Prince William County public schools will kill proposed $50 fees for middle and high school sports and restore funding for low-income students in the schools’ fiscal 2010 budget.
Special-ed enrollment $667,562
Title IX projects $200,000
Development
of virtual high school $30,000
Economically
disadvantaged $754,050
Restore 1 percent
increase in teachers’
retirement match $1,638,348
Robotics program $25,000
Source: Prince William County
Public Schools
The school board was able to restore the cuts to its $785 million fiscal 2010 operating fund after the Board of Supervisors-approved tax rate gave the schools $3.7 million more than expected.
Several school board members, including Gainesville representative Donald Richardson and Dumfries representative Betty Covington, praised the elimination of the fees for sports.
“I think that instead of nickel-and-diming people right now, we can get through next year without doing that,” said Schools Superintendent Steven Walts.
Walts also said it was important to restore the 5 percent match for teachers’ retirement plans, calling it a significant retention and recruitment tool to attract teachers to the county. Prince William County public school teachers are among the lowest-paid in the region.
“Not only were we able to give raises to our staff, we were able to restore the 1 percent match, which … is commendable,” said board Vice Chairman Denita Ramirez.
The match for teachers’ retirement was the most expensive restoration, costing more than $1.5 million. Funding for programs for low-income students was second, at about $750,000.
Like their counterparts in other local jurisdictions, the schools will operate with less revenue than last year. Last year’s operating fund was $799 million.
“Never in the history of Prince William County Public Schools has there been a budget challenge of the magnitude we faced this year,” said Chairman Milton Johns.
Johns also stressed that the schools’ five-year budget plan was balanced, after supervisors questioned the plan in March.
He said that teachers’ 2.9 percent cost-of-living increase came from reducing other expenses, and no money from the federal stimulus package would be used for the COLA.