On the agenda for tomorrow’s School Board meeting is an item to charge $10,000 for the various School Board members' budget committee’s impact on the Prince William County School’s budgetary staff.
According to the agenda item, “If the budget committees are to remain functional for FY 2015, it is requested that the additional funding of $10,000 be provided for additional temporary help during the budget process.”
The item was recommended and signed for by Dave Cline, Associate Superintendent of Finance; Rae Darlington, Deputy Superintendent; and Dr. Steven Walts, Superintendent.
The item description states that the budget committees were created with the “stated intention that there would not be a significant impact on the budget staff;” however the description states that “the number of budget questions increased significantly from FY 2013 to FY 2014."
However, Brentsville School Board member Gil Trenum, who ran a citizens' budget committee last year with Gainesville board member Alyson Satterwhite, said he believes the $10,000 charge is excessive; he does not believe his committee asked many more questions for the FY 2014 budget process than he himself asked in FY 2013.
"Maybe more, but not drastically," said Trenum. "I did not feel like it was that different than what was asked in the past.”
He said he may have created some additional work for staff, but not enough to warrant $10,000 as all the questions from his advisory committee were filtered through either himself or Satterwhite.
“Obviously asking questions more work, but I think it’s part of the job and part of the process," Trenum said. “They need to work with what they have.”
Trenum he could not speak to the motivation for the cost, specifically as to whether it was meant to be a deterrent to forming budget committees and presenting inquiries. However, he said he plans to consult with his committee again this year.
Rather than supporting the $10,000 to hire a temporary employee, however, Trenum offered suggestions to how the staff might better answer questions without it being a burden on their operations. He said the budget department could offer his committee a timeline for answering their questions. He also suggested the budget departments could bring in a retired Prince William educator for part-time help as many already have to complete a certain amount of hours with the school system as per the terms of their retirement.
The increase in budgetary inquiries parallels a budgetary season in which the School Board has requested additional funds to decrease classroom sizes and the Board of County Supervisors have asked for increased transparency in the school budget process.
Creating budgetary committees, which include citizens who are volunteering their time and expertise freely, and who are not being paid, is one way that School Board members have tried to shed more light on the budget process and also find cost-savings to use towards hiring more teachers or keep additional funds from being slashed.
Trenum also agreed with a citizen's comment on Facebook that teachers take on heavy workloads with overcrowded classrooms and they do not get extra compensation when their workload is increased.
According to Deborah Urban, Clerk for the School Board, Lisa Bell of the Neabsco District also formed a budget committee comprised of her constituents, and other school board members may have sought input or advise from citizens as well.
Trenum said that he would not recommend one budget committee for the entire county in order to save the county staff time. He said he likes that his committee members are more like informal advisors; he feels that having School Board members bring their own inquiry to the table allows for a better understanding of the budgetary system.
Satterwhite said she would prefer to comment after the School Board meeting Wednesday evening.
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