The Alexandria City School Board approved the school division’s 2027 budget yesterday (Thursday), but challenges surrounding city funding and employee health care costs remain before the final version is adopted in June.
The bulk of the Alexandria City Public Schools’ $406.5 million combined funds budget includes the $374.5 million operating budget, as well as school nutrition funds, grants and a special projects fund. The operating budget itself is a 3.7% increase from the last budget.
During yesterday’s budget adoption, School Board Chair Michelle Rief said ACPS has cut several positions, increased fees, asked employees to contribute more toward health care, and sought 5% non-personnel cuts to departments and schools.
“I think this is my eighth year on the School Board, and this has probably been the most challenging budget year that I’ve ever experienced,” Rief said. “I want the community to know that the federal workforce reductions, the slow economic growth in the city, these are impacting our school system.”
Officials are wary of future changes depending on the city government’s funding to the school division. The budget seeks a $292 million contribution from the city government, which would be a 3.5% increase. That’s above the city budget guidance to the School Board on limiting the city’s increase to 1.5%.
Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said the School Board may have to make adjustments based on the city government’s budget, which the city manager will propose on Feb. 24.
Rief said a 1.5% increase from the city would not cover a step increase to employee pay to maintain regional competitiveness. Personnel costs account for about 90% of the ACPS budget.
“If we do not receive a 3.5% increase, we’re going to be forced to make even more difficult decisions, cutting positions, increasing class size,” Rief said. “We’re not going to be able to give staff a competitive pay increase, and we may lose staff to neighboring divisions.”
The School Board has a joint budget meeting with City Council on March 5. After City Council approves the city government budget, the superintendent will recommend any ACPS budget changes needed in May before final budget adoption on June 11.
Another adjustment could be employee health care costs, if these come out higher than projected. ACPS Chief Financial Officer Dominic Turner said ACPS receives information on health care costs in the spring and makes adjustments to employee premiums if needed in May.
“It is looking pretty bad right now when it comes to our health care costs, and that is a trend we are continuing to see,” Turner said at the work session.
Kay-Wyatt said the increasing health care costs may require the School Board to revisit position cuts.
“We are going to have to make really hard decisions around reducing our expenditures,” Kay-Wyatt said.
The School Board kept an 80% ACPS contribution for licensed staff’s health insurance premiums and 90% for unlicensed staff.
ACPS will have to provide funding for any future collective bargaining agreements, which it is in the midst of negotiating with several bargaining units. Rief’s proposal to add placeholder funds for collective bargaining did not get a six-vote supermajority to seek an additional city contribution.
The School Board, however, partially removed a Latin cut following public feedback on maintaining in-person Latin and Chinese classes in middle school.
During the budget add-delete session, the School Board restored one of two Latin teachers that were proposed as cuts in the superintendent’s budget proposal. The one teacher will serve as an in-person and hybrid teacher serving both George Washington Middle School and Francis C. Hammond Middle School.
“I feel strongly that language instruction and diverse options in language instruction is really important to educating learners who are prepared to enter the world and think critically,” said School Board member Ashley Simpson Baird at Tuesday’s add-delete work session. “I think Latin provides that opportunity to our students.”
Under the superintendent’s proposal, the middle school Latin program would have transitioned entirely to online instruction to maintain it despite low enrollment. But at the work session, ACPS Chief Academic Officer Pierrette Finney acknowledged an imbalance in enrollment at Hammond Middle School and George Washington Middle School.
“While GW as a whole has shown growth from last year to this year, Hammond as a whole is the outlier,” Finney said. “There are a total of 12 students that are taking Latin at Hammond, in comparison to 65 at GW.”
On virtual instruction for Latin, Simpson Baird said, “I think middle school is too young to take a fully virtual language class, especially if it’s a class that you’re taking for the first time.”
The adopted budget keeps one Chinese teacher cut that was in the superintendent’s budget proposal. An add-delete item from School Board member Donna Kenley did not get enough support to advance.
With the cut, the Chinese program will have three full-time-equivalent teachers and classes transitioning to a hybrid in-person and virtual format. ACPS is planning to have one middle school level Chinese language teacher teaching at both George Washington Middle School and Francis C. Hammond Middle School.
The budget also eliminates a technology usage fee, replacing it instead with a charge for damaged or destroyed devices.
Board members also opted to remove one vacant position from the School Board office, remove one communications office position, fund an Afghan cultural liaison and Afghan coordinator previously covered by a grant, and increase its facility rental fees by 5%.
