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Subj: School Issues Newsletter #72: Snow, Budget, Elections
Date: 2/20/2003 2:07:06 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: jklagge@bev.net
To: jklagge@bev.net
Dear Friends,
What used to be a (nearly) monthly newsletter has of late become more an annual newsletter. Such is life. Anyway, here we go:
This is an electronic newsletter about issues of interest to public education in Montgomery County. I am the school board representative in District F, but my comments here are only my personal take on issues. If you do not wish to receive these newsletters, please let me know and I'll remove you from my list.
1) Snow: We've missed 11 days of school because of snow in Motgomery County. We had 6 days built into the calendar. The state formula concerning when snow days need to be made up is very complicated, and not worth spelling out here. At our next meeting (March 4) we will be looking at options for dealing with this. Stay tuned...
In years when we miss many days we hear questions about using snow routes. The school board looked into this option very carefully in the fall of 1999. I reported on our deliberations over that issue in a newsletter at that time. If you don't recall that, you can access my old newsletters at: www.gisone.com/schools.htm, and choose newsletter #61 (schools61.htm). At that time we felt there were strong reasons not to use snow routes, and I've summarized those reasons for you there. Of course boards and circumstances change over time, but I don't see any reason to reconsider snow routes at this time.
2) Budget: The SB has submitted a proposed budget to the County Board of Supervisors (BoS). They set the tax rate and the size of our budget. Of course things are very tight, this year especially. The main source of increase in our budget proposal was to cover increased debt service from the new middle schools. Funding these new buildings has been a major undertaking that the BoS has supported. Unfortunately that has caused a squeeze on other things. We were VERY lucky this year that our health insurance costs are not increasing!
We have asked for a raise for teachers that would allow for their normal step increase (which is about a 2% raise) and a 2% raise on top of that. (Last year they only got the step increase.) Though this is not much, it is crucial for keeping us from falling even further behind comparable districts. Three years ago the BoS asked us to offer a salary plan to improve teacher pay. We determined that 7% raises three years in a row would bring us to the 60th percentile among local districts and among counties statewide that are comparable to Montgomery County. That initiative never got fully funded, and in the meantime we have even lost ground somewhat.
The only new program initiative we have in the budget is to increase the number of nurses in the schools. We are proposing to put $70,000 toward that. $35,000 would come from reallocation of money that we are using for other purposes: we have had, for the last few years, a $32,000 grant program in which schools would propose projects designed to benefit at-risk students. This has been useful, but we decided nurses would be more useful. We are asking that the BoS match our $35,000 with $35,000 in new money. There have been discussions about whether this money might better be used for RN's or for LPN's. We decided to leave that judgement to the administration, as to what allocation would be most beneficial.
The BoS has scheduled a public hearing about its budget and tax rate on Thursday, April 10, at 7pm, at the new County Government Building (755 Roanoke Street in Christiansburg). I urge you to make your views known at that time.You may also want to contact your Supervisor personally:
Nick Rush, District B and Chair <nrush@naxs.com>
Annette Perkins, District A & Vice-chair <aperkins@naxs.net>
Jim Politis, District D <bcbuffalo@aol.com>
Mary Biggs, District F <mbiggs@naxs.com>
Chuck Shorter, District E <cshorter@vt.edu> or <cpshorter@naxs.net>
John Muffo, District G <jmuffo@vt.edu>
Gary Creed, District C <garycreed@naxs.net>
Jeff Johnson, County Administrator <jdjohnson@naxs.com>
But NOTHING is more influential than showing up and speaking at a public hearing.
Most of you know that there has been a real estate reassessment this year. This means your house is probably considered to be worth (a lot?) more than last year. BUT, this does not mean you will necessarily pay more taxes on it!!! The BoS is required to initially LOWER the property tax rate by a percentage that is comparable to the average increase in property assessments--so that, initially, property reassessments are revenue neutral. THEN they may or may not raise the tax rate from that point. So your voice needs to be heard about this issue.
Although this does not directly concern the school system, the county is in the process of developing a new comprehensive plan. They are soliciting public input on that through an on-line survey. You can access this at:
3) Elections: This November four positions on the SB and also on the BoS will be up for election. These are the seats in Districts B, E, F, & G. If you are unsure which district you live in, you can find out by calling the Voter Registrar (382-5741). Any resident of these districts can get on the ballot for one of these elections by getting a certain number of approved signatures by sometime in June. To find out the details, contact the voter registrar's office. In addition, the political parties generally nominate candidates as well. However, party nominations are only relevant to the seats on the BoS. The SB is non-partisan, which means that no candidates are nominated. All candidiates must go the signature route. It is important that there be good candidiates for school board seats--and this requires advanced planning to get on the November ballot by June. If you or someone you know would be interested in serving in this way, please start thinking about it now. I have already announced that I will not be running for reelection in District F.
Sincerely,
Jim Klagge
Montgomery County School Board
District F representative.
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