News: Even Stevens? VivaLoudoun Takes a Look at the Education "Budget Battle" with Views from School Chair John Stevens and BOS Member Stevens Miller

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor
(Mar. 23, 2010) - And you thought the health care legislation was confusing and contentious ... wait until you dive into the brewing "budget battle" in Loudoun County between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board and Loudoun County Public Schools.

All I can say for certain is that at the end of the day I will be writing the checks to meet the financial bottom line as I am both a homeowner in the county (since 1995) and a parent with two children in the schools (elementary and high school). And my gut feeling at this point is that the hardest working people in the battle -- the teachers and coaches I work with and cover for VivaLoudoun.com -- and most dependent -- the children, our future! -- are the ones caught in the middle of this tumultuous tug-a-war.

What I found interesting in the last 24 hours was two distinct differently messages on the issue from two "Stevens"  -- School Board Chair John Stevens (via a posting on his blog Our Loudoun Schools) and my Board of Supervisor Stevens Miller. So, here they are ... side-by-side if I could but I'll put up John Stevens posting which came first on Monday and then Miller Stevens email which arrived this morning so please keep reading ... click the "Read More" below for both point of views ...

(I'd love to hear your comments on these views ... but only if you can post them in a constructive and civil way ... part of what I hope our education system is teaching today is how to have civil discourse in a true democratic fashion and a lot of what I see locally and nationally isn't very mature ... people should be able to debate without hate!)


John Stevens, Loudoun County School Board Chair, on his blog:
Earlier this year I wrote about the Board of Supervisors, business community, Loudoun's state legislators and the School Board working together to restore proposed state funding cuts to Loudoun's education budget. We worked together and were successful. Where the School Board conformed to the Supervisor's October directive to ask for a $25M budget increase (actually a per-pupil decrease), the state more than made up for it with a $25.4 million funding increase and a $20M reduction in required retirement contributions.

You might think that the increase in state education aid would prompt the School Board to increase its budget request even further, but we had pledged not to do that if this situation arose. We pledged to work within the original limits we proposed and return the rest to the taxpayers. Instead the Supervisors have gone even further, cutting the school budget below last year's level. The Board of Supervisors voted to take away the state aid, and then cut the school budget even more deeply. They have nullified the state's budget increase, and then cut even more deeply than that.

Supervisors Cut $30M from School Budget (Leesburg Today)
Supervisors Vote Against Raises for School Employees (Loudoun Times Mirror)
Supervisors Cut Money Earmarked for Teacher Raises (Loudoun Independent)

Why is being next to last in per-pupil funding not enough? Why is being next to last in teacher salaries not enough? Why is having some of the largest class sizes in the state not enough? Why was proposing a budget within the limits that the Supervisors provided not enough? Why was joining together to fight for more state funding not enough?

The School Board cut per-pupil spending, offset increases with cuts and stayed within the limits the Supervisors laid down. We fought for more funding from the state but didn't ask to keep any of it for the schools beyond our original request.

The Supervisors have one more budget work session, tonight at 6:30pm. Consider what the School Board may need to cut to meet this proposed budget. And tell the Board of Supervisors what you think of this bait and switch today, before it is too late.

Loudoun County Board of Supervisor Stevens Miller in an Email
I am very mindful of the desire Loudoun residents have to preserve the best features of our school system. In my experiences as the parent of a young student who has unquestionably benefited from his first two years in LCPS, the greatest and most effective investment in our children's education is the one we make in teachers.

This year, I agreed to reductions that were based first on a $20,000,000 deferral of Virginia Retirement System payments that was passed by the General Assembly. That is a payment LCPS will simply not have to make this year, so there is no need to fund it and no impact on education by not funding it. (I am shocked, however, that the General Assembly undertook this foolish deferral, as the deferred money will have to be paid out of your local property taxes, with interest, over a ten-year period starting in 2013, and those payments will be on top of the VRS payments that will also be due in those years. For the Governor to say he has "balanced" the budget when all he has done is use the discredited trick of borrowing the money from a future administration is an insult to those of us who must, and do, pay our bills on time.)

Next, I agreed to a reduction that exactly matched the additional funds made available by the state when, in response to substantial pressure from this board of supervisors, other elected officials in our region, and citizens throughout Loudoun County, the state unfroze the Local Composite Index, resulting in another $25,000,000 addition to the LCPS budget. As we had discussed repeatedly with the school board members, that additional state funding allowed us to lower the local tax burden, without changing the total amount of money LCPS planned to spend. Chairman Stevens has today (March 22) issued a statement that our offsetting of the LCI increase "nullified" the state's added money. I'm puzzled by his characterization because I had thought that was the plan all along, and that he had approved of that plan. Regardless, as our offset has no impact on LCPS funding, I continue to support it, because it does lower the tax rate on Loudouners by over three cents.

Finally, I supported a last reduction of about $24,000,000 because county staff had reported this to be a running fund balance that was part of the carryover from the previous fiscal year's budget for LCPS, and that was again present as a fund balance at the end of this year's budget. In other words, LCPS started and ended last year with about this amount left over. (Actually, county staff has indicated the amount is somewhat greater, but due to uncertainties in year-to-year operating costs, I felt this amount was a reasonable expectation of a reliable fund balance for the end of the coming year.) Simply put, to fund this amount appeared to me to be funding a budget item that simply refers to unspent money. I can't see any sense to funding an unspent balance.

The school superintendent has said that this money would have gone for one-time purchases, such as computer equipment. Now, it appears that, rather than live without one year's worth of such items, he plans to fire over 200 employees so he can still buy those things. If I understand him correctly, I am greatly saddened by his plan, because I firmly believe that people matter more to education than do things, and that teachers are the people who matter most to education. When I tour my son's school, I see that he and his classmates are now using devices designed to resemble simple cell phones so he can "TXT" his answers to a teacher's questions, so they appear on a computer-projected display. This means that, to answer "What pumps blood through the body?" he must press, 4-4 to enter the letter "H," then 3-3 for "E," then 2-7-7-7-8 for "ART." I have learned that these simulated cell phones retail at nearly $100 each. While it may be possible that, from a pedagogical perspective, using TXT messages and cell phones is a better way to teach lessons than writing answers with a pencil onto paper, or holding up one's hand and learning to speak aloud in a group, I would still have to believe that, for one year, it makes more sense to keep our teachers and forgo such devices, than it does to fire those teachers and buy more cell phones. (Indeed, at the prices these devices go for, I would at least have to ask if we shouldn't just buy actual cell phones in the first place.)

As a parent who, along with his mother, loves his son as much as I know other Loudoun parents do, I want our schools to provide a first-rate learning experience. As a taxpayer who, like others, knows that the quality of life my son enjoys depends on more than what he does in school, I want our community to allocate its tax burden fairly, effectively, and with a sense that social services beyond the schools also affect our families and our children. As a supervisor, I have listened closely to every speaker, every parent, and every teacher who has offered to assist me in finding my way to the best judgment I can make about our budget for the coming year. All of them have my thanks, even if not all of them agree with my votes.

I believe that money for teachers should come before money for things in our schools. The budget as proposed supplies enough money for teachers. Before the school board allows the superintendent to put money for things ahead of money for teachers, I urge you to contact your school board members and let them know that, if you share my view, going one year without more computers or TXTing more of our children's answers is a better alternative than taking our children's teachers away from them.

Best wishes,

Stevens

Note from Dan: Finally -- I think there could be other point of views and I'd love to hear from teachers, coaches and even students!