School Surplus Input Requested

I'd imagine that would be because human resources would raise the ongoing annual budget, unlike the 'one shot' deals like tech purchase or road improvements. (just speculating on that though). Although now that I'm thinking about it, IT systems I implement for the federal gov't have fairly significant recurring maintenance and licensing costs.

Totally agree... I do like the technology in the classroom and have seen the benefits of implementation and believe it is absoutely crucial to achieve a hgher level of education. I believe it played a fundamental role in getting one of our little ones into honors across the board at Eagle Ridge next year. However, every white board needs a good teacher to maximize its benefit. Thankfully we do have a great eduactional team here. One of the nations best according to the Sunday Post's article on AP performance.


On the other hand, we have had a lot of experience with the IEP process and getting access to specialized resources. Every single time we go through this there are vague whispers of resources and programs being squashed, cancelled, or repurposed as a result of cutbacks. I hear that, and then see something like this - makes me scratch my head a bit. I mean, I can see if you were running within a couple hundred thousand of the budget, but 850 million dollars?

Not starting a flame thread, please don't read into it as such. One of the reasons my wife & I moved here was to get our children into the best school system around. Again, kudos to LCPS, especially to our local schools. Keep up the good work.

 

You crazy radical, you!!

 

Really? I thought Briar Woods was still below capacity.

 

I believe that IEP is a very important and integral part of the public school system and it really stinks when schools either cutback or cancel or reconfigure the programs as a result of funding being reduced or outright cancelled. I believe funding these programs instead of the technology items for school buses such as VCRs or GPS items is more important. Hence, I'd rather see the programs' funding be left untouched or be further enhanced. I strongly believe in this because I believe that the kids who use these programs be given a more level playing field since they are at a potential disadvantage in the academic arena if the funding was cut or scaled back.

 

First of all, the measure passed.

I think part of why the board is looking to spend the surplus is that so many things were cut in the past few years that schools were left lacking in many areas. So my guess is that the board would like to fill in the gaps that were unfunded the past few years. For example, I think it was 3 years ago when the schools were promised by the county to have interactive white boards in all classrooms. Then the economy tanked and schools did not receive funding from the county for the boards. Many PTAs picked up the slack but could not afford to do boards for every classroom in every grade. And some schools received boards as part of the new school building process. That left 60% of our schools with only a handful of boards in each school and therefore a big inequity among schools in Loudoun.

About that same time our school held a campaign to raise money specifically for a new/improved playground because that's what parents wanted at the time. Then the money for the boards fell through and the PTA members voted to use those funds for interactive white boards instead. Naturally, not everyone was happy about that but it was put to a vote and that's how it went. The PTA was able to purchase additional boards then and some since. However, as you can imagine, those boards do not come cheap and other requested items were left unfunded by PTA funds. So now that there is an opportunity to return the expense of purchasing and installing these boards to the county, school officials and PTAs are jumping at the chance. I know our PTA would love to be able to spend the money on what parents want and not have the technology inequality hanging over their heads as a priority.

What I've learned from this is that parents should get involved with their PTAs and have their voices heard on major expenditures such as the white boards. Research and discuss the issues and then attend meetings at which there will be a vote. Same for school board meetings. Because many times when the county cuts something, your local PTA will pick up the slack, possibly by having to cut spending in other important areas. Make sure you stay informed and have your say on the matters. Please do not remain in silent disagreement when important matters are being discussed for your school. Speak up because there may be plenty of other people who agree with you.

 

I attended last night's school board meeting (first one ever). I also recorded it on TV. I fast-forwarded to approximately 9:45pm last night and found the part where the board discussed the rationale for the proposal. Board member and finance committee member Jennifer Bergel explained that the third quarter projection estimates were a $22 million surplus. Half of that - $10 million will be returned to the county to fund FY 12 budget, which reduced LCPS's request for additional local revenue for FY12. Also, $1.7 million was approved in April to buy replacement buses, thus leaving $8.5 million unspent. These undesignated funds are about 1.2% of the total budget.

Ms. Bergel also explained the finance committee's views on other issues. The GPS technology will not just bring more efficiency, but offer data collection for location and appropriate use of vehicles (not a direct quote).

She said that if this proposal passes, the budget transfer process will start as soon as the vote is cast because Virginia procurement guidelines are such that if things do not start tonight, this opportunity may be a missed one.

