February 2, 2022

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by: admin

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Tags: budget, education, gap, grows, million, proposed, School, Spotsylvania

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Categories: Special needs education

Proposed Spotsylvania college price range hole grows to $33 million | Schooling

The cost of unfunded needs in the Spotsylvania school division’s proposed budget for next fiscal year grew from $8.2 million to $33.14 million after the School Board weighed in during a work session Tuesday night.

As proposed last week by acting Superintendent Carol Flenard, the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, identified $8.2 million worth of needs that anticipated revenues from state and federal government will not cover and assumed no increase in funds from Spotsylvania County government.

That $8.2 million includes $5.65 million to fix compression in the teacher salary scale; $200,000 to increase academic and athletic grants; $500,000 to increase the minimum wage for hourly employees to $15 per hour; $1 million for classroom instructional needs, including 13 new positions at the elementary level; and a $3.2 million increase in health insurance and other benefits.

The School Board on Tuesday accepted these needs and debated adding $36.24 million in additional needs—the result of more than 60 questions and requests for division staff received from board members over the last week, Chief Finance Officer Prashant Shrestha said.

Board members asked to see the cost of modernizing salary scales for all employees ($19.7 million); the cost of adding up to 227 new full-time positions, including counselors, social workers, behavioral specialists, psychologists, security personnel, school program evaluators, maintenance support, transportation services, student health and wellness support and more ($16 million); and the cost of beefing up support for other school-based programs, such as science, technology and the arts ($530,000).

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