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School Budget Discussion

Discussion in 'Broadlands Community Issues' started by shim, Jan 8, 2009.

  1. Chsalas

    Chsalas Active Member

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    Yeah, scaling back would be a great start.
     
  2. technosapien

    technosapien New Member

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    Normally I'd want to agree with you, and what you say makes sense, especially if it can be done without laying off any educators... but when it's my wife's job on the chopping block, I just can't support the proposed 10-15% cuts. If my wife loses her job... and with most of the surrounding school boards in a hiring freeze... it could be Very Bad (TM).
     
  3. redon1

    redon1 aka Aphioni

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    went to the Eagle ridge 6th grader rising orientation last night, and i am SO impressed with the organization of the school and all the programs they offer. i would always put education LAST on a chopping block. it's simply too important to provide an environment that really helps kids excel, not just pushes them thru the system.

    there may be a few bloated places in school budgets, but i would bet there are bigger cuts to the county budget that can be made that aren't at the expense of our kids.
     
  4. Ozgood

    Ozgood Not a space alien

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    I know that one of my concerns is: How much of the school budgets directly involves the education of a kid?
     
  5. technosapien

    technosapien New Member

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    Depends how you look at it. If I recall, about 80% of the schoolboard budget is in personnel (teachers, counselors, school administrators).
    Not sure about the rest.
     
  6. redon1

    redon1 aka Aphioni

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    here's how i look at it- are these personnel making it easier for our kids to get the attention and quality education they need? without them would educators be strapped for time and forced to take on duties that take away from the students?
     
  7. Ozgood

    Ozgood Not a space alien

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    One of my questions is: How many "administers" or levels of administration do we really really need?

    Could this be an area of trimming?
     
  8. diana5869

    diana5869 Member

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    I agree with you technosapien. Both mine and my husbands jobs are on the line since we just moved our family to Broadlands this year so that we could be part of these great schools. If people can't see that laying off teachers/assistants/school personnel as a bad thing, then there is no changing their minds. I have direct day to day contact with special ed students who without me there to help them take notes, organize, read to them (in high school), would probably get lost in the shuffle. There are areas that can be trimmed, but we start losing VALUABLE HANDS ON PROFESSIONALS at the 10% level. How does that help anyone?? PLEASE support the budget AS PRESENTED to the Board of Supervisors. Come to the meeting at the Admin Building on Saturday at 10, and you will see many school employees there who are dedicated to your children and in providing the best education for them.

    And the argument of "I dont' have kids, so I shouldn't have to pay for it" does not wash well with me. When all of us were going to school, it was being paid for by tax payers who had children in school and those that did not. It is time to pay them back by providing for this generation.
     
  9. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    Redon1-
    The county is making significant cuts in the budget........the problem is that 75% of your tax dollars goes to the school system. That's where the money is being spent and where any significant savings will come from.
     
  10. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    I have three kids in the system and want to see 10-15% reduction.
    My tax bill will rise $500 at the current level. I've had my pay reduced in areas and retirement frozen for the last several years. I don't need to be paying more in taxes.
    When you live at the taxpayer's expense, this is sometimes what you get (I am a federal employee).
     
  11. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    you pay taxes where you live or don't for a school system. My granddaddy bought a place in the adriondacks in the '50's on a lake (very cold) and we pay not only county taxes but school taxes are included in that as well...and the school they had is no longer used! Not enough kids.
     
  12. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    Diana, I agree wholeheartedly with you.

    Kaos girl had so many long ear infections that by 1 she lost the patterning speech she had begun to use at 9 months. By 2.5 yrs old, Myself and Koasboy were the only ones who could understand her. My mother said she needed help. So we went through the county system and they declared she could get help at Sander Corner with the speech therapist. I'd take her to Mrs. Chisholm while school was in session 2 days a week. We'd bring home games she gave us flash cards and such.

    Within 6 months (at the age of 3) she was speaking at the level of a 4 yr old, and had only a little problem forming her L's ,which faded very quickly. If we hadn't had that... well you know what her life would be like now...same as the kids you help every day.

