The Alexandria City School Board held a work session yesterday (June 9) to decide adds and deletes from the budget before final approval, but the state budget impasse leaves future funding for compensation and other items unresolved.
Several of the 38 add/delete proposals that had at least four co-sponsors received support to be added into the Alexandria City Public Schools budget. The School Board will vote on the final budget tomorrow (June 11).
The School Board approved $151,750 to maintain one of two advanced academic studies teachers that were proposed to be cut. The board did not restore one middle school Latin teacher despite community advocacy to maintain in-person instruction across middle school Latin classes. The other middle school Latin teacher was maintained in the School Board’s previous budget approval. Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt noted the middle school Latin program would be maintained, but some instruction may be in an online format.
Another budget add maintains two African liaison positions at Hammond Middle School and Alexandria City High School that were originally proposed to be cut. The $150,600 for the two positions will be paid for by a $113,000 delete from management services within the School Board office, as well as a $37,600 reduction for travel expenses.
“We will evaluate the number of students that we have that continue to need those [Afghan liaison] services at the end of next year to determine if those positions will continue in fiscal year 2028,” ACPS Chief Financial Officer Dominic Turner said.
Other deletes included $104,000 for a technology services position, $57,000 from the contracts and purchased services budget, $40,000 from the travel budget and $30,000 from membership dues.
The School Board also endorsed $15,000 from existing School Board office funds for a benchmarking study to evaluate central office staffing compared to similar school districts. The study is intended to inform recommendations to the next superintendent on central office staffing.
The remainder after adds and deletes— an estimated $83,800 — will provide partially funding of $350,000 needed to maintain Communities in Schools of Northern Virginia‘s program, which provides 10 bilingual staffers at Alexandria City High School, Francis Hammond Middle School, Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 School and Samuel Tucker, John Adams and William Ramsay Elementary Schools.
The School Board will await state funding and City Council’s decision on use of reserve funds to fill the remaining gap for CIS NOVA. City Council agreed to explore providing contingent reserve funds to ACPS. However, that funding proposal wouldn’t come until late September or early October due to parking revenues not being available until the new fiscal year on July 1.
The School Board did not act on any compensation changes that would affect the tentative one year, $12.7 million collective bargaining ordinance ACPS reached with the Education Association of Alexandria. The superintendent’s adjusted budget proposal had accounted for a 4.25% pay increase. Turner said any add/deletes regarding staff compensation would require a return to negotiations with the union.
“We were able to reach a second [tentative agreement] once we learned what our city appropriation was going to be, so offering amendments to change that, we’re not offering the bargaining units the opportunity to then negotiate what they would like versus just unilaterally telling them what they would receive,” Turner said.
ACPS is also awaiting its share of funding state budget that could potentially go toward compensation, supporting staff stipends or CIS NOVA. Turner recommended any additional state funding be proposed for a one-time staff bonus so there aren’t additional challenges on funding additional personnel costs in the next budget cycle. He says ACPS has “received signals” that it is not going to receive a 4% or 5% staff pay increase from City Council funding in the coming years.
“If we increase the [Cost-of-Living Adjustment] or add an additional step or anything like that, we’re increasing our base budget, and that funding may not be available for next year, so we would already be starting from a whole next year saying, ‘okay, we need to cut one to $3 million just to get back in balance,'” Turner said.
School Board Chair Michelle Rief noted the final state budget has not yet been adopted and will impact the amount of funding ACPS receives. The Virginia House of Delegates is expected to reconvene June 18, followed by the Virginia Senate on June 22 with hopes of passing a budget before the new fiscal year on July 1.
“What kind of makes this process even more complicated, because we were hopeful of having some additional state funding,” Rief said. “But until we have it, we can’t really say for sure, so that makes it a little challenging.”
Kay-Wyatt, the outgoing superintendent, noted that schools will continue operating normally as ACPS awaits the decision on state funds.
“I think it’s important for the community to note that we will be in a pause situation in the sense of waiting for the state budget, but of course school will always open as usual, and we will continue making sure that all of our services for our students are available throughout the summer and as we go into the fall.”
The School Board has the option to discuss what to do with state funding at its July 9 organizational meeting or call a special meeting.
