Lower enrollment = less state money, plus the need to fund student support positions, safety measures. Also in this issue: City Council discusses land use report.
by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
One hundred and eighty-three fewer students enrolled in Spotsylvania County schools this school year as compared to last year, according to fall membership reports provided by the division to the Virginia Department of Education.
School divisions in Virginia receive funding from the state based on the average daily membership as reported on Sept. 30 each year, and the enrollment reduction in Spotsylvania equates to a loss of $1.2 million in state funding, according to a budget presentation prepared for the School Board’s Nov. 30 pre-budget work session.
This is just one of several challenges the school division faces going into budget season for fiscal year 2025, which begins July 1, 2024.
While overall enrollment in Spotsylvania schools has declined, the number of students in populations that require more resources continues to increase.
According to the presentation, the number of special education students is up 3.2%, the number of economically disadvantaged students is up 5.8% and the number of English language learners is up 29% over last year.
Student support positions needed
The division also wants to provide more specialized support to all students by funding additional school social workers, psychologists and counselors, so it can be in compliance with the state standards of quality mandated in Virginia Code.
The current ratio of school counselors to students is 1:342, according to the presentation. State standards of quality call for one counselor per 325 students.
There are no minimum staffing standards for social workers and psychologists, but Virginia Code does require three “specialized student support positions” per 1,000 students.
These support positions include “school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions.”
According to the presentation, Spotsylvania currently employs one social worker per 960 students and one psychologist per 2,400 students.
The National Association of Social Workers recommends one social worker per 250 students at minimum, and the National Association of School Psychologist recommends one psychologist per 500 to 700 students.
The division needs six more English language teachers now to meet the standards of quality requirements of one teacher to 50 students and is anticipating needing eight more to meet projected growth of 455 new students next year.
In addition, the division is hoping to make more investments in safety next fiscal year. According to the presentation, these investments include a new staff member to support school threat assessment teams, dedicated yearly funding to purchase two-way radio communication for each school, stop-the-bleed kits and training for each school and dedicated funding for behavior support as an alternative to suspension.
Spotsylvania is facing budget shortfalls in several areas, according to the presentation. There is a shortfall of $5.5 million in the budget for “contractual services,” $4 million in the budget for maintenance and utilities, and $3.9 million in the health insurance budget.
The pre-budget work session begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be live streamed.
FXBG City Council, Planning Commission discuss annual land use report
Fredericksburg City’s housing supply continues to dwindle while demand for housing remains high, according to the Planning Department’s annual status of land use report, which Senior Planner Mike Craig presented to Council and the Planning Commission at a joint work session Tuesday evening.
Virginia Code and the Planning Commission’s by-laws require the planning department to prepare a report each fiscal year summarizing its actions and tracking development trends.
According to the report for fiscal year 2023, which ended June 30, there were no new residential rezonings or special use permits approved, continuing a five-year trend.
That means no additions to the city’s housing pipeline. (This could change if Council approves a second read of the Neon development, which would bring 762 multifamily dwelling units to 63 acres in Celebrate Virginia South.)
Craig said that all of the 1,644 new residential units planned or zoned since 2015 are now occupied, except for 29 which are under construction and 94 which are in design.
Three lot subdivisions were created in fiscal year 2023 – the lowest in seven years, according to the report – and the number of residential lot grading plans decreased from 187 in fiscal year 2022 to 88 in fiscal year 2023.
“Residential lot grading plans are an indication of homes being built on the remaining stock of existing residential lots created over the last five years,” the report states. “This is an indication of continued high demand for residential units in the City. Continued strong housing demand combined with limited supply will likely increase pressure on housing costs.”
Deemphasizing the automobile
The annual report is accompanied by a cover letter from Planning Commission Chair David Durham.
At Tuesday’s work session, Durham highlighted a few points from his letter, asking that Council take a comprehensive look at density restrictions across downtown and that it continue funding the small area plans.
He urged Council to use the city’s comprehensive plan, which the Planning Commission and planning department will be rewriting next year, to guide its decision-making.
“You should not think of it as a little guide,” Durham said. “It’s actually a plan. I would recommend that you continue to use it as a way to really inform your decisions on when developers come and they want changes to the entitlement that the existing land use gives them.”
Durham also emphasized the Planning Commission’s hope to see the city emphasize “multi-modal transportation projects” that consider the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users in addition to motor vehicle drivers.
“We want the city to reconsider the traditional primacy of the automobile,” he said. “We want future planning to emphasize major arterial roads and highways and de-emphasize city streets.”
Towards this end, Council in its capital improvement plan for fiscal year 2023 approved spending $200,000 to update the comprehensive plan and conduct a downtown traffic engineering study, which will create a plan for establishing bicycle connections between the local trail networks and determine the feasibility of converting certain downtown one-way street pairs (Princess Anne/Caroline and William/Amelia) back to two-way streets.
This would permit those streets “to return to their historical usage as commercial and neighborhood streets while deemphasizing through-street usage,” the report states.
Durham said deemphasizing Lafayette Boulevard as a through-road should also be a priority and that Council should “allow the sort of development that would make those neighborhoods (off Lafayette) more connected, bring more businesses to them and make them more walkable.”
During discussion, out-going councilor Matt Kelly cautioned that it will be important for next year’s Council to consider how any of these changes might affect traffic from surrounding counties.
“There needs to be some discussion with regional partners on the impacts,” he said.
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