Board member Bob Ohneiser stated that he believed that all 4th and 5th grade classrooms have the boards and asked what the cost would be to place boards in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms but not K and 1st. He also said some teachers have told him that they have boards in their classrooms and they do not use them. He wants use of boards to be enforced by administrators so that teachers who refuse to use them are penalized. Mr. Hatrick assured him that those teachers represent a very small majority and was unaware of any teachers refusing to use them.

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Unfortunately the meeting ran so late that my DVR did not record the rest of the meeting so I can't give more details. However, at some point soon (not at the moment anyway) it should be available to watch online.

 

No....we reached capacity this year at 1604 for student enrollment.

 

Even better they could have RETURNED $22M to the residents of Loudoun County. When they arent approved for or dont spend what they say they need then it shouldnt be "Let's go on a spending spree" metality. Thats the reason that we pay so much in taxes anyway - prices of houses went up - spend spend spend - price go down - we gotta keep spending.

As for being involved youre absolutely right. And if I participated to build a play ground and then they decided to spend the money on something else: a) Id be doing some PTA officer shuffling as soon as possible and b) it would be the last time I helped raise money for something.

 

Well here's the thing: An entirely new set of PTA board members took office last year, after the funding change was made. Unfortunately that did not change the fact that the money was already reallocated. However, this does not change the fact that when the idea for reallocating the money from playground to white boards was proposed, PTA members had the opportunity to make a choice by voting yes or no on the switch. It isn't just the board members - it's all PTA members. I don't have the numbers for how many people attended the meeting and participated in the vote but if it's like most PTA meetings I've attended since my child started school, probably fewer than 20 people attended, including PTA board members and school staff. I reviewed what minutes and newsletters were available during that time period and saw evidence that information about the potential change was made available to parents/PTA members so that they would know to attend the meeting and cast a vote. Sometimes, however, people just don't find out about issues until the people unhappy with the outcome start spreading their opinion, which is unfortunate. Ideally, everyone involved would be aware of important choices and take part in the decision making process. Ideally.

As far as refusing to participate in future fundraisers, that's certainly a valid reaction. I know if I had donated money specifically for a playground I would expect a playground to be done. However, when push comes to shove sometimes priorities have to shift. PTA members are put in a difficult position sometimes to do what the parents and teachers want but sometimes the deck is stacked against them - primarily financially when the economy tanks. What was interesting to me was to read the mission statement of the National PTA and see that the goal of a PTA is not to be a fundraising arm of the school. But it usually plays out that way. So when the tough choices arise, it's especially important for everyone who is interested in an issue to speak up and be involved in the process.

I sincerely hope that the school board makes the interactive white boards and other improvements happen this time.

 

I agree with your sentiment that the $22M could have been returned to the residents of Loudoun County....That's a lot of money and Im tired of paying sky high taxes each year and since we never get that money back and its usually expended, we all will pay more taxes the following year....We never ever get to keep it in our pockets...For many employers, they aren't giving out much raises in this lousy economy so for many of us that don't get raises, it HURTS to fork over our hard earned dollars since we have to spend LESS for other stuff while the school board spends on stuff they would like to have. I agree that the spend-spend-spend mentality needs to stop, really. The frugality philosophy is pretty much nil with the board.

 

Well, yeah, but it isn't like they went and bought new cars for themselves. The money stayed with the school system. Even if they had returned it to the taxpayers they probably would have asked for more money from us later anyway.

 

Well, they'll always FIND something that they NEED whether we really do or not. They'll never NOT ask for anything. They manage to locate the need and ask the taxpayers to pony up the money for it because they know that they'll get it one way or the other via increased taxes on real estate. I've noticed that the tax amounts never seem to ever decrease but actually they do increase. I looked at the real estate tax records for my house as an example...I've never seen a decrease in taxes whatsoever even when the economy tanked. The county and school board always wants more $$$ to fund any projects they "deem" necessary. It never ends.

As for your last comment...I agree with that thought.

 

Sadly, this will never happen.

 

The "whiteboards" are pretty amazing educational tool. IMHO: I think people who state this is a waste of tax payer money really need to see how they are used in the classroom.

 

When I worked for a state university in Texas I remember the end of the fiscal year being the time when academic (and I'm sure other) departments tried to use any remaining funds so that there wouldn't be any leftover. Because anything leftover would be construed as being that much less needed for next year.

 

Isn't that how our entire economic system works? School districts are no different. Maybe everything should be that way and that may be your point but it just ain't so. Of course, if any government agency is going to spend every penny they can I'm not too sorry it's the school system spending money on our children's education. Could be worse.

But I agree that everyone should live within his/her means and that should extend to government as well. Maybe someday.