update_ school board makes more budget cuts _ loudountimes

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3/6/12 UPDATE: School Board makes more budget cuts | LoudounTimes.com 1/29 www. loudountimes.com/index .php/news/article/sc hool_board_makes_more_budget_cuts123/ Mobile Website | Login | Register Staff Directory | Advertise | Subscribe | About Us  Advanced Search  SEARCH 20 Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 by Laura Peters | 153 comments | Email this story The Loudoun County School Board made three motions to cut more into their fis cal 2013  budget d uring a Feb. 14 meeting a fter m uch dismay from board me mber s an d school staff. The meeting h eated up so much that Tom Reed (At-Large) l eft the boardr oom before the meeting adjourned. The changes would offer almost $2.4 million in cuts with the loss of 40 newly proposed f ull-time equ ivalent positions. What s eemed like an ambush to some memb ers of the board a nd staff, left many unprep ared and w ithout bud get information to g ive other mem bers definite answers to what the cuts would do. Bill Fox ( Leesburg) first mot ioned to red uce the new staffing for large schools that would cut four positions totaling almost $338,000 in savings. The amendments he moved during the Feb. 1 4 meet ing were also moved in the Feb. 7 meet ing, but were later r etracte d due to uncertainty of the effect the cuts would make a nd were “not g iven proper consideration” according to Fox. “All of the board members have those amendments, they were already provided to everybody. There’s nothing new here. There shouldn’t be any issue of not having been able to see the motion in advance. Everybody had these a week ago,” Fox said. Fox’s motion, in tur n, spurr ed an a lmost 30-minute batt le over Rober t’s Rules to see if amending the proposed bu dget, whic h wa s approved on Feb. 7 and sent to the Board of Supervisors, was even legal. Fox’s motion came around 10:30 p.m. and was not on the agenda for the evening. Sup ervisor Dr. Edgar Hatrick’s presentation of the Capital Impr ovement Program an d the Capital A sset Preservation Program w ere on the docket to be discussed, but were pushed until next week’s meet ing—though staff and members were not made aware of the change ahead of time.  According to Chairman Eric Hornberger (Ashburn), during the Feb. 7 meeting Hatrick misinformed board member s a bout Fox’s motion “which prejudiced consideration by the  board.” He also said there is always a provision for new and old business during the meetings – which is when Fox’s motion occurred. “While I can appre ciate the perspectiv e by some in the pub lic tha t advanced notice sh ould have been gi ven of items under consideration by the board, under the circumstances, this simply was not reasonably possible within the limits of the School Board by-laws as last revised b y the pre vious School Board,” Hornberger said in a Facebook post. ” … the will of the majority u ltimately cannot be thwarted by t he confin es of an agenda, misinformation prov ided at the moment, or the relative in experience on the dais by n ewer board members.”  As questions started t o rise out of each position put on the chopping block, the more confu sed staff became. “We’re at a real disa dvantage because we don’t have an y of our bud get stuff here,” Hatrick said. “Staff has been sitting here tonight trying to follow what was being done. We meet to set the agenda, we publish the agenda. It talked about CIP or CAPP, neither of which did we address tonight. It’s really ha rd for u s to h elp if we’re not privy t o the fact tha t you were going to reope n the operating budget. Apparently some of you knew that w as going to occur. But certainly the staff didn’t. I hope you’ll consider that in the futu re as a court esy to staff because it’s prett y clear you were going to do it.” The first set of cuts include one high school dean, three elementary school librarians and a high school library assistant. “What you are saying to the six schools that have over 1,000 students, one librarian - you Stay Connected Follow Us on Twitter News | Sports Like Us on Facebook News & Sports Subscribe via RSS News | Sports Most Popular in News Thurs day, Mar. 1 | 9291 views Purcellville woman found guilt y of children’s constant tardiness Tuesday, Feb. 28 | 8 610 views Man charged after watching pornography in public library Saturday, Feb. 25 | 77 43 views Potential pipe bombs found in Sugarland Run, immed iately rendered safe Thurs day, Mar. 1 | 7327 views Simpson Middle avoids ‘act of  violence’ Friday, Feb. 24 | 7115 views USMC crash cla ims the life of Purcellville man News Opinions Sports Entertainment Blogs Video Classifieds Advertise UPDATE: School Board makes more budget cuts

