Manassas Schools Seek Full Funding
Board Outlines Priorities for Lawmakers

By Christy Goodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 17, 2006

The Manassas School Board is tired of footing the bills created by state and federal education mandates.

The legislative priorities the board outlined for the city's Richmond delegation in the upcoming General Assembly session oppose new legislation without sufficient state funding -- including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's publicized pre-kindergarten plans and English for Speakers of Other Languages programs.

Ten cents of Manassas's property tax rate of 81.5 cents per $100 of assessed value is a federal tax, School Board Vice Chairman Scott Albrecht said. That money "does what the federal government should have done," he said at Wednesday's School Board meeting, after noting that the fiscal 2008 budget is less than rosy. The school system's current $91 million budget is estimated to grow by 2.4 percent.

The School Board said it would strongly support any legislation that would increase state funding for limited English proficiency or English for Speakers of Other Languages education, a measure the City Council also supports.

"We are all on the same sheet of music," Albrecht said. "Immigration is not a local issue. It is a federal issue, and we can't bear 100 percent of the costs."

Manassas city schools allocated $2.7 million, or 3 percent, of their fiscal 2007 budget to support ESOL programs. Of that, almost $1.3 million comes from the state and about $250,000 from federal grants. The ESOL funding does not include general education and testing costs.

"It is the citizens in Manassas here footing the bill on the ineptness of the federal government," School Board member Curtis W. Wunderly said.

Wunderly said ESOL and similar services are used by "people who only come here to take advantage of our generosity."

There are more cost-effective ways of running "this particular conundrum," including not hiring translators for parents and teachers, he said.

The school system's challenge is teaching students with the bare minimum of English proficiency, especially those in high school who also must meet graduation requirements, School Superintendent Gail Pope said.

She said the city needs more teachers to educate the quickly growing ESOL student population. In 2003, the city had 1,149 ESOL students; this year, that number grew to 2,354, 36 percent of total enrollment.

"When we can get additional funding for our second-language learners, that is always important. That is a large segment of our population, and we want to serve that population well," Pope said.

The School Board was divided on whether pre-kindergarten education for 4-year-olds is necessary. The majority of members said they opposed pre-kindergarten because there are too many unfunded mandates from the state.

Kaine (D) announced recently that he plans to propose legislation to fund more pilot programs for pre-kindergarten classes and conduct parental assessments of those programs.

The Manassas School Board also voted to oppose vouchers, tuition reimbursement or tax credits until the state fully funds its public schools.

The board, backed by Pope, did support pay raises for teachers.