School spending: Do Spotsy cuts hit target?

Related data: Per-student spending for administration costs | Spotsy, Fredericksburg, Stafford data | Central office cuts in Spotsylvania

Related story: School administration spending examined

BY PAMELA GOULD

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

When then-Spotsylvania County Superintendent Shelley Redinger announced the first phase of her plan to streamline the school division this spring, she began by listing 19 central office positions that had been cut over the previous three years.

Then she presented nearly $1 million in savings for the next school year by cutting eight more central office positions and downgrading nine others.

Reaction was positive because her cuts targeted what most people would consider administrative jobs—those without direct contact with students—that people typically suggest should be the first to go.

The plan was especially popular with parents and politicians because Spotsylvania’s school division had lost 197 teaching positions over the previous three budget cycles.

But when viewed through the lens of state record-keeping guidelines, Redinger’s cuts didn’t achieve what the public perceived.

True, over the past four budget cycles Spotsylvania eliminated 27 nonteaching positions.

But according to categories defined by the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, most of those positions—21 of 27—aren’t considered administrators.

And with both the Stafford and Spotsylvania county boards of supervisors exerting increased control over school division spending during budget discussions this spring, the issue and definitions take on added significance.

In Stafford, for example, supervisors threw down the gauntlet over a plan to replace worn school carpet, rather than spend it on instruction.

And in Spotsylvania, four new supervisors and one of three veterans chose to take greater control over school spending for fiscal 2013 by instituting categorical funding of the school system.

As of July 1, school officials must submit a request any time they want to move budgeted funds from one of the following categories to another:

Instruction.

Transportation.

Maintenance.

Technology.

Debt service.

Administration, attendance and health.

The “administration, attendance and health” category is where most people would expect to find central office positions. But most of those jobs don’t fall there under the state auditor’s guidelines.

For an apples to apples comparison of education spending in school districts across the Fredericksburg region, The Free Lance–Star assembled a decade’s worth of data gathered from those districts by the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts.

The newspaper focused on the two categories of greatest interest to parents, educators and government officials: instruction and administration.

The state auditor’s office dictates how the information is reported, but its guidelines don’t necessarily match how divisions categorize staff and spending or how the general public thinks of them.

Redinger, who left the division in June to become the superintendent in Spokane, Wash., was surprised to discover how the state auditor classifies some positions and said it differs from how they’re categorized in other state agencies.

Such situations add to the confusion about how the public perceives Spotsylvania’s cuts and how government officials view them.

That, Redinger said, is something the school division will need to keep in mind during the 2012–13 school year as it addresses categorical funding issues with the Board of Supervisors.

“I think that constant communication is going to be very important,” she said.

STATE DEFINITIONS

The state auditor lumps administration, attendance and health into one category and defines it as duties that establish and carry out policy, promote student health, conduct psychological tests and enforce attendance laws.

“Administration,” specifically, includes the School Board, superintendent, public information office, finance, planning, purchasing, and human resources.

“Attendance and health” includes school nurses, psychological services, testing for hearing problems, and staff tasked with addressing compulsory attendance.

“Instruction,” as expected, is defined as activities that deal directly with the interaction between teachers and students.

This category includes classroom teachers as well as instructional support staff such as guidance counselors, school social workers, and folks who develop curriculum.

It also includes school-based administrators such as principals and assistant principals.

SPOTSYLVANIA’S CUTS

Over the past four budget cycles—for the 2009–10 through 2012–13 school years—Spotsylvania cut 27 positions it classifies as “central office.”

Of those, just six fall into the state’s category of “administration, attendance and health.”

The remainder are a mix of jobs classified by the auditor as instruction or maintenance or technology.

The six that fall under the state auditor’s administration, attendance and health category were a webmaster, a psychologist, a purchasing agent, a registered dietitian, a public information office program assistant, a human resources retention specialist, and a part-time physical therapist.

Most of the cuts—14 of the 27—fall under the state auditor’s instruction category, though they are administrative in nature and based at the central office.

The school division also cut two maintenance and five technology positions.

