Presentation to the School Board by Civic Federation

The Arlington County Civic Federation has considered the report of its Schools Committee on the Superintendent's proposed Arlington Public Schools (APS) FY05 budget and supports its recommendations. The Superintendent's proposed budget was structured with three "tiers" of new spending initiatives. Tier 1 contained the initiatives he considered most important. Tier 2 contained initiatives he considered somewhat less essential. Tier 3 consisted entirely of "pay-go" capital projects that are funded from the county transfer. The Superintendent proposed that, if APS did not receive sufficient revenue to fund all of his initiatives, cuts would begin in Tier 3 and work upward as necessary. The Arlington County Civic Federation makes the following recommendations concerning the Superintendent's budget and the initiatives in it:

INITIATIVES RECOMMENDED TO BE UP-GRADED FROM TIER 2 TO TIER 1:

1. Extend Summer School Hours ($201,000) (Budget Book, p. 18). The Superintendent has proposed, as a second-tier item, extending summer school staffing at four elementary schools to provide an additional 2.5 hours of academic focus per day. The Federation believes that additional time and instruction devoted to at-risk children during summer school is so important to narrowing the achievement gap and ensuring rising achievement for all children that this item should be a Tier 1 priority.

2. Virus Protection Upgrade ($89,000) (Budget Book p. 36). Although the Superintendent has proposed purchasing a 10-year contract and long-term licensing agreement for virus protection as a Tier 2 expenditure, the Federation recommends this be moved to Tier 1. Considering that current sophisticated viruses can crash a network as well as individual computers, it would seem necessary for this item to be in Tier 1.

INITIATIVES RECOMMENDED TO BE DOWN-GRADED FROM TIER 1 TO TIER 2:

1. Reformulate Art, Music and Physical Education Planning Factors (redirection of $170,000 from Staff Contingency Fund) (Budget Book p. 20 and School Board budget question #7). The Superintendent proposes rearranging and increasing staffing so that each elementary school has a full time art and music teacher. The Federation feels that, in light of the continuing minority achievement gap and the importance of improving math and reading instruction, these additional positions are not a Tier 1 priority.

2. Junior Varsity Lacrosse ($50,000) (Budget Book, p. 34). The Superintendent proposed funding for six junior varsity teams. It is unclear why an extracurricular program would be in the first tier ahead of academic programs.

3. Diversity Training Funds ($10,000) (Budget Book, p. 24). The Superintendent included in his Tier 1 proposals staff development training on diversity. The Civic Federation does not agree that this item is a Tier 1 priority in light of other existing programs.

4. TESA Trainer and Support ($73,000) (Budget Book, p. 24). The Superintendent proposed hiring a full-time trainer and increasing a part-time clerk to full-time in order to provide teacher training in the area of “cultural competence and appropriate teaching pedagogy.” This program has been ongoing for two years. Before expanding it, the Federation feels an evaluation needs to be done to determine its benefits.

INITIATIVES FROM TIER 1 RECOMMENDED FOR ELIMINATION

1. Reduce Kindergarten Classes by One Student ($232,000) (Budget Book, p. 16; and Background Materials dated 3/12/04). The Superintendent proposes adding 6 positions to reduce the maximum size of kindergarten and Montessori (3-5 year olds) classes by one student, and add a teaching assistant and a kindergarten teacher at three schools. The Civic Federation feels that reduction of kindergarten size system-wide, while certainly desirable, is not a priority at this time.

2. Professional and Scales Evaluation Plans ($200,000) (Budget Book, p. 25). The Superintendent proposes to develop two new evaluation systems, one for teachers and one for principals, administrators and other exempt employees. The new teacher evaluation system is linked to a possible new differential pay system for teachers. If there is a need for a new system to evaluate teacher performance, it should be de-coupled from any particular system for paying teachers. Moreover, it does not seem to be appropriate to add a permanent, full-time staff member to accomplish what is essentially a one-time job. The Federation believes this proposal should be eliminated entirely.

