As LCPS Budget Adoption Approaches, Members Raise Concerns
ASHBURN, VA — As the new Loudoun County School Board prepares for the school division’s budget adoption, several members raised concerns Tuesday about the proposed budget increase.
The School Board made up of entirely new members is grappling with a limited timeline for budget consideration after the Superintendent’s Estimate of Needs was presented on Jan. 18 and budget approval is slated for Feb. 6. The final budget is dependent on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors’ upcoming budget process, as about 70 percent of LCPS funding comes from the county.
The $1.8 billion Loudoun County Public Schools operating budget proposed by Superintendent Aaron Spence would be a 9.4 percent increase from the current fiscal year’s budget. The budget includes pay step increases and top-of-scale payments for LCPS employees as well as a 4 percent cost-of-living adjustment for universal and auxiliary salary scales. Teachers would receive an average 4 percent pay scale adjustment. The budget also accounts for a proposal from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin for a 1 percent bonus payment for eligible full-time employees.
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Personnel costs represent 90 percent of the school operating budget. Some of the personnel increases are tied to two new schools opening in fall 2024 — Watson Mountain Middle School in the rural part of Leesburg and Henrietta Lacks Elementary School in Aldie. The new schools will prompt 60 new positions. Another 72.8 school-based positions are proposed in the budget to support efforts like creating a new alternative school, transitioning the STEP program to full day, boosting student support specialists and providing flexible school staffing.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Some School Board members voiced hesitancy about supporting a budget increase or more administrative positions.
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Leesburg District representative Lauren Shernoff said if LCPS does not tie proposed increases to enrollment, she wants to know how each proposed increase aligns with the school division’s strategic plan goals. She supports “opportunities to streamline and reallocate funds before we propose a budget increase.”
“I have several apprehensions when it comes to the 9.45 increase that is being proposed,” said Shernoff. “It’s my belief that although I know these proposals are well-intentioned, that we as board members serve as the checks and balances for the budget and have an obligation to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.”
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Ashburn District representative Deana Griffiths said she can understand increases due to inflation and pay step increases but can’t justify other increases due to enrollment projects. Griffiths said that school operations are proposed to increase by 53 percent despite enrollment projected to increase by less than 1,000 students in the coming years. She noted that enrollment is not quite recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, when LCPS saw a 2,600 enrollment decline.
“If this proposal is accepted as presented, the cost per pupil is nearly $21,000 per pupil,” said Griffiths. “It concerns me that the lion’s share of the new expenses are dedicated to the upper admin level, I will need to see substantial data that shows how these new positions will improve academic outcomes for students.”
Griffiths called for an outside auditor to improve accountability and transparency as well as eliminating the highly-paid communications office director to instead support student-facing instructors.
Sterling District Arben Istrefi said the new School Board members are all asking questions to understand the need for the 9.4 percent increase. He wants to see a breakdown of how much salary increases, the two new schools, and new positions or increases to existing programs contribute to the proposed budget increase.
“I think for me, what I think would be helpful for myself and potentially all the school board members is to get a breakdown of that 9.4 percent increase. And what I mean by breakdown is to understand first and foremost, one of the levers that we have as a school division is the salary increases across the board,” said Istrefi. “And I would like to know how much, knowing that 90 percent of our budget is salaries, how much is that driving the increase in the [Superintendent’s Estimate of Needs].”
According to the superintendent’s previous budget presentation, central office administrative support represents 2.48 percent of the proposed budget.
Any budget amendments proposed by School Board members are due by Monday, Feb. 5. A public hearing and School Board adoption of the budget is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at the LCPS Administration Building board room, 21000 Education Court, Ashburn, VA.
The county budget process will also get underway in February. The Loudoun County administrator will present the fiscal year 2025 budget proposal to the Board of Supervisors in February.
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