Anonymous
10/21/2013 16:32
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are they planning cuts at Gatehouse?
+1
Page 5 of the "Citizen's Guide to Understanding the Budget"
Non-school based Position Positions % of total operating positions
Leadership team and Mgmt 164 0.7%
Specialists--Professional 374.5 1.6%
Specialists--Technical 218.7 0.9%
Technician/Paraprofessional 197.6 0.8%
Office Asst Personnel 224.1 0.9%
Trades Personnel 418 1.8%
Total 1652.9 6.9%
93.1% or 22,178.2 positions are school-based.
PP, please share which non-school based positions you would cut and how much that would save.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 16:19
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
When you are setting a budget, you should start with the "must haves" the necessities--not the luxuries.
Food before cable.
Food before cable.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 16:05
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
AAP not a huge as ESOL but nevertheless a AAP is a $10 million program with a lot of non- essential spending that could and IMO should be cut.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 16:04
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
My guess is that most of this ESOL instruction goes to the very poor students who are likely undocumented. Fairfax county is also spending money to house these people and feed them. What is the answer?
Anonymous
10/21/2013 16:02
Subject: WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
How much? Like in the ball park of $48 million spent on ESOL?
[url]
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Ffs%2Fbudget%2Fdocuments%2Fapproved%2FFY13%2FFY2013ProgramBudget.pdf&ei=fH1lUo7tFcS82wXTioHACg&usg=AFQjCNElhOsrlac-Dub_TMZn-vlPOZSQTA&bvm=bv.54934254,d.b2I&cad=rja[/url]
The FY 2013 total budget for the Advanced Academic Resource Program is $9.6 million and includes 69.5 positions.
*School-based expenditures total $8.8 million.
*Contracted salaries for 62.5 resource
*teacher positions total $4.9 million
*hourly salaries for teacher participation in screening and selection of advanced academic students, attendance at orientation, and substitute teachers total $0.3 million.
*Employee benefits of $2.2 million include retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee benefit
expenditures.
*Operating expenses total $1.3 million, which is allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis
for textbooks and supplies.
*The school-based total represents the incremental cost which applies at the
elementary level and at the three middle schools that have a sixth grade. Costs and positions for the
elementary and middle school center programs and the middle school honors program are included in the
elementary and middle school core programs because the students are being served by positions allocated
from the standard staffing formulas.
*The Advanced Academic Resource Program also includes nonschool-based funding totaling $0.8 million
and 7.0 positions.
-Contracted salaries for the 7.0 positions total $0.6 million. Hourly salaries total $648.
-Employee benefits of $0.3 million include retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee benefits
expenditures.
ESOL cost a lot more but I see it as a more essential program however the cost is out of control and should be scaled back.
ESOL Explanation of Costs (from same link above)
The FY 2013 total budget for ESOL is $83.9 million and includes a total of 877.1 positions. School-based
funding totaling $81.9 million, or 97.6 percent of total program expenditures, includes $56.4 million for
contracted salaries for 862.1 school-based teacher positions. Hourly and substitute teacher funding of
$0.6 million provides for clerical support, and funds curriculum development and periodic review of student
assessment folders to certify compliance with federal mandates. Employee benefits of $24.7 million include
retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee benefit expenditures. Operating expenses totaling
$0.2 million include school-based instructional supplies, textbooks, tests, printing, and staff development.
Nonschool-based funding of $2.0 million provides funding to administer oversight of the ESOL program and
provides instructional support to all schools. Contracted salaries total $1.4 million for 15.0 nonschool-based
positions. Employee benefits of $0.6 million include retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee
benefit expenditures. Offsetting revenue of $13.2 million for this program is provided through state and
federal funding, resulting in a net cost to the School Operating Fund of $70.7 million. This program is also
supported by $3.0 million in Title III federal grants funding.
They also lump a lot of programs together instead of breaking them down - just to keep us in the dark I guess.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 15:59
Subject: WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would assume most cuts would be to non-essential programs like AAP?
One would hope so but someone somewhere is holding FCPS hostage to this program.