    You are a very valued employee and I fully support you:)
     
  13. technosapien

    technosapien New Member

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    vacliff,
    Respectfully having pay reduced and retirement frozen is not quite as bad as being laid off too late in the school year to find a new job in other school districts that may be hiring, which is exactly what's going to happen here. The Supervisors aren't voting on the school budget until April, and that means decisions on personnel action won't be made until after that - hopefully not too long after, but this is scary for educators here in Loudoun, especially those more recently hired by the county. It would be a little different if they found out this week that they're not coming back next year, and had some time to get their ducks in a row and find a new job... but April? Possibly even May? That's way too late in the education field to be looking for a job, by then many school districts have already done their hiring.

    I'll support funding cuts. Heck, I have no choice but to live with them, since they directly affect me. But I don't support funding cuts that leave educators unemployed and potentially (even if temporarily) unemployable in their primary field. Sure, they could all go work retail, right? Because the retail industry is booming, and all of those stores are hiring.... Oh, wait....

    I just see more negatives if educators who live in Loudoun lose jobs and can't get new ones. Can't make mortgage payments. Have to short sell or foreclose... dropping property values... dropping tax revenues... leading to more increased taxes.... It's a vicious cycle, no? Can't we find other ways to cut spending that don't involve putting educators in such a bad position?

    Teachers and counselors are already facing a pay freeze (none are getting pay raises this year, not even for COLA adjustment) and they're dealing with that. While that does affect me, I'm willing to deal with it if it means my wife can keep her job....

    Edit: Or, hey, how about the supervisors find ways of bringing tax revenue to the county by approving projects proposed by major corporations looking to bring businesses to the county with the potential to be financially very beneficial? Oh, wait, they won't do that either. **siggghhh...** Sorry, I know that's off topic but I see it as all related.
     
  14. diana5869

    diana5869 Member

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    Technosapien....you summed up in your post exactly what I was hoping to say. You couldn't be more right about the vicious cycle that the community could get into with jobs and homes being lost.
     
  15. sunnydog

    sunnydog New Member

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    I am also an administrator for the school board, at central office, and took a paycut last year - last year there was no COLA for me, and a 1% step increase was countered by a 2.5% increase in inflation. It will happen again this year, with no COLA and no step increase, and increase in inflation. But I still have a job....this week. That allows me to support the businesses in our community, to be a good neighbor who takes responsiblity of my property by keeping it maintained, and to serve you, the public, with the expertise I am still paid for.
     
  16. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    I also haven't said people must be fired. If there are other savings that could be made, then start there first.
     
  17. afgm

    afgm Ashburn Farm Resident

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    At the 10 or 15% level you are definitely looking at firing people.
     
  18. diana5869

    diana5869 Member

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    At the 10% level there are definitely layoffs.....all of the layoffs are people that have direct student contact. At the 15% level, there are over 700 jobs reduced. 400 of which are teachers, and 240 that are teacher assistants. The time for arguing over what should be cut has come and gone....input could have been given during the school board budget meetings, and by contacting Dr. Hatrick directly. But his budget proposals have now been accepted by the school board, so there is no more time to discuss what should and should not be cut...now it is a matter of convincing the Board of Supervisors which form of the budget to fund. At the 10% level we start losing teachers and assistants....there is no getting around it....that is why I am trying dilligently to urge people to come to the BOS meetings and let them know that our children are important, and to adopt the current budget so that no teachers are laid off.
     
  19. Mr Rogers

    Mr Rogers Active Member

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    Re: School Boundaries

    Oh no, I agree with Cliff again!!! I found it "interesting" that there were NO CUTS in ADMINISTRATION until the 15% cut. All of the cuts suggested at the 5% & 10% would have an IMMEDIATE effect on the students and their families.

    Ummm, why don't we look at the huge fleet of vehicles that the school system keeps?
     
  20. technosapien

    technosapien New Member

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    Good point. I think I'm alluding more to the fact that the current budget proposals are already written in a way that jobs are lost at 10% and 15% levels, so if the BOS approves one of the currently-proposed budgets, there will be layoffs.

    But yes, sorry if I intimated otherwise -- I understood you meant there could be cuts elsewhere and still preserve jobs. You did say that earlier.
     

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