Jumping in Because I have Nothing to Do Tonight Wrote:
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> to Simple Answer will do Wrote:
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> -----
> > Unfortunately, simple answers won't do.
>
> Yes, simple answers would do, if Dale and company
> were honest and forthcoming. Several of the new
> board members were surprised when they were told
> that the multi-million dollar budget staff could
> not drill down each budget line to see where the
> money was actually spent. If I said that about the
> programs I manage I would be fired on the spot.
> ---No, not irrational to ask where the money went. Did someone ask? What was the answer?
>Yes, the school board asked. The Gatehouse answer was "We don't know." It's buried in a 200+ page response document that is available on web if you want to look.
http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/8URJE74C7961/$file/FY2013Responses%20for%20Posting5-29-12.pdf
I went to the 200+ pages of responses you talked about. Had to search a while to find them so I included the link above. I don’t see anyone asking where the money went in years past. I see two questions asking what the money is used for and if the spending is considered “discretionary” and could be used to increase salaries instead. Here are the two questions and answers.
Q (Hynes). The FY 2013 Proposed Budget includes funding of $2.0 million to increase the staffing reserve to address class size. Please provide details about how that money would be allocated and why 26 positions were included.
January 31 answer
Annually, the staffing reserve budget includes teacher and instructional assistant positions as a contingency for staffing requirements identified before the school year begins (August) and through the month of January. Typically, the staffing reserve has been used to increase classroom positions at schools when enrollment exceeds projection, address unique special education circumstances, and help reduce/eliminate combination classes at the elementary school level. The FY 2013 Proposed Budget includes funding of $2.0 million for 26.0 additional teacher positions that will be utilized to reduce the number of large classes (30+ students per teacher) operating across the school system. Positions will be allocated during normally scheduled staffing meetings and the majority of general education adjustments come in the months of August and September. During budget development, a target of $2.0 million was established and is sufficient to fund 26.0 teacher positions. This number of teacher positions is an estimate of the number needed based on past experience.
Q (Schultz). Since these are discretionary funds (reserve), can the School Board use “discretion” to direct use… for salaries as it elects?
May 7 answer
The FY 2013 Advertised Budget includes teacher staffing reserve funding of $10.9 million which reflects an increase of $1.5 million. This increase is the result of funding added to the teacher staffing reserve in the FY 2013 budget specifically to mitigate large class sizes, as well as a two percent market scale adjustment. The teacher staffing reserve is used to fund additional teacher positions allocated to 210 schools based on membership growth and demographic changes above projections and, in the case of the funding added in FY 2013, specifically to address large class sizes. In FY 2012 all of the positions in the staffing reserve were distributed to schools to accommodate school staffing needs. Because this reserve is used each year to support school staffing needs, the staffing reserve is not considered discretionary funding.