Alexandria City Public Schools teachers and staff would bear the financial brunt of a $202 million budget requested Thursday night amid a familiar theme of economic decline.
Superintendent Morton Sherman’s asked-for amount is about 2 percent more than the current year’s $198 million budget. But the school system has seen a nearly 14 percent jump in enrollment since the 2008-09 school year, to almost 12,000 students.
The lean numbers come in response to a shortfall estimated in October to be as much as $17 million.
“Recognizing that finding other [jobs] will be difficult … we have opted to increase the cost to employees of benefits rather than eliminate positions,” said a letter released by Sherman’s team on Thursday afternoon.
Without providing details, Sherman hinted that the school system would contribute less money to the priciest health plans, thereby encouraging employees to choose more affordable options.
At the same time, teachers and staff would pay for a greater portion of the school system’s supplementary retirement plan. Teacher raises based on experience would be withheld until midway through the year, and a pool of funding for tuition for master’s degrees would disappear.
The school district would continue to fund additional elementary teachers to deal with growing enrollment, as well as maintain special education staffing. An early childhood office would be created by reorganizing other departments.
Bursting class sizes at some elementary schools would be evened out by “modified open enrollment” that would cap class sizes at schools and send overflow to less crowded schools. It would apply to new students, and there would be an exception for siblings.
Beth Coast, PTA president at Jefferson-Houston School for Arts and Academics and a former high school teacher in Maryland, said teacher salaries need to be a top priority.
“I guess that in this economy, considering what other districts are doing, receiving a [raise] midway through the year does sound fair,” Coast said.
A PTA president who declined to be named hoped the cuts could come from elsewhere.
“I’m hoping that central office [funding] is slashed with an ax,” the parent said.
A public budget hearing will be held Feb. 6, and the school board will approve a final version at the end of February.
