Post date: Apr 15, 2012 10:48:25 PM
Mayor Sessoms, Vice Mayor Jones and Members of City Council:
My name is Lori Hasher and I am president of the Virginia Beach Association of Elementary School Principals. On behalf of administrators from 54 elementary schools, some of which are here tonight, I am here to express concern about the current state of our city’s budget, the crucial decisions that need to be made in regards to our schools and the city’s level of support for our school system.
Last year council discussed and voted – with the exception of Councilman DiSteph—to take $23.8 million from school savings due to supposed overfunding. To add insult to injury, monies were then used to provide permanent salary increases for city employees that ranged from 2.5 to 7.5 percent. Meanwhile the permanent salary increase given to school employees was a mere half percent.
Now let’s fast forward to February of this year. Our superintendent, Dr. James Merrill, had to develop a budget designed to bridge a $39.3 million shortfall. To close that funding gap, he had to recommend such drastic strategies as eliminating JV and middle school sports, eliminating transportation for academies and gifted schools, raising class sizes, and furloughs for employees – just to name a few. It seems to me that: If Virginia Beach City Public Schools was truly over-funded, how could we be faced with such a degraded future?
Council also took the action of eliminating the revenue sharing formula. The revenue sharing formula at least established a minimum funding level for schools. It now appears that the city’s approach to funding our Schools is to hand us an arbitrary target to meet. I am thankful to say that on Tuesday, March 6, the School Board adopted a budget that exceeds the city-funded target by $36.3 million. I would ask that City Council approve this budget because it restores much of what the superintendent’s initial proposal cut. Children deserve to play sports, attend gifted schools and academy programs and go to classes that aren’t overcrowded. Our employees deserve salary increases not salary cuts. And our parents deserve the peace of mind to know that their children are still going to attend a quality school system.
City Council members have claimed “full funding” of the schools simply because council has approved school budgets developed within the confines of the revenue sharing formula. Our school board has been told if the schools needed more money, then they should have asked for it. Well, the School Board has heard that sentiment and acted on it. The School Board budget before you is a budget that works to maintain quality schools. It is our request that council support a budget that maintains the quality that has kept our division ahead of the curve and noted as the 5th best largest school division in the country. Voting against it would be beyond explanation. Thank you for your consideration.