Schools Chief Hopes to Avoid 'Budget of Destruction'

As the economy worsens, the Loudoun County school system and others in the area are bracing at an unusually early point in the budget cycle for what may be the worst fiscal crunch in years. Loudoun Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III said that if school construction spending is slashed, the region's fastest-growing system might have trouble accommodating new students in coming years.

In an interview, the superintendent acknowledged the looming fiscal challenge facing the affluent county. "It certainly won't be a budget of expansion," Hatrick said last week. "I also don't want it to be a budget of destruction."

Elsewhere in the region, schools are starting to feel squeezed. Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry D. Weast announced a freeze this month on many categories of hiring and spending. Last week, Fairfax County supervisors rejected a $130 million plan to buy and renovate a Falls Church area building for school headquarters.

So far, Loudoun schools have not felt that kind of pinch. But the county faces a $176 million budget shortfall in the fiscal year that begins in July 2009, in part because real estate tax revenue is projected to drop sharply as the housing market plummets. The county spends more than 70 percent of its budget on education, so any shortfall means a tighter budget for the 54,000-student system.

"I think there will be a modest increase in the total amount of money [the schools] get," said Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge), "but it will not be anywhere near what they expect. . . . I hope it will not be contentious."

Operating expenses, including teacher salaries, account for about three-fourths of the school budget, which exceeds $1 billion. Hatrick said school officials have some flexibility to contain such expenses in a budget pinch.

But capital expenses, including new schools, are much less flexible. Every year, the school system adds enough students to fill a high school, a middle school and an elementary school, and a slowdown in construction could rapidly lead to overcrowding. Enrollment in the county grew more than 14 percent from 2005 to 2007, making Loudoun the only system in the Washington suburbs with double-digit growth during that period.

Hatrick said he will review class size and transportation costs as he weighs the operating budget. "Everything has to be out there for consideration," he said. But he ruled out a wage freeze, saying that would leave the county at a disadvantage.

School officials said it is difficult to predict the budget at this point, in part because state funding estimates will not be available until later this year. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said last week that although the state faces major shortfalls, he will try to postpone education cuts.

The Loudoun School Board is scheduled to meet with the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7 to begin budget discussions. A proposed school budget is expected to go to supervisors in January.