News: Loudoun County Schools Superintendent Outlines 2014 Budget

Special to Viva Loudoun via Loudoun County Public Schools

(Feb. 21, 2013) - Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III outlined the School Board’s Proposed Fiscal Year 2014 Operating Budget for the Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents (LEAP) on Wednesday, February 13th.

• In presenting the $859.7 million proposed budget, Hatrick noted the historical climate in which it was crafted.
• Between the 2008-2009 school year and the projected enrollment for 2013-2014, LCPS will have grown by 13,846 students.
• Reflecting the downturn in the economy, LCPS’ budget remained relatively flat for several years; dropping from $745.6 million in FY09 to $732.6 million in FY10 before growing to $745.9 million and $823.1 million during the past two years.
• At the same time frame, the average cost per pupil has dropped by $915 to the $11,865 reflected in the School Board’s proposed budget.
• Hatrick noted that while the LCPS budget grew between FY12 and the current budget year, much of that increase was unavoidable. “We’ve heard several times that the cost per pupil increased this year by 5.3 percent, which was more than inflation. So I think it’s important to note that almost half that 5.3 percent was due to a change in the Virginia Retirement System. The School Board… (did not have) control over that increase.” 

Under the current budget, LCPS ranks below Arlington ($18,675), Alexandria ($17,024) and Fairfax ($13,564) in cost per pupil. Hatrick refuted the idea that a growing student population leads to economies of scale, using Fairfax as an example. 

“If there’s anything to this notion that there is an economy of scale; the bigger you are, the less it will cost you…You would think that Fairfax would be able to have a lower cost perpupil.” 

But, Hatrick said he believes that the Fairfax cost per pupil is what it is because of an ongoing commitment to students, staff and programs they want to support.

If Loudoun matched Fairfax’s cost per pupil, Hatrick added, LCPS could add an additional $140 million to its budget.

Crafting school budgets is an exercise that inherently involves public criticism, Hatrick said. “No matter what we do, the efficiency of LCPS, and really of all public education institutions, is always going to be called into question. That’s just a given. Let me say this to you, and I say it with great confidence, we are efficient… The citizens of Loudoun have to know that when they pay their taxes and those taxes are invested in ourschools that they are really getting a good return on the investment they are making.”

To that end, Hatrick noted the School Board went through his proposed budget line-by-line and reduced it by $16 million. Savings include $4 million in health insurance costs by changing the way the School Board funds employee insurance. (In following years this savings will be

$8 million because the insurance change will take place at the midpoint of Fiscal Year 2014.) Large savings ($4.5 million) also were realized by changing the way in which LCPS employs technology.

As it has for the 22 years he’s been superintendent, Hatrick said the School Board has agreed with his emphasis that the vast majority of LCPS employees are school-based. 93 percent of LCPS employees are school-based, which ties Fairfax for the highest rate of school-based employees in the region. “We’ve tried to keep any additional cost not associated with the classroom at a bare minimum. That’s the direction I got from the School Board and I think that was their guiding light as they worked on the budget.”

The Board of Supervisors has advertised an equalized real estate tax rate of $1.23 per $100 of assessed value. Hatrick said revised revenue figures show that this rate will generate enough additional funding to fully fund the county and school operating budgets. “The money is there. The question is ‘How will (the Board of Supervisors) choose to spend it?’ ”

Hatrick urged the LEAP delegates to make their feelings – pro or con – on the budget known during upcoming hearings before the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. Those hearings will be held at the following dates and places:

• February 27, 3 and 6 p.m. at the County Government Center, 1 Harrison St. SE, Leesburg
• February 28, 6 p.m. at the County Government Center (if needed)
• March 2, 9 a.m.-noon at the LCPS Administrative Offices, 21000 Education Court, Ashburn

Citizens also may contact the Board of Supervisors on budget matters at loudounbudget@loudoun.gov, by calling the Citizen Comment Line,

703-777-0115; or by writing to the Board of Supervisors, P.O. Box 7000, Leesburg, VA 20177.

The School Board will formally present its proposed budget to the Board of Supervisors at 6 p.m. Monday, March 4th, at the Government Center.

In closing, Hatrick said the school budget represents a foundation of a solid community. “What we’re doing is investing; investing in children, investing in our schools, investing in the future and that investment pays off.”

The February 13th LEAP meeting was attended by School Board Chairman Eric Hornberger (Ashburn District) and member Tom Reed (At-Large).

The next LEAP meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 13th. The subject will be “Testing, SOL’s and SAT’s.”