Alexandria City Public Schools

Home » News Releases » 2009-2010 » January 22, 2010

Budget Message from Superintendent Sherman to Community Leaders

Dear Community Leaders,

Last evening I presented the Proposed FY 2011 Combined Funds Budget (formerly known as the operating budget) to the School Board.

You can watch the video of the School Board presentation online.

The budget document and slide show presentation are posted at www.acps.k12.va.us/budgets/.

We have once again, during a challenging year, created a budget that supports the goals in our strategic plan, is congruent with our seven guiding principles, and champions higher student achievement. We have aligned all resources, including grants and special revenues, to eliminate redundancy and inefficiencies. What may have been viewed in previous years as "random acts of improvement" will become synchronized acts of improvement that build the bridge to higher student achievement.

As I said in my recent Alexandria Gazette column, our story in ACPS is much different than that of surrounding school divisions. We are not increasing class sizes, we are not cutting full-day Kindergarten, and we are not proposing large-scale layoffs. We ARE continuing on our path to higher achievement for each and every student, and we are able to do this by sharing, among our employees, that responsibility across the board. Employees may be faced with changes in their jobs and declines in take-home pay, but ACPS is committed to offering the opportunity for continued work in this school division to those who share the commitment, responsibility, and accountability for higher student achievement. And I have once again proposed a full step increase for employees to begin half-way through the contract year.

Not bad, considering enrollment has increased over 13% over the past three years, benefit costs have increased, and the use of stimulus (ARRA) funds has been curtailed because the state will use some of those funds to offset basic aid. Even with a City Council directive to the City Manager to include a 2% increase in the City appropriation, ACPS will receive less City money in FY 2011 compared to FY 2009.

Like last year, we have turned our current economic challenges into opportunities for change. Instead of trimming around the edges to protect programs that may or may not be successful, we have used our seven guiding principles to eliminate positions and programs that are not moving us forward, and add resources that will lead us toward our Strategic Plan goals. Over 7% of the total budget has been realigned, including 107.21 full-time positions. Page 17 of the Executive Summary in the budget document outlines all of the major changes. There are still several School Board work sessions and public hearings (view the calendar) to go before the budget is adopted by the School Board on Feb. 22. You'll receive regular updates throughout the budget process.

I am proud of this budget and what it does for kids:

  • Caps elementary class size at 20 for Kindergarten, 22 at grades 1-2, and 24 at grades 3-5
  • Adds elementary and middle school teachers
  • Supports exemplary programs
  • Includes and AP coordinator at the high school
  • Increases ELL staffing
  • Supports early childhood program initiative at John Adams
  • Does not cut programs

Through many hours of hard work, detailed analysis, realignment, grant applications and good ol' number crunching, we were able to continue on our path toward excellence while minimizing job loss and continuing to offer competitive salaries.

Sincerely,

Mort Sherman, Superintendent
Alexandria City Public Schools

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