School Board Proposed FY2013 Budget

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=8PPF6R3DA114

Meeting Jan 04, 2012 - Special School Board Meeting - Presentation of the Superintendent's Proposed FY2013 Operating Budget 6:30 p.m.

SUMMARY:

The Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2013 School Operating Budget will be presented for consideration by the School Board.

An overview of the information contained in the budget will be provided. Public hearings on the proposed School Operating Budget are scheduled for January 12 and 17, 2012. School Board work sessions to review the budget have been scheduled as follows:

Dates Tiime
Thursday, January 12, 2012 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, January 19, 2012 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 6:30 p.m. *

* The work session will follow the regular School Board meeting, time permitting.

The current schedule indicates that the School Board will adopt its FY 2013 School Operating Budget on Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

Staff Reference: E. Leigh Burden
Telephone: 571-252-1400

 

Details about the proposed budget and a short video overview are available on the LCPS website:

http://www.lcps.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1078

 

As long as they keep building unneeded schools, such as the new Leesburg elementary school, the financial black hole will continue to deepen.

 

I don't understand what you mean. I work at one of the Leesburg schools, and we are so crowded it's ridiculous. In fact, many students who are in our attendance zone have to be bussed to other schools because there was no space for them in our school when they registered. My school is not the only Leesburg school to be in this situation.

 

Stop building so many townhouses everywhere you look and maybe the roads and schools would be less crowded?

 

Hitting capacity is probably a timeless and universal situation so I don't know if the problem will ever go away. Although maybe we should start building bigger schools.

 

Yes, there were a couple of schools in the Leesburg cluster that are overcrowded. I think Tolbert and another one. But the capacity of all the elementary schools can accomodate the students. The boundaries just needed to be tweaked.
I get my numbers from the projections provided by LCPS. In the furthest year they project, 2017, the student enrollment is expected to be around 4% above capacity....5900 or so students versus 5700 seats. With this new school, there will still be 600 EMPTY seats in the Leesburg cluster in 2017.

Ashburn area schools are routinely 5-15% above capacity and operate just fine.

 

I just want to address the Leesburg schools, according to your original post.

If you consider the current Leesburg schools (Balls Bluff, Catoctin, Leesburg, Frances Hazel Reid, Coolspring, Tolbert, Evergreen Mill, and let's throw Sycolin Creek in there), their total capacity is 5719 students. This year, they have a total enrollment of 6041.

And fact check for you, Cliff: Balls Bluff, Leesburg, FHR, Coolspring, Tolbert and Evergreen Mill are all over capacity this year.

Who knows what the numbers will be next year, let alone in 2017? However, they are well beyond capacity this year. This doesn't include all the special programs that need space, such as special education, Futura, and Headstart/STEP.

So I strongly disagree with your opinion that LCPS keeps building unneeded schools, such as the new Leesburg area school. It is definitely needed.

 

In addition, Sycolin Creek is curretly housing many of the county's elementary self-contained special education rooms so I'd suspect that their numbers may look under capacity even if they aren't. For example, an early education preschool room by law may not have more than 10 students (unless you add another assistant). Those rooms are capped. So a classroom that for general education would contain 25 students would have 15 less than what is considered capacity for the building.

Overflow is bad for everyone. Leesburg does need this elementary school and hopefully won't need another one. I'm looking forward to the overflow situations easing in Ashburn but I doubt it will be before my kindergartener graduates. I am very concerned about my special needs 5th grader when she gets to high school as the numbers are not looking at all good.

We can talk all we want about cutting budgets but the reality is that these students are here and more are coming. I look at the townhouses over in Goose Creek across Sycolin/Belmont Ridge and shudder not to mention just feeling angry about the townhouses I see going up in Brambleton everytime I need to go south toward 50. These were all approved boards ago but the proper proffers to pay for the services were not taken care of at the time. We can whine and moan all we want to about it but the kids are here. I'm sick of seeing kids receiving instruction in the hallways because there isn't enough classroom space and these are the neediest kids: reading instruction and occupational therapy for starters. It's going to be at least two more years before the overflow at Hillside is resolved with the opening of the new elementary school in Ashburn.

