Board Adopts Budget

At its meeting on March 23, the Radford City School Board adopted the 2010-11 school division budget. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the budget development process this year was especially difficult as state revenue forecasts very early on indicated that funding for education was going to be cut significantly. So, it was no surprise when our actual budget numbers came in from the General Assembly. How much was cut?

In terms of operating funds alone, the adopted budget reflects a decrease of $895,424 from the 2009-10 budget. In order to close the gap, the Board left seven positions vacated through retirement or resignation unfilled for the 2010-11 school year. Leaving these positions unfilled will require a reassignment of some staff within the division. Line items involving travel, maintenance materials and supplies, and capital outlay were reduced for the second consecutive year. The final portion of the reduction was accomplished by applying significantly reduced VA Retirement System rates. In addition to our operating fund, budgets for textbooks, food service, grants, and capital projects will also be reduced.

Development of a budget with cuts of this magnitude requires a collaboration between individual schools and departments within the school division. Each school administrator and each director was requested to come to the table with suggested cuts to be presented to the board. Each member of our division leadership team contributed significantly to the process by providing solutions to our funding deficit. Throughout the process, our primary concern was meeting the needs of our students. As a result, we were able to collectively propose a budget that minimized the impact on children. This is certainly not an ideal budget, but one that we can live with under difficult circumstances.

While other school divisions are dealing with cuts from both the Commonwealth and the locality, we are very fortunate that the City of Radford has held firm in its commitment to our school system. I have communicated often with our City Manager, David Ridpath, regarding the state of the overall budget for the city. Even though Mr. Ridpath has shared that the city is expecting less money as well, he has recommended that City Council fund our schools at the same level as past years. For that, we are extremely appreciative.

As supporters of our schools, we certainly want you to know and understand our budget situation for the 2010-11 school year. While many of our citizens are "tightening their belts", your school system is doing the same. As always, thank you for all that you do to support our school system.

AP Scholar Recognitions

Fifteen current and recently graduated Radford High School students are among 18 percent of AP students across the nation, who were recognized this fall for their exceptional achievement on Advanced Placement Examinations.

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program (AP) offers students the opportunity to take college-level courses in high school and earn potential college credit for successful performance on the AP Exams.

Three Radford High School students qualified for the Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. These students are: Amy Hill, Rick Kellerman, and Malik Mubeen.

Six students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. These students are: Brandon Creger, Jake Giesen, Sanjay Kishore, Abby Lacy, Brittany Smith, and Arielle Weisbord.

Budget Update

On February 17, Governor McDonnell made public his proposal for reducing Virginia's budget. The Governor's plan calls for public education to be cut $731 million over the next two years. Cuts of this nature are potentially devastating to public school divisions throughout the Commonwealth. As various media outlets have reported, our school divisions must resort to cutting personnel in order to meet the drastic budget deficits that we are facing.

When the House of Delegates and Senate released their respective budgets last week, there was some positive news as the cuts do not appear as drastic; although, still significant. The House proposed reductions of $620 million while the Senate suggested cuts of $133 million. Regardless of the final outcome from the General Assembly, it is inevitable that our funding will be reduced for the next two years. The extent of those cuts is unknown at this point.