Bedford school officials hope for smoother budget ride

The last few years of school budget planning in Bedford County have been rocky with cuts, potential school closures and a few spiteful interactions among officials.

But school board members and Superintendent Doug Schuch hope the process will be smoother as budget talks near.

“We’ve cut, we’ve cut, we’ve cut,” Schuch said at Thursday’s meeting. “Can we hold the line? That’s what we’re going to try to do.”   

Schuch has not yet presented a recommended fiscal plan. He is set to do so March 15. Meanwhile, he and staff met individually with school board members, principals, committees and PTAs to talk about planning ahead and setting priorities in tight economic times.

Schuch said one thing he wants to avoid is presenting state funding numbers prematurely, when those numbers could change. This year’s later start to the budget process, he said, will not result in a delay in presenting the budget to the county supervisors.

At a public hearing Thursday on the 2013 fiscal year budget, Becky Griffith, of Forest, said this year is a chance to start fresh after a “tedious and divisive” budget process a year ago. But the county board of supervisors needs to step up with needed funding, the Jefferson Forest High School parent said.

Last year, the supervisors level funded the division and chose not to appropriate more than $1 million recommended by county staff to the schools. There was discord surrounding a proposal to close Bedford Primary School, which did not happen.

“This action hurt every student of Bedford County schools,” Griffith said.

The reluctance of supervisors to raise taxes to help the schools will remain a battle — likely without compromise, she said, adding the county should be held accountable. She mentioned $3 million in surplus the county has leftover from the 2010-11 fiscal year, which she said could help the schools.

Elizabeth Creasy, representing Bedford Primary’s PTA, asked school board members to keep all schools open and all sports teams in tact.

She urged school officials to “calm the waters” of bickering among the three attendance zones. “In reality, each zone should be equal,” she said.

Karen Nuzzo, a teacher representing the Bedford County Education Association, implored the board to consider employees in upcoming budget decisions.

“We cannot put our children first if we put our teachers last,” Nuzzo said.

Possibly the biggest challenge the board faces is a nearly $3 million additional expense as a result of changes in Virginia Retirement System rates in Gov. Bob McDonnell’s state budget proposal. Schuch said the division hopes to receive relief from the state.

Chairman Dave Vaden said the board agrees with many parents who do not want to see the size of classrooms increase because of funding cuts and mentioned the roughly 150 positions cut in recent years.

“That trend needs to stop,” Vaden said.

In other news:

» Chief Financial Officer Randy Hagler presented a financial report for the second quarter of the current fiscal year from October to December.

Operating revenue was projected at nearly $674,000 more than budgeted and expenses were just more than $444,000 less than budgeted, resulting in an ending operating balance projection of $1.1 million.

Hagler updated the board on two proposed amendments to McDonnell’s 2012-14 biennial budget proposal that, if approved, would increase state revenue by $243,000 in the next school year. He recently said the school system could see $426,000 in added state revenue based on the proposal.

» The board agreed to support a bill in the General Assembly proposing to repeal the state’s Labor Day law prohibiting school systems without a waiver, which does not include Bedford schools, to start the school year prior to the holiday.