FCPS needs to get rid of the part time AART's and the part time AAP programs. They are not necessary and wasting money with no benifit. Bring the qualified fulltime AAP teachers from the center programs and distribute them in the base schools. Provide truly advanced classes with placement based on performance and grades not "social difficulties" . This wil get rid of some of the "pork" AAP services in the elementary schools. Drop the middle school AAP center program and stick with the, already in place, current self selected AP classes in all base middle schools. This eliminates the wasted money and countless hours of pay spent for "qualifying" kids, elimanates the part time AAP teachers and programs, consolidates busing, redistributes the students all while providing a "real" equal oppitunity and quality education for all. Look at all the cost savings!
How much? Like in the ball park of $48 million spent on ESOL?
[url]
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Ffs%2Fbudget%2Fdocuments%2Fapproved%2FFY13%2FFY2013ProgramBudget.pdf&ei=fH1lUo7tFcS82wXTioHACg&usg=AFQjCNElhOsrlac-Dub_TMZn-vlPOZSQTA&bvm=bv.54934254,d.b2I&cad=rja[/url]
The FY 2013 total budget for the Advanced Academic Resource Program is $9.6 million and includes 69.5 positions.
*School-based expenditures total $8.8 million.
*Contracted salaries for 62.5 resource
*teacher positions total $4.9 million
*hourly salaries for teacher participation in screening and selection of advanced academic students, attendance at orientation, and substitute teachers total $0.3 million.
*Employee benefits of $2.2 million include retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee benefit
expenditures.
*Operating expenses total $1.3 million, which is allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis
for textbooks and supplies.
*The school-based total represents the incremental cost which applies at the
elementary level and at the three middle schools that have a sixth grade. Costs and positions for the
elementary and middle school center programs and the middle school honors program are included in the
elementary and middle school core programs because the students are being served by positions allocated
from the standard staffing formulas.
*The Advanced Academic Resource Program also includes nonschool-based funding totaling $0.8 million
and 7.0 positions.
-Contracted salaries for the 7.0 positions total $0.6 million. Hourly salaries total $648.
-Employee benefits of $0.3 million include retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee benefits
expenditures.
ESOL cost a lot more but I see it as a more essential program however the cost is out of control and should be scaled back.
ESOL Explanation of Costs (from same link above)
The FY 2013 total budget for ESOL is $83.9 million and includes a total of 877.1 positions. School-based
funding totaling $81.9 million, or 97.6 percent of total program expenditures, includes $56.4 million for
contracted salaries for 862.1 school-based teacher positions. Hourly and substitute teacher funding of
$0.6 million provides for clerical support, and funds curriculum development and periodic review of student
assessment folders to certify compliance with federal mandates. Employee benefits of $24.7 million include
retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee benefit expenditures. Operating expenses totaling
$0.2 million include school-based instructional supplies, textbooks, tests, printing, and staff development.
Nonschool-based funding of $2.0 million provides funding to administer oversight of the ESOL program and
provides instructional support to all schools. Contracted salaries total $1.4 million for 15.0 nonschool-based
positions. Employee benefits of $0.6 million include retirement, health, dental, disability, and other employee
benefit expenditures. Offsetting revenue of $13.2 million for this program is provided through state and
federal funding, resulting in a net cost to the School Operating Fund of $70.7 million. This program is also
supported by $3.0 million in Title III federal grants funding.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 15:45
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Are they planning cuts at Gatehouse?
+1
Anonymous
10/21/2013 15:31
Subject: WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would assume most cuts would be to non-essential programs like AAP?
One would hope so but someone somewhere is holding FCPS hostage to this program.
FCPS needs to get rid of the part time AART's and the part time AAP programs. They are not necessary and wasting money with no benifit. Bring the qualified fulltime AAP teachers from the center programs and distribute them in the base schools. Provide truly advanced classes with placement based on performance and grades not "social difficulties" . This wil get rid of some of the "pork" AAP services in the elementary schools. Drop the middle school AAP center program and stick with the, already in place, current self selected AP classes in all base middle schools. This eliminates the wasted money and countless hours of pay spent for "qualifying" kids, elimanates the part time AAP teachers and programs, consolidates busing, redistributes the students all while providing a "real" equal oppitunity and quality education for all. Look at all the cost savings!
How much? Like in the ball park of $48 million spent on ESOL?
Except ESOL, no matter how you feel about it, is essential for giving kids in this area a basic public education that meets Virginia standards of learning. AAP isn't.
And it makes me sad to hear so much ignorance and bigotry on this forum. Would like to see what you all would be doing if you weren't so lucky to have been born here. It's an accident of birth that some kids are born to families or in places lacking resources -- not a measure of their worth. Many of us who have been here for generations are fortunate that our ancestors failed in or were forced to leave their countries earlier. Like it or not, the US is a country of immigrants and will likely remain a country of immigrants for a long time coming.