The four positions cuts and one reclassification in the technology department account for most of the savings in Redinger’s streamlining plan, providing a savings of $507,160.

The biggest single savings came from eliminating the assistant superintendent for technology position, which cost $187,014 annually in salary and benefits.

That position and the seven others Redinger eliminated from the central office for the 2012–13 school year saved nearly $1 million dollars.

But none of those jobs are considered administration by the state auditor.

The only portion of the cuts that qualify as administration are savings of $64,175 realized by downgrading two other assistant superintendent positions to the executive director level.

While the cuts may not translate to the state auditor, Redinger said they achieved her goal of directing increased resources to classrooms.

“What we’re saying is we’re going to make cuts at the district level and support the school sites,” she said.

Scott Baker, who succeeded Redinger as superintendent this month, shares her priorities for the division.

He said the goal is always to use nonclassroom resources as effectively as possible to protect the schools and classrooms.

“That is always going to be the goal—in good budget years and bad budget years,” he said. “We’re always going to be looking to increase support to schools for teaching and learning.”

SIDEBAR: SUPERVISORS TAKE MORE CONTROL IN SCHOOL SPENDING

BY PAMELA GOULD

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Spotsylvania County’s School Board and Board of Supervisors have the same priorities for education spending: a focus on the classroom and a decrease in the number of students per teacher.

The means to achieve them is where friction exists.

School Board members have said categorical funding will complicate matters, increasing the workload for the Finance Department and hindering the goal of lowering student–teacher ratios.

The School Board approved hiring someone to help the Finance Department handle the additional paperwork categorical funding will demand. But the division isn’t immediately moving to fill the new position.

Board member Bill Blaine, the most vocal critic of categorical funding, voted to adopt the fiscal 2013 budget with a “$100,000 reservation”—a reference to the salary and benefits for the additional finance person.

School Board member Dawn Shelley hasn’t commented publicly on categorical funding, but voiced her displeasure over adding a finance person to the payroll when demands on teachers and class sizes have burgeoned in recent years.

But Ann Heidig, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, said categorical funding shouldn’t be cause for alarm.

“Categorical funding, to me, makes both the School Board and the Board of Supervisors accountable for the money that goes to the school system,” she said.

It’s meant to forge a partnership between the boards.

tighten from here“I just see it as a way of doing business,” she said.

It’s one she practiced for years as a civilian program analyst for Air Force intelligence. She oversaw a six-year budget as it unfolded and routinely went back to three federal agencies and Congress whenever money needed to be shifted from the originally approved category to a different one.

“I personally don’t see this as a big deal,” Heidig said.

In addition, she said the process could benefit schools if revenues improve. As an example, she said if fuel costs rise again next year and the school division asks to move funds from one category into transportation, the supervisors instead might provide additional money outright.

“We may be able to help in some way,” Heidig said.

She said she hopes the two boards will grow to better understand the pressures each faces as they work through the funding process.

Blaine, for one, would prefer to eliminate it.

“My hope and my appeal to the Board of Supervisors is that they rescind that requirement,” he said at a recent meeting.

But Heidig, who took office in January with three other new supervisors, doesn’t see that happening.

“I expect it to last for the four years that I’m on the board,” she said.

INFOBOX: DEFINITIONS

The Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts uses different definitions for administration and instruction than do many school divisions or the general public.

Below are definitions used by the state Auditor of Public Accounts, which annually assembles data from school divisions statewide.

INSTRUCTION—duties dealing directly with the interaction between teachers and students.

This includes classroom teachers and instructional support staff such as guidance counselors, school social workers, and folks who develop curriculum.

It also includes school-based administrators such as principals and assistant principals.

ADMINISTRATION—includes the School Board, superintendent, public information office, finance, planning, purchasing and human resources.

The state auditor lumps administration, attendance and health into one category and defines it as duties that craft and carry out policy, promote student health, conduct psychological tests and enforce attendance laws.

Attendance and health includes school nurses, psychological services, hearing testing, and staff who deal with compulsory attendance.

Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972

pgould@freelancestar.com

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