Albemarle County schools has managed to shrink its shortfall from nearly $5 million to $3.7 million. But the news came with very few cuts, and not all school board members were happy to hear about the reductions, or lack thereof.
County staff presented a revised version of the superintendent's budget to the school board Thursday night. While the gap was closed by about $1.1 million, a majority of that came from reorganizing revenues, not cutting costs. In fact, the budget now includes pitching in nearly $300,000 for new buses, an expenditure the board was going to ask the county to pay for in full.
Some school board members were not happy there wasn't a list of potential slashes to at least look over.
School board member Eric Struko said, "Yes, its frustrating to look at a deficit budget but yet see some line items that are showing some significant increases."
Other school board members say it's smarter not to speculate until they know better what revenues are going to look like, specifically from the state.
"Any real cutting, if we're going to have to do it," School Board chair Steve Koleszar explains. "We're probably going to wait to know where the numbers are.
The school board is hoping the Commonwealth chooses to make up for some of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) deficit. There are talks of the state possibly cutting that burden by about $2 million for the county, which would significantly decrease the gap.
The majority of the school board agreed there was simply not enough time to list out potential cuts before the Saturday deadline.
