Superintendents' Budget Proposals Foretell Grim Times for Area Schools

Fairfax County Superintendent Jack D. Dale unveiled a $2.2 billion annual budget yesterday for the area's largest school system that would shave the current spending level by freezing salaries, increasing average class size by half a student or more and cutting hundreds of teaching, counseling and other positions.

Alexandria Superintendent Morton Sherman also mapped out a $197 million budget that trims $1.8 million, or about 1 percent, from this school year's spending level.

Both spending plans head to local school boards for what could be highly charged public debate. The two school systems expect to operate with less money and fewer employees while enrollment grows. Similar impacts will ripple across the region as school officials grapple with some of the worst revenue shortfalls in almost two decades.

The magnitude of proposed cuts to programs and staff represents a major shift for Fairfax schools, which are accustomed to nurturing cutting-edge programs and cultivating a top-notch reputation.

"We still have a mission to accomplish to empower all students to be high academic achievers," Dale said in advance of a school board budget meeting last night. "That will be a challenge with this budget."

Dale's plan assumes the 169,000-student system will add more than 5,000 students, at an expense of about $40 million, and that state funding will be reduced by about the same amount. In all, the school system's revenue is expected to fall short by more than $200 million of the level officials say they would need to maintain a similar level of quality.

To ease the financial crunch, he is requesting a 3.5 percent increase in county education funding, or $57 million. Even with a bump in county funding, the plan would trim 250 positions from the staff and increase class size by half a student countywide. It would also reduce overall spending about $10 million, a watershed for a school system that has secured significant annual increases in funding in recent years. Central office funding would be cut 10 percent, and positions for social workers, psychologists and counselors would also be trimmed.

The plan also would eliminate transportation to two arts magnet schools and limit bus service to gifted and talented centers and career academies.

Dale's proposal, the most austere for Fairfax in 15 years, appears optimistic. The county's share of the school budget increased 2.5 percent in the fiscal year that began in July, and tax revenue has continued to fall. County supervisors are eyeing deep cuts to some services, and some have indicated that school officials need to prepare for a budget with no increase in county funding.

Dale outlined a "grim scenario" with no bump in county funding that he warned could be a severe setback for the schools. That scenario would raise average class size another 1 1/2 students, cut some extracurricular programs and eliminate summer school completely. It would shed almost 800 positions.

Dale said layoffs for teachers are unlikely but might be necessary among some central office staff.

In both scenarios, a large share of the burden will be borne by employees, who will be serving more students for the same pay, or sometimes less pay. The school board recently approved a policy change that will make it easier to move employees into lower-paying jobs.

Dale proposed in both scenarios that teachers not only forgo a cost-of-living raise but also their annual seniority or "step" raises, a move that would save $37 million.

Leonard Bumbaca, president of the Fairfax Education Association, called that proposal "shortsighted" and said it would disproportionately hurt teachers.

"Trying to remedy that is extremely painful," he said. "Even in good financial years, it's hard to find the money" to get teachers' salaries back on track. The association, which represents 7,000 educators, has suggested that giving teachers a two- or three-day furlough or delaying step raises would be a better way to cut costs.

Teachers across the region are looking at little change to their salaries. Montgomery County employees agreed to forgo a contracted 5 percent cost-of-living raise, and Loudoun County employees would not receive any adjustment for inflation for a second year in a row. Alexandria's proposal for the fiscal year that starts in July calls for no raises of any kind for the first half of the school year.

Class size policy varies sharply from place to place. Loudoun officials are considering an increase in class size from a half student to two students on average, similar to Fairfax's plan, depending on how much funding the county provides. Prince George's County might raise class size in early grades. The Montgomery and Alexandria school proposals would keep their averages about the same.

In Alexandria, Sherman, who took charge of the 11,000-student system this school year, called his first spending plan "a selfless budget" that will require sacrifices from staff. About 79 full-time positions would be cut, including 61 custodial jobs that could be replaced by an outside contractor. "This is budget for kids and that's what a school budget must be -- for kids," he said.