Another quiet meeting. However, the School Board did receive an interesting presentation on third quarter Fiscal Year 2007 budget status.
Musical Presentation
The Singing Knights from Glenkirk Elementary School performed. They did a nice job, and the end of their performance, their fan club created some minor amusement. When most of the audience walked out after the Singing Knights performance, Lucy Beauchamp observed, ” I know who matters at this meeting.”
Consent Agenda
Some interesting items on the the Consent Agenda included:
- Approved payrolls for March 2007 in the amount of $40,387,573.52.
- Awarded a contract to Autumn Contract, Inc., in the total amount of $631,000.00, for roof renovation at Fred Lynn Middle School.
Third Quarter FY 2007 Budget Review
Good news! Associate Superintendent Kisha projects a $600,000 surplus for FY 2007. Actually, this number is somewhat larger than it seems. Due to less spending on salaries and utility bills than anticipated, the school division will have over $29,000,000 in “available funds.” $13,422,000 will be carried over to the next year. Nonetheless, $9,114,294 will be used to cover shortfalls in the revenues the county was suppose to provide.
Beauchamp emphasized the tiny surplus $600,000, relative to an overall budget of $780,000,000. When one considers that the Available Funds included a General Reserve equal to $11,385,636 and a Holdback Allocation equal to $640,045, Beauchamp risks overstating the tininess of the $600,000 surplus. What the $600,000 describes are those funds over and above the margin required to comply with regulations and to maintain the school division’s bond rating.
Consider one other thing. Even though $600,000 is relatively small, the School Board still did not feel the need to further reduce spending.
Superintendent Walts’ Time
Walts’ agenda included these items.
- Due to the shootings at Virginia Tech, Superintendent Walts went over in some detail the security measures the school division has in place. Walts provided a slide presentation. Unfortunately, the slides were not made available separately. So to give you some idea of what Walt said, I have linked to an announcement the school system sent out in October 2006 after some other episodes of school violence (here). If you are really interested in current status of school security, click on the recording of the April 25 School Board meeting (here) and skip to the beginning of Dr. Walts’ presentation.
- Walts also mentioned program sponsored by Catholics for Housing and NV Homes. The program involves providing affordable townhouses for public employees, including teachers. Details are available at the Northern Virginia for Affordable Housing Alliance web site.
