Crime
County school boards hoping for boom from stimulus checks
By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
February 6, 2009
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Fairfax County’s school board approved Superintendent Jack Dale’s proposed budget Thursday night and passed along the dire figures to the county executive and Board of Supervisors to be approved by the end of April.
The stimulus-less proposal included reductions totaling nearly $158 million, the net loss of 248 jobs, and no salary increases. If federal money comes through, it could boost Fairfax schools by $75 million by the end of fiscal 2010, according to an analysis of the House package by the New America Foundation.
Without it, Fairfax School Board Chairman Dan Storck said “essentially, this means that we have to educate more students with far less money than last year, which frankly, will put our national reputation to the test.”
In Montgomery County, Superintendent Jerry Weast’s proposal for the most tolerable 2010 budget will go before the school board Monday night and then be sent along to county officials for further wrangling.
It includes 275 positions lost and $124 million in reductions, including $89 million saved by an agreement with unions to forego next year’s raises. In Montgomery, stimulus money could ease the budgetary burden by more than $71 million, but even the planners have no hard figures.
“In any case, there’ll be a lot of changes as we move through the process between now and June,” said Montgomery schools budget director Marshall Spatz.
But while representatives from the districts lobby for the cash, officials are speaking conservatively about its possible effects, not knowing how much of it will be restricted to specific types of spending.
If the money does come, as expected, districts will have to resist the temptation to throw it all at recurring costs, said Billy Cannaday Jr., a dean at the University of Virginia and former state superintendent of public instruction.
“This bill is not a forever bill,” Cannaday said, explaining the money is targeted for only two years. “You want to avoid wherever possible hiring people with one-time money unless you feel strongly you’ll be able to sustain that funding in the future.”
