instead you risk total program elimination? Very unfair to the adult citizens of Chesapeake.
i absolutely agree
they should have been charging the true cost of adult education and not some subsidized fee, considering that anyone who didn't finish high school when they had the chance doesn't deserve something for nothing.
Let's go a bit further here and ask why the school system is not addressing the funding shortfalls WITHOUT the "stimulus" funding that WILL NOT be there next year. I've got news for our procrastinating school board - next year will most assuredly not be any better from a revenue perspective. You and our city council managed to budget to revenue for years when funds were increasing, now its time to do the same in a much different environment. How about less administrators? 5 assistant principals for each high school is one area where you might look to cut - just sayin'.
Priorities
One might ask why adding field hockey to the middle school sports programs was necessary if there is going to be such a shortfall in the budget? How much money did that take and who benefitted?
Unfair to adult citizens?
Unfair to adult citizens? Shame on CPS? To hell with the adults, what about the kids there? Their quality of education will go down because of this, putting them on par with school systems such as Norfolk and Portsmouth. $200 for drivers ed? No parent will pay for that! Heck, my grandmother could barely afford to pay for my drivers ed when I went to Western Branch there, what will low income families do for their kids now with that high of a fee? Elective classes like art and music, classes that enrich children, will be the first to get teacher cuts if they do start lay offs. Kids who want to enroll at Chesapeake Center for Science and Technology, a school geared to vocational education and job certifications, with programs like Cosmetology, Landscaping and 2 types of nursing programs, may actually have to pay tuition to attend in their Junior and Senior years of high school. If the adult program gets cuts, the adults can go to TCC for a lot of their needs, kids can't! I take pride in saying I attended CPS, and hope to get my husband to let us move from Norfolk to Chesapeake in a few years to let my girls attend middle and high school there.
Wastefull spending
This would not have been necessary if the school system did not waste money. Our school administration is top heavy, we have to many assistant principals and counselors, we have special education programs that are not needed. Positions that were created to justify a supervisors position. Paying teachers to teach a class with only 4 students so that they can move into a spot when a teacher retires. This is the kinda of waste that happens and now the rest of us have to pay for it.