Use caution with glove-box carry on school grounds . . .

[skidmark]

I just sat in a city council meeting this week, where it was revealed that fully one-third of the entire city budget went to the school board. That doesn't sound very "independent" to me.

TFred

I think there was some "shorthand" being used there. One third of all funds for "operating" the city sounds about right for the school systyem, but you will find that the Fredericksburg City School Board is elected separately from the City Council and that the School Board sets its own budget. It would not be unusual for the City to collect the school's taxes along with the City's all in the same bill, without breaking it down for the taxpayer as to how much goes to which budget. The City usually waits for the School Board to set their budget so they can merge the two into a single taxpayer bill. It used to be that City Council could veto the School Board's buget, but not any mor - all they can do is tell the taxpayer how much to fork over.

http://www.cityschools.com/upload/PolicyRegsManual/Section B/BB.pdf While the members of the School Board are "Officers of the Commonwealth" just as the Sheriff and the City Treasurer are constitutional officers. Employees of those officers are not state employees, so teachers are not state employees. One of the ways to tell is by looking to see under which policy and procedure manual they are govered - teachers are not goverened by the Dept. of Human Resources P&P Manual, but by their local Board's P&P manual.

I must be the only bureaucrat around here, or at least the only one that was formally trained in the operation and functioning of bureaucracies. I ought to charge consulting fees!

stay safe.

 

[TFred]

I think there was some "shorthand" being used there. One third of all funds for "operating" the city sounds about right for the school systyem, but you will find that the Fredericksburg City School Board is elected separately from the City Council and that the School Board sets its own budget. It would not be unusual for the City to collect the school's taxes along with the City's all in the same bill, without breaking it down for the taxpayer as to how much goes to which budget. The City usually waits for the School Board to set their budget so they can merge the two into a single taxpayer bill. It used to be that City Council could veto the School Board's buget, but not any mor - all they can do is tell the taxpayer how much to fork over.

I dunno, I have been attending city council meetings off and on for about 3 years now, and I don't ever remember hearing anything that would support such a model. Granted, my eyes sort of start to glaze over when they get to the money issues, but I think something like this would have stuck out. I'll have to do some more digging.

TFred

 

[skidmark]

Legal status of the School Board: http://www.cityschools.com/upload/PolicyRegsManual/Section B/BB.pdf Members of the Board are Constitutional officers, just like the Sheriff and the Treasurer - but employees of those officers are not state employees. See the policy and personnel manuals they operate under http://www.cityschools.com/upload/PolicyRegsManual/index.php?path=Section+G/ and http://www.cityschools.com/upload/PolicyRegsManual/index.php . If they were state employees they would come under the state Department of Human Resources Management http://www.dhrm.virginia.gov/hrpolicy/policy.html .

Some times I think I am the only bureaucrat here - and yes, I was professionally educated and trained in the organization and operation of bureaucracies. Got a grad school degree on the subject and everything.

stay safe.

 

[2a4all]

There is a certain minimum that the locality must fund, but anything beyond that is usually some sort of compromise between what the school board wants, and what the locality can afford. But anyhow, without expanding firearms preemption to include autonomous organizations like school boards, B0wman is out of luck.

As an example of how localities fund school districts, here's an excerpt from Newport News' Position Paper for their FY 2013 budget. (http://www.nngov.com/budget-and-evaluation/downloads/fy2013budget/fy2013positionpapers.pdf)

Overview
The school divisions in Virginia have no taxing authority and are not fiscally independent. Therefore, they must rely on Federal, State, and local governments to fund their Operating Budget requirements. Deciding the level of local support for the City’s public school system becomes one of the most significant budgetary policy points in the development and final adoption of the annual Operating Budget.


Issue
In Virginia, a significant portion of local schools revenue is State funding that is received through sales tax revenue apportionments, basic aid to support the Standards of Quality (SOQ), and other incentive-based or categorical revenues approved by the General Assembly during its biennial budget considerations. Under State policy, the local government is required to contribute at least a minimum level of funding that is determined by a Required Local Effort (RLE), which computes the locality’s ability to pay for education. The RLE is calculated for Standards of Quality funding, based on
March average daily membership (ADM) projections. For FY 2012, the minimum Required Local Effort required by the City of Newport News is $41,588,948. However, the City actually will contribute $112,200,000, which includes $12.4 million in City supported School Fund debt service. This additional $70,611,052 in City funding represents the recognition that the State has not fully funded its SOQ obligations and, that even if it did, this amount of State funding would not be sufficient to support the level of educational services desired in this community. In developing a recommended Operating Budget, the School Superintendent each year must determine new or changed funding the School Division can expect to receive from
the State, from Federal Impact Aid, and from other miscellaneous revenue. The difference between the revenue sources and the School’s base operating needs, plus additional funding for any new initiatives, becomes the foundation for the request for local funding. In reality, the amount of local funding requested is often tempered by the School Division’s understanding of the extent to which the City’s General Fund resources may change from one fiscal year to the next.

 

[Old Virginia Joe]

I just sat in a city council meeting this week, where it was revealed that fully one-third of the entire city budget went to the school board. That doesn't sound very "independent" to me.

TFred

Wow. Y'all are getting a bargain for your taxes! In Isle of Wight County I seem to remember we are paying about 60-65 percent of our entire county budget on "education." It hurts to admit that, as a homeschooling tax payer, but oh, well, we makes our choices and lives with 'em.

 

[roscoe13]

Wow. Y'all are getting a bargain for your taxes! In Isle of Wight County I seem to remember we are paying about 60-65 percent of our entire county budget on "education." It hurts to admit that, as a homeschooling tax payer, but oh, well, we makes our choices and lives with 'em.

You might actually be getting the bargain, IOW may just be wasting less money on other useless expenditures....

Roscoe

 

[TFred]

Wow. Y'all are getting a bargain for your taxes! In Isle of Wight County I seem to remember we are paying about 60-65 percent of our entire county budget on "education." It hurts to admit that, as a homeschooling tax payer, but oh, well, we makes our choices and lives with 'em.

You might actually be getting the bargain, IOW may just be wasting less money on other useless expenditures....

Roscoe

Well there's your classic "glass is half full", "glass is half empty" difference in perspectives!

I prefer, "The glass is actually all the way full: one-half water, one-half air!"

Not sure how that fits with budgets, however...



TFred