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8/2/2019 UPDATE_ School Board Makes More Budget Cuts _ LoudounTimes

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3/6/12UPDATE: School Boardmakesmort cuts| LoudounTimes

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handle it,” Hatrick said.

Hornberger said last night’s meeting was the first opportunity for the board to bring up new issues and Robert’s Rules didn’t apply in this particular case. They were not rescinding the

 budget, he said, but amending it. Hornberger said that there would need to be a two-third’s vote for the motion to be carried.

“I am in absolute opposition only because my comments earlier suggested that we have not been as transparent as we should be with the public. We’ve opened this back up at 10:10 atnight is irresponsible I think,” Jennifer Bergel (Catoctin) said. Reed shared the samesentiments – which he showed by leaving the meeting early after voting.Bergel mentioned that cutting these new jobs would adversely affect the growing county and

that with these cuts the schools won’t be able to keep up with the growth.

 A good portion of the budget discussion was spent fighting over how motions should bepresented prior to meetings - for example being presented in writing for other members tolook over. Hornberger hinted at the fact that Bergel hadn’t put her motion through about a 2percent raise for employees after she was made aware of the county’s budget presentationduring the Feb. 7 meeting.

Fox also motioned to cut another 12 full-time equivalent positions that would result in savingalmost $548,000. The jobs include custodians, technology assistants, guidance counselorsand an assistant athletic director.

Kevin Kuesters (Broad Run) also motioned to reduce administrative staffing that would create23 new full-time equivalent positions with a cost savings of $1.5 million.

 With the newly proposed cuts and the loss of new jobs, Fox said that many of the otherstaffing in the schools could be shuffled around to make-do with any lacking areas of 

concern.

“This is just a proposed budget, nothing is final. We are not in danger of schools opening with no custodians,” Fox said. “If we get further information that shows conclusively that we will not be able to have the number of custodians we need to operate LCPS then we cancertain reevaluate in reconciliation. The staff will have ample time to examine the issue

 between no and the time our reconciliation discussions end.”

 When Reed asked Hornberger if he was aware that this issue was to be brought up tonightand why other members of the board were not informed, Hornberger replied that he “didn’tfeel it was necessary to answer the question.”

Comments

Tue, Feb 28 at 10:46 AM by Pepsiplease | Report this comment

Looks like FLES was the token sacrificial lamb to quiet down the budgetcutters here. Balance the school budget without a increase in taxes! How many streams of revenue does the school system bilk? The Feds, the state, thecounty, the lottery. Take public safety out and 83 cents of every property taxdollar is being spent on schools and the school debt. So where are you goingto get the money for ipads and full day kindergarden. Besides there should be a

amendment that any school surplus funds at the end of the year go towardsthe school debt. This is not a slush fund to be used at Hatrick, the school board or BOS discretion.

Sun, Feb 26 at 08:50 AM by schoolskunk | Report this comment

 What happened to the other 75 million in cuts? A 11 million dollar reductionin a 86 million dollar Increase is not a cut its a 75 million dollat increase! DidKuesters and Fox get scared of the incumbents? What about the other 4 new 

 board members, why haven’t they proposed cutting this gross pig of a budget. What ever happened to outsourceing the school busses? Is this another case where Ralph will say the previous board looked into it and he will vote againstit without further review sounds like shades of HS-8. How about cutting

 benefits for part time employees after all it’s a school system not a benefitcenter. What the hell is Mr. Hatrick driving a rented Corbra. Revise that

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