If parents are concerned about their schools, they must get involved. Speak up for Our Schools. We want 100 parents to speak up for our schools at the March 3^rd Albemarle County Board of Supervisors public hearing.

(March 3, 2010 at 6 pm, Albemarle County Office Building, 2nd floor, Lane Auditorium)

How:  contact your PC rep to ask what you can do.

Make the commitment today to speak on behalf of our schools.

This is our SOS:  Speak up for Our Schools.

Show up at the March 3^rd Board of Supervisors public hearing and speak up for your children, for all 12,765 students in Albemarle County. Strong public schools build strong communities.

• No salary increases of any kind for any employees; the projected 8 percent increase in health care costs and increased Virginia Retirement System expenses are covered by the request so employees will not receive a direct reduction in compensation for 2010-11;
• Increases in class size by one student in grades 4 through 12, a net loss of ~17 full-time equivalent teaching positions, many of which will be absorbed by attrition;
• Ten percent cuts in eligible operational budgets across the board for all schools and departments;
• Places hold on technology replacement and improvements;
• Reduces Learning Resources (textbooks, online resources, consumable materials) by $500,000;
• Reduces the transportation department by nearly $400,000, as efficiencies in routing, compensation, and program delivery are implemented. There will be fewer bus routes, longer bus ride times, expanded walk zones, and fewer bus drivers.
• Reduces professional development reimbursement funds by 50 percent.
• Introduces for the first time a student activities fee for athletic programs and reduces the programs we offer:
• A student activity fee of $75 per student, per sport, with a cap of $425 per family will be enacted.
• Freshmen athletic teams at Monticello High and Western Albemarle High will be eliminated.
• Junior Varsity coaching assistants will be eliminated at all high schools.
• Cuts instructional support funds for intervention and enrichment, CATEC, elementary and middle school summer school;
• Makes, for the third consecutive year, additional position cuts in at the central office, and in support services, including leadership reductions.

• Charlottesville's Channel 29 News filed a report from the Parent Council meeting. Keith McGilvery interviewed some of the Crozet Elementary students who have been using iPods in the classroom. filed from the Parent Council meeting. A wide variety of perspectives can be found in the related comments, as well.
• A recent column by David Carr (New York Times, 1 January 2010), titled Why Twitter Will Endure, includes this bit:  

“What could anyone possibly find useful in this cacophony of short-burst communication?
Well, that depends on whom you ask, but more importantly whom you follow. On Twitter, anyone may follow anyone, but there is very little expectation of reciprocity. By carefully curating the people you follow, Twitter becomes an always-on data stream from really bright people in their respective fields, whose tweets are often full of links to incredibly vital, timely information.”

Greetings all:

1.  Attached please find a copy of the Budget Update, slightly updated from the presentation given by Dr. Benson at our December 1st meeting. This presentation was accompanied by comments at our meeting; if any of this information is either new or confusing, please contact me (or your Principal) with any questions you may have. *See below for acronym help.

Please note:  This presentation has been approved for distribution to Parent Council. Please feel free to use this for your PTO meetings if you wish.

2. Please do include the following paragraphs in your schools’ news. This update is from ACPS as well:

Budget Synopsis Update 12/11/09
This will likely be the most challenging budget cycle experienced by Albemarle County Schools in its history. State revenues may decline by as much as 15% for 2010-11 due to changes in Albemarle County’s composite index and overall state budget reductions. We will have a better idea how much when the Governor presents his budget on 12/18. Local revenues continue to slide as housing values slump and sales tax revenue falls. The projected revenue shortfall for the 2010-11 school year is between $8 and $11 million, depending on the tax rate agreed to by the newly elected Board of Supervisors. Even an equalized tax rate of 77.2 cents will not eliminate the need for major reductions. The anticipated revenue shortfall with the higher rate is $8 million, due to declining state and local revenues. It is not possible to make reductions of this magnitude (4-5 times as many as were made this current fiscal year) in department or operational budgets/staffing. All positions and programs will be affected.
 
The board is pursuing a budget amendment at the state level to recalculate the county’s ability to pay for education based on the actual revenues on hand after the $18 million in revenue sharing is given to the city of Charlottesville. The current ratio overstates the county’s ability to pay and understates the city’s ability to pay. There is no guarantee that this budget amendment will pass in the General Assembly; in fact, it will face stiff opposition. The change would result in approximately $2 to $2.5 million in additional state funding to Albemarle County. Dr. Moran will present her funding request to the School Board on Wednesday, January 20.

3. Also, in case you did not see the report in the Daily Progress, here is a link to their December 11th article on the School Board vote, Albemarle wants funds from city for schools:

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/albemarle_wants_funds_from_city_for_schools/49905/

4.  Governor Kaine’s budget is expected to be released this Friday, December 18th.

“Thanks to a slumping economy, Kaine has to find $3.5 billion in cuts in the state budget. He is scheduled to propose his fiscal plan next Friday at a joint meeting of the legislature's money committees. Kaine has said that in balancing the budget, "everything's on the table."”

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/NEWTAXXGAT11_20091211-174202/310971/

5.  Finally, the updated budget calendar for Albemarle County Public Schools is attached; the date of the School Board public hearing has been changed to Tuesday, February 2nd.

We appreciate all of your efforts on behalf of our students and our schools. To be continued...

*  The Parent Resources page of the ACPS website offers definitions of oft-used acronyms:
http://schoolcenter.k12albemarle.org/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=50387