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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here's Miranda's Budget take, from an email I just got:

What Should We Look For In a Budget?

The budget is one of the key efforts the School Board undertakes and votes on. This is our chance to direct resources towards the biggest issues and needs facing our students, teachers, and community. Plus, it's $800+ million! Let's get it right.

My priorities:
Make sure our student-facing positions are the priority. 
Address learning loss.
Equitable allocation of resources. 
Looking towards a sustainable future. 
What does this look like? Read on! 
Prioritize Student-Facing Positions

In April 2022, the Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) recommended freezing non-teaching positions for another year.

This budget doesn't do that, but the good news is a lot of new spending is on teachers and in-school staff. Some things I was happy to see: 
Adding 14 new school mental health positions (intervention specialists, substance abuse counselors, psychologists and social workers).  
Adding 4 math interventionists and 8 math coaches. There are lots of reasons to prioritize math!
Investing $25+ million in additional teacher compensation, PLUS incentive comp for teaching summer school. 
Additional school safety support. 
This is needed spending on our students.

It's also a large increase that takes $41M from reserves.

Questions I would ask: 
Can we leverage County support for things like mental health services?
Will this investment in compensation make APS competitive in the market for teachers? 
Is the new FTE spending, particularly on central office personnel, necessary? Currently, 12-month employees have 31 paid holidays, which has to be part of the analysis.
Are these increases sustainable in future budget years? 
Address Learning Loss

I've advocated for two years for transparent data to show our students' progress. The dashboard reflects alarming statistics:
Last year, over 1 in 5 APS fifth graders needed intensive reading support at the end of year (EOY) assessment, just before they moved to middle school.
In math, more than half of APS middle schoolers are below the “proficient” level on the Math Inventory assessment.
There are big disparities between South and North Arlington schools, and for Black and Hispanic students and students with disabilities and English Learners. 
Our budget needs to feature learning loss as a priority. It doesn't go nearly far enough: 
We are adding 4 math interventionists (for a total of 10), but the Math Advisory Committee, with help from staff liaisons, asked for 34 interventionists.  
There is a small line item for continuing virtual tutoring services for grades 6-12. However, virtual tutoring has a questionable evidence base, at best, and APS hasn't analyzed usage or efficacy data.
We need a comprehensive plan.
Equitably Allocate Resources

This budget does many things to advance equity, but we still have big issues to consider:
Overcrowding is an equity issue. It means more students are competing for school-wide resources, and less opportunity to connect with a teacher or trusted adult.
Reducing class sizes is an equity issue, and a top priority for me.
I also have in mind the Arlington Special Education Advisory Committee recommendation to opt for a smaller class size reduction combined with additional staffing to support students with disabilities. I will seek out teachers' views on these tradeoffs to make the best decision.
Academic progress remains the biggest equity issue.
The pandemic disproportionately affected lower income students, students of color, and students with disabilities.
We should strive not just to know our students by name, strength, and need, but to support and address those strengths and needs with a plan and measurable targets to actually close gaps, including those that existed before the pandemic.

The Future of APS

We are facing serious budget headwinds over the next several years. We have to consider:
Whether it's wise to rely on reserves so heavily, and to continue adding administrative FTEs. 
Where we can locate savings to offset added expenditures.
How we can partner with the county for important, shared supports around mental health, summer school, and afterschool/enrichment programming. [/quote]

Amen. Couldn't agree more with what MT articulates here. [/quote]

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