Note that the Board will vote on the county budget on April 6th. In response to a question, Ms. Dickson indicated that the budget was required to be complete by May 1.
The GEPA proposal --> Click here
The various versions of the category-level allocations --> Click here. There has been no info shared on the reasoning behind the shifts in the 3/26 version of the school board budget. Please review the GEPA proposal for reasoning for their proposal.
There were three GEPA speakers. Their comments were as follows:
PENNY PALEN:
I am speaking on behalf of Goochland Education Parents Association (GEPA) to assure you that parents and county citizens are still very much committed to continue engagement in the workings of our local government, more specifically the Public School System.
We feel it is our obligation to facilitate ongoing communication with you and the School Board, collectively and individually, and to influence your decisions with respect to quality education for our children. Our aim is to work together towards a common goal; that of being good stewards of County resources in the best interest of the general public.
This budget process has been a difficult road, one which had not been traveled prior. We take pride in being able to challenge the status quo and greatly appreciate your willingness to lend GEPA a listening ear.
As we come to the final phase of this budget process, we would like to share with you the following:
*GEPA questions certain allocations of funds between categories by Dr.
Underwood in the recent School Board budget, which do not appear to be entirely
in accordance with instructions provided by the Virginia Department of
Education, and may violate the spirit, if not the letter of the Code of
Virginia. These changes are misleading, symbolic at best, and do nothing to help the bottom line, mainly saving the jobs of our teachers.
* GEPA is encouraged, however, to see members of the School Board becoming more
receptive to meaningful discussions and proposed ideas to improve this
process.
* GEPA is pleased to see more cooperation between the two boards in a
manner that better serves the public good.
* GEPA is on record for recognizing members of the Board of
Supervisors and County Administrator for their active involvement, in
a public way, to influence much needed changes to the school budget
submitted by Dr. Underwood and Chairman Miller.
* GEPA looks forward to participatory involvement of a proposed joint committee suggested recently by Chairman Quarles.
Thank you for your time and due diligence in this long and arduous process.
Gentlemen of the Board, Ms. Dickson, thank you for letting us speak to you tonight. My name is Kristin McNaron, and I live at {redacted – KGM}. I speak to you today as the secretary of the GEPA.
The recent re-categorizations in the school budget do absolutely nothing to address the fundamental concerns of the many parents that have spoken to both the School Board and this Board over the last 4-5 months. Specifically, the school budget still retains all of the highly-paid administrative positions, makes no cuts in transportation, maintenance, or technology, and targets classroom teachers and supplies most heavily. We are further concerned about the overall lack of information on where salaries exist in the school budget . . . with no line item detail, no listing of positions by category/sub-category codes, no detail about how positions are being funded by the county versus by grants, it is difficult to get the true picture of where our money is being spent.
Despite this, through research done by GEPA members , we want to illustrate to you that classroom teaching positions DO NOT HAVE TO BE casualties of our current budget predicament. As such, we have revised GEPA’s budget counter-proposal in order to give you an alternative viewpoint into how to fund our school system.
We have provided you all with a copy of our revisions along with supporting materials.
{Kristin walked through highlights of the proposal shown at the top of this post}
My name is Jane Christie, I live at {redacted - KGM}. Gentlemen, I am here on behalf of GEPA to ask for your help in ensuring accountability and transparency in local Government.
Superintendent Underwood recently gave a presentation on school accounting, to you and to the public. The importance of understanding the Function Codes and Object Codes specified by the Virginia Department of Education, when interpreting the School Board budget, was explained, and there seemed to be a suggestion that this was really all too complicated and confusing for the public to grasp.
The only thing we don’t understand, is why the Superintendent would present a budget to the School Board and to the County for approval, when 80% of that budget is NOT supported by the Function Codes and Object Codes the Superintendent has so patiently described. Only 20% of the expenses in the School Board budget are specified in this level of detail, with the balance of $19,853,479, vaguely described in a single line item under each major Category, entitled “salaries and benefits”. When it comes to explaining the largest single expense in the School Board budget, the Function and Object Codes specified by the VDOE are conspicuous by their absence!
The Superintendent is requesting a figure equivalent to approximately half of the projected annual revenue for the entire County, with no Function Codes or Object Codes to account for nearly $20 million of public funds. Gentlemen, as stewards of the tax-payers’ money, we implore you NOT to accept a School Board budget with such an inadequate level of detail. It is imperative to use the codes provided by the VDOE to detail the “big ticket items”, not just the relatively minor budget items. Why would the County accept anything less from the School Board in their budget?
We would like to see the School Board budget specify salaries and benefits separately in EVERY budget category, using the VDOE Function and Object codes. For example, if teaching salaries and benefits were listed under Function Code 61100 for Classroom Instruction, with Object Code 1000 for salaries, and 2000 for benefits, then it would be clear, on the face of the budget, how much taxpayer money was being spent on classroom teaching positions. Changes to this amount could only be made during a public meeting, with School Board approval, which offers the public far better transparency and accountability.
This may also offer a practical way to preserve teaching positions. In January, the School Board implemented a Reduction in Force policy in our schools. The schools currently employ 450 personnel, with around 250 teaching positions, and 200 non-teaching positions. The primary function of a school system is educating children, but only about half of our school system personnel actually teach! To make matters worse, the current RIF process is NOT affecting teaching and non-teaching staff equally - 91 teacher and aides, and only 4 non-teaching staff have been notified that their position may be at risk.
GEPA’s goal, as concerned parents and citizens, is to preserve pupil/teacher ratios and the quality of educational programs in our public schools. We are actively engaged in identifying areas of waste in our schools, to ensure that County funds are efficiently utilized to educate the students in this County to the highest standard attainable with current funding. Quality public education attracts people and businesses to the County, and maintains property values, which helps generate tax revenue for the benefit of all Goochland County residents. We remain willing to work with all concerned to achieve this goal, and ask you to consider the budget proposals we have researched at length, and presented to you here tonight, and to require more detail in the School Board budget prior to approval. Thank you.
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