By Michael Birnbaum
Originally published at 10:46 p.m., April 13, 2009
Updated at 10:17 p.m., April 14, 2009
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the district that Bob Ohneiser represents. We regret the error.
Students will be charged new fees and school employees will forego salary raises and pay more for health care under the final budget approved by the Loudoun County School Board this week.
The School Board had sought an essentially flat budget for the next fiscal year, but the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted last week to cut overall school spending by 1.7 percent, or $13 million, to $733 million. Although the supervisors control the size of the school budget, the School Board controls how the money is spent.
Under the plan finalized Monday night, which was approved 8 to 1, with School Board member Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) opposed, students will have to pay a parking fee of $200 per year for use of school lots. Those who want to play sports must pay $100 per season for the privilege.
Related List
Related Stories
Related Coverage
Advertisement
The fees were among the steps that the School Board and School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III previously had said they would take if the supervisors imposed additional spending cuts, and the board Monday adhered to that list.
"At the beginning of this process," said School Board Chairman Robert F. DuPree Jr. (Dulles), "we said it was the most difficult budget year we have ever faced, and it was."
And he warned that the fiscal pain is not over yet. "Next year's not going to be easy," he said.
The final budget reduces funding for school buses for field trips and after-school activities, eliminates administration of the widely used Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and cuts money for substitute teachers and textbooks. It also increases health-care deductibles and co-pays for employees, reduces the money available to the central office planning staff and reduces overtime and part-time pay systemwide.
The board avoided an increase in classroom size and the closing of four small elementary schools in the western part of the county. Both had been proposed as possible moves if deeper funding cuts were put in place.
The school district's budget crunch was eased by an $11.8 million infusion from the federal stimulus package, which helped avert employee layoffs. But supervisors offset the effect of the stimulus cash by cutting an additional $7.3 million in local funding for schools at a work session last month. The supervisors argued that stimulus money beyond that used to retain employees or earmarked for specific programs ought to be returned to the county.
The county-funded portion of the school budget will be $503 million, $34 million less than in the current fiscal year.
School systems across the country have faced tight budgets this year, and those in the Washington region also are dealing with continuing growth. Loudoun school officials are expecting almost 2,500 new students in the fall, and as a result still expect to hire from 300 to 400 new teachers this year, depending on how many current ones retire or otherwise leave the system.
Copyright 2009 The Washington Post Company