So, where do we cut and where do we bite the bullet and open our wallets? It's got to be a combination of both.

 

Can't comment on this year's numbers because only 2012-2017 school years were shown. The numbers each year from 2012 to 2017 were listed in the newspaper article.
This link shows the numbers:
http://www.lcps.org/cms/lib4/VA0100...Plans/Bergel Plan 2 Amended 121211 w CL19.pdf

During the worst year, the combined schools are still slightly under 5% over capacity. Given the relatively stable projections for the next 6 years...between 5914 and 6001 students, were other options looked at. Could a few extra classrooms been added to one of the other 8 schools?

I don't have the exact numbers, but I'm pretty certain there are several Ashburn elementary schools well over 5% above capacity. Legacy and Mill Run come to mind. I know some years Mill Run was 15% above capacity and no one wants to leave that school when new ones are built!

There will be more schools needed to be built. With that I completely agree. But building this school now was not the right decision, in my humble opinion.

 

In case anyone was interested about the locations of those self-contained classrooms for special education, the Special Education Advisory Committee has to make a report to the Loudoun County School Board every year and in their most recent report, last year's locations are on pages 33-36.

Please disregard the CC (cross categorical) column as those students are in general education and spend their time in regular classrooms, receiving pull out only when needed. Many of the "classrooms" those teachers use are converted janitorial closets or are behind dividers in the hallways, especially in the Leesburg and Ashburn districts. You can subtract those numbers from the total.

Here in Broadlands, neither Mill Run nor Hillside has any self-contained classrooms and haven't for years as there hasn't been the room. Parents are still sending their children from Ashburn to Leesburg & down to Arcola for these services when Ashburn fills up. The last time I spoke with someone from administration some months ago there was one unassigned room in the entire district at the elementary level and that was at Buffalo Trail.

http://www.lcps.org/cms/lib4/VA0100...ntations/SEAC_ANNUAL_REPORT_2010-20111013.pdf

 

The numbers that I used were direct from LCPS. If you're interested in checking, this year's enrollment figures are available to the public on the LCPS website (check the Planning/Legislative department page).

 

Brambleton proffered three elementary schools and a high school.

 

But it's not enough - it's not just the land, it's what is needed to build and open and run a school - and that third elementary school is needed now but won't be open for at least another two years. From what I heard at Hillside last week, every grade has kids from Brambleton attending and that's going to continue for the next two years.

 

Ashburn is a "bedroom community" and what people are doing in those bedrooms increases the student load. Okay, I'm joking around but it's still true. ;-)

 

The first public input meeting is Thursday, January 12, 2012 (tomorrow) at 6:30pm in the LCPS Administration Building. A second public input meeting will be on Tuesday, January 17th. If you cannot attend but have something to say, send an email to the board members.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=8PPF6R3DA114

Staff Reference: E. Leigh Burden
Telephone: 571-252-1400

Here's your chance to share your thoughts on the school budget with the board members, some of whom are new to the board this year.

Board member email addresses may be found at http://www.lcps.org/Page/1629

Broad Run district rep is Kevin Kuesters: Kevin.Kuesters@lcps.org
At-large rep is Tom Reed: Thomas.Reed@lcps.org

 

It's informative (and interesting) to see what the Virginia Department of Education's goals and initiatives are and how our current school board and Board of Supervisors take those into account when planning our budget and curriculum.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/news/news_releases/2012/jan09_gov.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/school_finance/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/computer_technology/index.shtml

 

You can watch full coverage of LCPS board meetings on demand at:

http://lcps.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=23

On the chopping block is Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES), AP testing fees, athletic fees, and more.

FY13 Budget Information:
http://www.lcps.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1078

 

Thanks, Linux! I always like to keep my audiences riveted! (Okay, so I'm showing my age with a Blazing Saddles reference...)