by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
The Stafford School Board approved its budget for the upcoming fiscal year two weeks ago, but met again on Tuesday to approve an amendment based on new state revenue projections.
The budget of February 13 assumed $23.8 million in new money from the state of Virginia, based on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed budget.
But there are now two other versions of the state budget, one in the House of Delegates and one in the Senate, and both would provide additional money to the school division on top of Youngkin’s increase.
According to a presentation given by staff at the School Board’s special meeting Tuesday afternoon, the House of Delegate’s budget would increase the school division’s funding by $6.2 million and the Senate’s budget by $15.7 million.
Staff on Tuesday proposed—and the Board approved—amending its agenda to assume a total of $30.3 million in new funding from the state. The increase is enough to fund the first phase of improvements to the salary scale for service employees.
The amended budget requests a total transfer of about $172 million from the Board of Supervisors. This includes $15 million in new local funding and aligns with the County Administrator’s proposed budget.
It does not, however, fund all the school division’s needs, as Superintendent Thomas Taylor told the Board of Supervisors during a joint meeting of the two Boards that took place after the School Board’s special meeting.
Some needs that are not included in the School Board’s budget are funding to implement staffing standards and reduce class sizes, provide differentiated compensation for hard-to-staff positions, establish a PAYGO major maintenance fund, enhance school safety, and invest in student and staff wellness.
All of the unfunded needs together total $56.4 million.
Supervisors on Tuesday said they want to work with the School Board to provide for the county’s students. But some also said they are worried about raising taxes in a real estate re-assessment year.
Supervisors will vote on an advertised tax rate on March 5. After the rate is advertised, it can go down or stay the same, but it can’t be increased.
