The profligate Albemarle County schools are facing yet another budget problem. As reported in the Daily Progress, Superintendent Pam Moran and her board have squandered nearly $8M in surplus taxpayer money from 2012 through the present.
Now, following the annual Chicken Little budget standoff with the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, the rebuffed school board is returning for another dip at the taxpayer trough.
In a June 13 email to the Board of Supervisors (excerpted below), Assistant County Executive, Bill Letteri, details the schools’ latest attempt to strong-arm Supervisors for more cash:
…the School Board requests the appropriation of three School Division’s “self sustaining” funds, or contingencies that are available to the School Division from prior years. These funds include their reserve funds from the E-Rate program, fuel contingencies, and a building services contingency totaling approximately $747,000. The appropriation of these funds and the School Division’s ability to transfer FY 14 expenses to these accounts is anticipated to ensure that the School Division will be able to adequately address the reduction in revenues received from the state during FY 14.
The second request is for the Board of Supervisors to appropriate funds to the School Division to support their extra medical plan contributions in the
current fiscal year associated with UVA’s recent decision to not insure their employee’s spouses who qualify for coverage through their own employers. While this mid-year change had some impact to other participants in the County’s Health Care fund, the School Division was affected most severely by this unanticipated change. The School Division was required to enroll over 60 additional employees as a result of this action, which required the School Division to provide additional unanticipated contributions to the Health Care fund in the amount of $267,000. On Monday, staff will be recommending the appropriation of General Fund fund balance monies for this unanticipated cost in the current year. [emphasis added]
Still unable to face the dismal economic reality of today’s Obamanation and unwilling to publicly renounce the deleterious side-effects of Obamacare, the Albemarle County School Board and their dear leader, Pam Moran, continue attempts to assuage their responsibilities, instead favoring perpetual tax increases and recurring money grabs.
While the School Board prodigalizes on unrealistic salary increases, unnecessary staff positions, extracurricular programs, extraneous technology, and bloated central administration, taxpayer interests—once again—are being suspended.
Recent coverage of the Albemarle School Budget adopted for 2014-15 failed to report that the school budget has actually increased more than $5 million dollars. The so-called "gap" represents the difference between the School Board's request for a $9 million increase and the $5 million increase approved. Furthermore, the $9 million was 6% more than current funding ,while projected enrollment growth was less than 1% (125 students). The proposed budget presented a wish list of expansions and new initiatives, which deserve more scrutiny by a fiscally responsible BOS. Furthermore, the School System provides health insurance, including dental and vision care at more than $8000 per employee. It is time to ask employees to contribute to the cost of health insurance, as most employees in the private sector. Otherwise, the insurance plans that increase co-pays and deductibles should be selected for County employees to reduce the cost to taxpayers who are paying their fair share of their health insurance.
Phil Dunkl says:
It is time to ask employees to contribute to the cost of health insurance, as most employees in the private sector.
How much more money could those employees make in the private sector? Good insurance packages compensate for low public school salaries.
Actually Ken our local teachers earn more than the average private sector worker in this area with the exact same level of experience and education when you look at the entire ‘compensation’ package.
Plus I find it reprehensible that if they are single senior ACPS administrators compensated at 150k, 200k or even more only pay $42 a month towards their healthcare while the taxpayer lay out about $900 a month for them. And Custodians and Cafeteria workers earning barely over minimum wage get nothing more than the big wigs.
Seems much more sane to have the contributions made by the employee increase as their wages increase. Phase out the subsidy entirely for county employees earning more than $200,000. Then take the savings and return some to the taxpayers and use some to pay lower level employees a little more money.
We let the ACPS administrators spend like pigs on themselves but tell hourly low level employees they can’t get a raise because there is no money. This is a horrible injustice to all.
Design 2015 cost 1.5 million.
They are using it to advance the radical agenda of one particular employee.
A “Project Manager” who thinks that Whole Language was a success, Open Classrooms are what we need, and that libraries need to be radically transormed-almost no books, walls the kids can draw on, bean bag chairs, and coffee-I am not joking. He also believes that we should eliminate age grouping, and hall passes, and that kids should create the content!
Look into it. Check out the PPT with the ACPS logo-Leading for Radical Openess or google The Iridescent Classroom. Our kids and teachers are victims of this expense experiment. The parents don’t know what is really going on. If they did, they would be outraged.