Stafford County School Board members on Tuesday night unanimously approved a $488.2 million budget for the next fiscal year, and, if all goes well next week, that action will stand.
The spending plan moved forward with the idea that the Board of Supervisors will designate $3.1 million for the schools, money that is estimated to be generated from an increase in the county meals tax.
But that action won’t be final until at least May 20, when the supervisors will hold a public hearing on the proposal, which would take the meals tax rate from 5 percent to 6 percent.
The revenue generated from the 1-percent increase would be devoted to raises for school employees. That would get their pay hikes as close as possible to the 2.75 percent bump that the supervisors approved for county government workers.
While the $3.1 million wouldn’t quite do the trick, it would get school-employee raises to 2.7 percent for the fiscal year beginning July 1, Superintendent Daniel Smith said.
The School Board approved a preliminary budget in February that would have given teachers an average 6-percent salary increase and support staff a raise of 4 percent.
But that spending plan totaled $503.1 million, and revenue at the time was projected to be only $484.8 million, which would have left a funding gap of $18.3 million.
After the state and county government budgets were finalized, though, the schools’ budget writers identified additional revenue that brought the gap down to $14.9 million. They then went about reducing the difference between revenue and expenditures to zero.
They were able to do this largely by reducing the employee raises initially approved, as well as eliminating one new job that had been in the initial budget — though the plan approved Tuesday still includes money to hire the equivalent of nearly 124 full-time positions — and making other moves. Those included budgeting for reductions in spending on items such as software and vehicle fuel.
The approved budget also includes pay raises for the School Board members that would be effective Jan. 1.
Member salary would go from $12,000 to $20,000, and a stipend for the chairman would increase by $800, bringing that figure to $2,000.
Overall, Board Chairwoman Maureen Siegmund said the school division is ”chronically under-resourced” and could use more funding, but that it made the most this year with the money it’s slated to receive.
“I think we made the absolute best out of every cent we were allocated,” she said. “And I am very glad that in addition to, you know, doing what we could on salaries, we are not also increasing class sizes on top of that.”
School Board member Alyssa Halstead, though, didn’t put quite as positive of a spin on the situation.
She pointed out that the budget had to be balanced by cutting what would have been personnel costs, not just eliminating other, smaller expenditures. That meant real people were affected.
“So it’s not, we ordered extra staplers, and we are throwing a pizza party for kindergartners — which we should do anyway — but that’s not what we’re doing here,” said Halstead, who represents the Hartwood District.
Elementary redistricting
In other business Tuesday, the School Board voted unanimously for a redistricting plan that would go into effect in the 2026-27 school year, when two new elementary schools — the county’s 18th and 19th — will open.
The members approved one of three proposals named for colors. The one chosen was known as “Scenario Lime.”
It calls for Elementary 18, which hasn’t been named, to have 980 students: 155 reassigned from Falmouth Elementary, 192 from Hartwood Elementary and 633 from Rocky Run Elementary.
The new school would relieve crowded schools in southern Stafford.
Elementary 19, which also is yet to be named, would open with 973 students: 448 from Burns Elementary, 332 from Stafford Elementary, 192 from Winding Creek Elementary and one from Grafton Village Elementary. It would relieve crowded schools in North Stafford.
Board members also discussed exempting fifth-graders from redistricting, allowing them to finish at the school where they started, but that proposal failed on a 3-4 vote.
However, board member Sarah Chase, who represents the Falmouth District, pointed out that the elementary redistricting will be different than what will take place when Stafford’s sixth high school opens. Rising seniors at the existing five high schools won’t be required to go to the new school, so they can stay at the school they’ve attended for three years.
Retention bonuses
The School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to provide one-time retention bonuses for employees, as well.
Full-time employees would get $700, and part-timers would receive lesser amounts prorated based on how much they work. The payments would be covered by $3.4 million in state funding.
The School Board made all of these votes on a day in which they held three separate meetings, an unusually busy slate.