3. Elementary ESOL/HILT Data Coordinator ($307,500) (Budget Book, p. 29; School Board budget question # 4, and Background Materials dated 3/12/04). The Superintendent proposes to add 4.8 positions for work other than instructional services. There was a decrease in ESOL/HILT students last year, and that reduction is projected to continue next year. It appears contradictory to the Federation to add almost 5 non-teaching positions when, due to the enrollment decrease, the Superintendent plans to eliminate 10 ESOL teaching positions. The initiative for the data coordination is to record and maintain data on all Limited English Proficient students. The Federation acknowledges the importance of making and maintaining these data. However, the Federation does not believe that the additional recommended investment is necessary to accomplish this task. The school system already has the personnel and a computer system capable of handling the data.

4. Instructional Support and Program Space ($290,000) (Budget Book p. 32). The Superintendent seeks funding for the first six months of a 3-5 year lease on 20,000 square feet of office space for support personnel. The Federation feels the Superintendent needs to better justify to the

Arlington community the need for the lease in light of projected declines in student enrollment and the anticipated opening of the Reed School space.

5. Pupil Services Teacher Specialist ($40,500) (Budget Book, p. 33). Funding is proposed for a full-time staff trainer in areas of character education, peer mediation, suicide and harassment prevention. The Federation feels this work should be done by current Directors of Counseling in secondary schools, and by existing guidance counselors at the elementary level.

6. Middle School Activities Coordinator ($132,000) (Budget Book p. 38). The Superintendent proposes adding 2.5 positions to give each middle school a full-time activities coordinator. An increase in this position from half-time to full-time has not been justified by the Superintendent, and the Federation recommends deleting this initiative.

INITIATIVES FROM TIER 2 RECOMMENDED FOR ELIMINATION

1. Special Education/Preschool Transportation Coordinator ($65,700) (Budget Book, p. 34). The Superintendent seeks to add a new position to ensure each special-needs student receives appropriate transportation services. The Federation feels the case has not been made that this should be a permanent full-time position, when it appears to be temporary in nature (August - October).

2. Processing Free/Reduced Meal Applications ($50,000) (Budget Book, p. 35). The Superintendent proposes to create a permanent full-time position to input and maintain applications and manage the verification process. The Federation feels the case has not been made that this should be a full-time position, when it appears to be temporary in nature (August - October).

3. Skills for Success ($57,000) (Budget Book, p. 19; Background Materials dated 3/12/04) The Superintendent proposes adding a teacher and 0.25 Director to provide a new middle-school elective class on time management, organization, study skills, team building, exposure to careers, etc. The Civic Federation feels that these skills should be part of the existing regular curriculum. The Federation does not view the introduction of an extra elective course on such matters in one school as even a Tier 2 priority.

Changes to the proposed budget

Net decrease Tier 1: $1,215,000

Net decrease Tier 2: $159,700

Deletions moved to Pay-Go: $1,374,700

BUDGET POLICY ISSUES BUDGET POLICY ISSUES

A motion was made and seconded in the Schools Committee to recommend that the net savings recommended in this report be returned to the taxpayers. By a vote of 4-4, the motion did not pass.

Subsequently, the Committee voted to recommend that the savings be applied to the Pay-Go budget to reduce the amount of bonds that need to be sold. The Federation endorses the Committee’s recommendation.

The Federation recommends that the School Board and the County Board reexamine the Revenue Sharing Agreement at least every four years.

The Federation recommends that the School Board establish a policy that the reserve fund be maintained at a fixed percentage of the operating budget. The Federation notes that there are a number of contingency funds, separate from the reserve fund, that can be used administratively. The Federation recommends that the experience with the contingency funds be reviewed to determine the extent to which they have been used, the purposes for which they have been used and, when they have not been used, what has happened to those funds.

The Civic Federation is concerned with the growing level of debt service on capital improvement projects, compared to the amounts allocated for pay-go (referred to as “Capital Projects” throughout the proposed budget). The Federation recommends that the School Board maximize the use of pay-go projects to decrease bonded indebtedness and thus the amounts that must be allocated to debt service in future years.

Finally, the Schools Committee has some concerns about how contingency funds are used. The School Board learned this year that staff has funded some teacher's aides positions in excess of the funding formula (planning factors). The Schools Committee plans to inquire further into the use of contingency funds.