Dear Parents,

I've devoted some time to understanding the ACPS funding request as well as the general county budgeting process & data.  Below are some general summary statements: 

- Requested funding: $8.98M requested increase in funding is not extravagant but rather funding that enables ACPS to meet  obligations ($6.8M), accommodate population growth ($816K), provide basic services ($300K) and make very modest investments ($1M or less) towards maintaining our schools' educational excellence. 

- Funding Gap: Current gap in funding: $5.8M  The County & state are contributing more ($5.7M) to the schools than in past years but it is not enough to cover our expenses, especially given recent changes in county & state gov't policies   

- Expenditure per student: We are spending over $1000 less per student than we did 5 years ago (in real dollars, calculated based on Dept of Labor CPI data). Chart provided on page 3 for visual summary of expenditure per pupil since 2008/09 in real dollar.

- Teacher pay increase: Teachers should get the requested 2% pay increase in 2014/15. All county departments have agreed to ask for a 2% raise for all county employees.  We have top-notch teachers who deserve to be paid a fair wage for the value they bring to our children & community.  

- Increased revenue via taxes:  One way to increase revenue for the schools is to increase real estate taxes. Albemarle County does not have a particularly high tax rate compared to our peers (6th lowest among top 20 most populated VA counties) or our history (Current tax bill for average homeowner (home $275K) is lower than in 2009 & 2010).  A modest tax increase can result in improved funding for the schools. 

- Let the Board of Supervisors know what you'd like to see happen: We need to hold BOS members accountable to their campaign stances while recognizing that many of them desire to do so!   We need to provide them & their constituents with a strong justification for voting to fully fund the schools.

I have created a document (linked here) containing background information on these statements based on the ACPS budget funding request and some information I have gathered from public sources or calculated myself (in the case of real dollar expenditures per students).  Please feel free to use this to understand the current ACPS request for funding from our superintendent Dr Moran and, if you can, to prepare either a letter or a short statement for the budget hearing on Monday night.

Also note that there is a petition in support of the ACPS funding request at:

 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/support-excellence-in-education-in-albemarle  

And please do consider joining us at the Board of Supervisor's Hearing regarding the 2014/2015 budget

- Location: County Office Building, Lane Auditorium, 401 McIntire Road, Charlottesville, VA

- Time: 2/24/14  6pm

- You can sign up to speak by clicking here

- What to wear if you support funding the budget:  RED!

- It is common practice to stand if you support what the current speaker is saying.

Please email me if you have any questions: lsteenburgh@gmail.com

- Laura Steenburgh

MLS PTO President  

February 25-27th

Book Fair

Wednesday, February 26th 5:30 pm

Family Night at the Book Fair