It's an accident of birth I wasn't born in Finland which has an excellent school system. But they won't let me just sneak in there and send my kid to school for free and even give them free and reduced fee lunches.
As much as I hate to say it, this is a good point. And there may be people worse off in other countries than those who come here illegally. Some may come because of lack of jobs and educational opportunities in their own countries, but there may be others suffering more -- from starvation, torture, or other atrocities -- who just can't get here from their countries. We should be able to prioritize who to help, if we are going to expend the funds. If we stop providing the jobs and the education, that will reduce the incentive to come here. I do believe that laws should be followed and that we should be back in control of how to allocate our funds, including funds to help those in dire need in other nations.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 15:18
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Are they planning cuts at Gatehouse?
Anonymous
10/21/2013 15:17
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
There is $140 million to cut and you guys are talking about mouse turds.
Until FCPS lets us see a more complete budget, we really don't know the costs of almost anything.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 15:09
Subject: Re:WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree about FLES cut. Nice to have program. With the budget money like it is, it has to go. Kids do not learn language with a class once or twice a week.
Agreed. And I say this as someone whose kids were born overseas and spent a significant portion of their lives in a non-English-speaking country. I hated when we moved back here and my kids couldn't continue their language in FCPS. But given that they couldn't have taken a language until 8th grade either way, it hasn't made that much of a difference. It would be one thing if foreign language was in all the schools, but again when you're making hard choices that could affect all students getting essential services is it really fair or sensible to have foreign language in some but not all schools?
7th grade. Students can take languages in 7th grade in Fairfax County.
Again, maybe at some immersion schools, but not at the majority. In Vienna, for example, Wolftrap Elementary has a Chinese program, but when the kids go over to Kilmer (a center, no less) they can't take Chinese I until 8th grade. The only language class offered is Intro to Foreign Languages, a sorry throwback to a U.S. that hasn't existed in decades.
Longfellow offers language class in 7th grade to ALL students, not just immersion students. My DC took them.
Longfellow doesn't offer full language courses to 7th graders. They offer "part 1" courses that must be taken in conjunction with part 2 in 8th grade. They just spread it out over 2 years.
Anonymous
10/21/2013 14:54
Subject: WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would assume most cuts would be to non-essential programs like AAP?
This is what I'm wondering as well. In the article, it mentioned adding one student to each GE classroom... what about AAP classrooms? Are they somehow exempt from adding more students?
They are on the list, too, at the very top. Didn't you look to see?
http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9CMENL3B3C54/$file/Menu%20of%20Discussion%20Considerations%20for%20FY%202015%20Attachment%205.pdf
Anonymous
10/21/2013 14:53
Subject: WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:
There is $140 million to cut and you guys are talking about mouse turds.
+1000000
Anonymous
10/21/2013 14:51
Subject: WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would assume most cuts would be to non-essential programs like AAP?
How much more does AAP cost? The students are still there and they still need to have teachers. They still take art, music, PE....... They still have access to the library.... The additional bussing cost is where the savings would be and that is a drop in the bucket. (No dog in the AAP fight.)
this suggestion was just a person trying to be funny -- the only additional cost is bus service to the centers. Putting all the students back at their base schools would save little or nothing.
They don't pay those teachers more? There's no additional layer of cost for curriculum?
I genuinely don't know, I'm just asking. But I bet it's more complicated than just busing.
I'd chop AAP before FLES.
There is $140 million to cut and you guys are talking about mouse turds.
Absolutely. +100
Anonymous
10/21/2013 14:48
Subject: WAPO article about sever FFX school budget cuts
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would assume most cuts would be to non-essential programs like AAP?
How much more does AAP cost? The students are still there and they still need to have teachers. They still take art, music, PE....... They still have access to the library.... The additional bussing cost is where the savings would be and that is a drop in the bucket. (No dog in the AAP fight.)
this suggestion was just a person trying to be funny -- the only additional cost is bus service to the centers. Putting all the students back at their base schools would save little or nothing.
They don't pay those teachers more? There's no additional layer of cost for curriculum?
I genuinely don't know, I'm just asking. But I bet it's more complicated than just busing.
I'd chop AAP before FLES.
Absolutely. +100