Budget & Finance Department
2012-13 Budget Frequently Asked Questions
What items in the Governor’s budget are affecting the division most?
The Governor’s proposed budget produces a $4 million negative impact for the Charlottesville City Schools. This is primarily due to:
- A change in the way in which sales tax is distributed to school divisions by the state. Sales tax is distributed based on the count of children residing in localities between the ages of 5 and 19. The change involves university students who will now be counted in their parent’s locality rather than in the community where they reside in while at school. For CCS, this change results in a loss of sales tax of about $1.2 million. Cities with colleges and universities, like Charlottesville, are significantly impacted by this change.
- Retirement costs under the Virginia Retirement System are fully paid on behalf of employees by CCS by applying a rate against the salaries of all full time staff. The Governor’s proposal increases this rate by almost 50%, costing the school division just under $1.5 million.
- One time funding such as federal stimulus dollars are being eliminated for 2012-2013 and total just under $600K.
- Reductions in all other state funding categories further impacts CCS by approximately $800K.
What are our options in meeting the schools’ financial needs?
Given the size of the impact of the Governor’s proposals on the CCS budget, we should expect the need to significantly restructure and to begin the work necessary to prioritize among programs, each of which are of great value to this community and to our students. As always, we will do everything we can to protect classrooms and direct student services and we will connect any actions we take to the Strategic Plan.
It is important to keep in mind that 77% of the school system budget is spent on people providing services. This number is closer to 90% when you consider the large contractual obligations that are a part of the Operating Costs. These contracts are for such services as regional Special Education and vocational services, maintenance, and other ancillary services which themselves are largely comprised of people providing services. The current budget breaks down as 58.7% salaries , 18.5% benefits, and 22.8% operating costs. City funding is the last known factor in balancing the budget and can alleviate the necessity for cuts to programs.
What process will be used for developing the 2012-2013 school budget proposal?
The Governor’s budget is always the first proposal to come out of the state budgeting process. There will also be House and Senate versions followed by conference committee work. The conference committees ultimately resolve differences in the three versions, which then leads to passage of a final state budget in early March. Other than changes in the final budget from the General Assembly, City funding is the last known factor in developing the budget and can alleviate the necessity for cuts to programs. We ask for thoughtful participation from the community as we work through the issues the school system faces.
The Strategic Plan (http://www.ccs.k12.va.us/about/strategic-plan.html) will always guide us as we make the difficult budget decisions. The status of the budget will be discussed at each regular board meeting held on the first Thursday of each month (5 pm, CHS Media Center). In addition to regular board meetings, we will engage a committee of representatives of the community and staff to advise the Superintendent. We will also hold a telephone town hall, meet with PTO’s across the division, and attend staff meetings at our schools. A full calendar of meetings is at http://www.ccs.k12.va.us/departments/budget/docs/Budget-Devt-Calendar-2011_000.pdf.