2012-2013 BUDGET FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Suggestions:

*Only purchase replacement books this year.  No new adoptions; the books we have can last another year.

*AP students pay for AP tests

*Eliminate all HCS yellow bus transportation for field trips

*Implement a 4-day work week (add 90 mins to each day)

*Stop purchasing thousands of agendas for high school students each year.

*Eliminate classes that do not have an appropriate number of students…i.e. only 2 – students in an AP or IB class.

*Eliminate paying for Virtual Virginia students.

*Stop double blocking math and language arts in middle schools.

* Look at a total rezoning effort maximizing building capacities and closing buildings that are too costly to keep open.  If there are special programs in any of those buildings, those programs can be housed in a building that does not cost as much to maintain.  

*Stop paying scorekeepers and clock operators for basketball games. (use students)

*Don’t require seniors to stay in school. If kids have the credits we are paying teachers for students to take electives that are not needed. 

*Please consider eliminating the National Board supplement, as it appears to value one group of teachers over another.

*Please consider re-consolidating deaf students and deaf education staffing resources at Andrews Pre-K - 8 school.

* If Transportation has to return a child to the school because their parents were unavailable to receive them, then charge the parents a fee.

*Implement a 4x4 block schedule.

*Reevaluate (cost vs. benefit) high dollar programs such as IB.

*Follow Standards of Quality staffing for all positions and reduce the number of Assistant Principals.

* Don’t give 1st nine week benchmarks at the elementary level because of all the other testing that goes on (e.g., PALS, DRA2.)

* Go back the basics and don’t offer academies and special programs.

* Don’t increase the costs to student athletes.

* I would suggest that the cuts begin at SAC.

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Q. Would it be possible to reduce the number of days activity buses are available after school? At my high school, after school activity buses (not buses for the athletic programs) run Monday-Thursday. In Newport News, activity buses run on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. This would save money in fuel and bus driver pay as well as wear and tear on buses.

A. Thank you for the idea.  We will review the feasibility and impact reducing activity buses might have on instructional programs.

Q. In the best interest of students, reducing additional teaching positions that will increase class sizes may lead to consequences that could have a negative impact on student achievement.  As ideas are considered for ways to close the budget shortfall, would an across the board salary reduction, as we did two years ago, be contemplated as a realistic solution?  

A. While it is not our desire to consider a pay cut, it may be necessary to consider all options depending on the size of the budget shortfall.

Q. Is an increase in insurance premiums one of the items considered in the upcoming budget?  Also, what is the likelihood of a pay freeze and are there any estimations on the number of instructional staff that may be reduced?

A. While it is not our desire to consider instructional staff reductions, a pay cut or increase insurance costs, it may be necessary to consider all options depending on the size of the budget shortfall. We will strive to minimize the impact to the classroom.

Q. Why is Armstrong not a candidate for closure?  It does not make sense to be able to look out the window of an old school and less than 1 block away see a new school.  Can't the Spratley Gifted Center house the Armstrong Gifted Art? In fact wouldn't it make sense for both gifted centers to be together anyway?

A. Armstrong School for the Arts is not a gifted center.  Our only gifted art program is currently located at Spratley.    We are open to exploring combining schools and programs in order to achieve efficiencies.  Our consolidation efforts for this year are on the east side of the city.

Q. Would reducing the school lunch menu to a one week schedule instead of a four week rotation save any money?

A. Food Services is a self-supporting entity and does not impact the HCS operating budget.  We will share the suggestion with the Food Services department.

SUGGESTIONS

I have no idea what financial source text books come from, but if it is out of regular funds, is there a reason we are looking at adopting new text books at this time. Hampton City School System has done an excellent job at creating instructional resources in all areas (warehouse). Along with most current research workshops and trainings, it seems like new textbooks would be less of a a priority.

I know this might seem ridiculous but I think there is much wasted energy throughout the district. As I do appreciate having a 74 degree classroom it is not necessary. I would love to see thermostats set lower, 67-68, in winter and slightly higher, 73-74, during warmer weather. These temperatures are still very comfortable and the savings district wide would be noticeable. Also, I often leave the building and see classroom lights on. I do realize that some lights are necessary. I also see sprinklers systems spraying water on rainy days. The energy waste throughout our school district has an environmental and financial impact. 

Consider leaving the National Board supplement in place.  The supplement to salary is modest and the workload to achieve national Board Certification is enormous.  Please find another place to cut before taking away this pittance.  I see gross expenditures in other areas that could stand a pruning and to take away this supplement is to punish the most highly qualified and devoted staff.

Consider a four-day week.  The reductions in transportation, meals, hourly employees and utilities would be huge.  Instructional time per day can be lengthened to compensate.

Consider reducing the transportation services currently extended to students.

There are other steps that can be taken before completely demoralizing the devoted, competent and valuable teaching staff.

Someone in my school suggested one way to save money is to stop renting the SAC building at 1 Franklin Street and have these offices moved into one of the closed schools that HCS owns.  Has this been considered?  Seems silly for us to be renting a space when we have free space throughout the district.

Thank you for the opportunity to express our concerns and ideas. I asked a question about this  during a meeting with Dr. Shifflette, but would also like to ask here, so that my question can be added to the record.

I think it is a mistake to adopt new textbooks for mathematics, and incur the cost attached, when we have a budget shortfall. There are several reasons why I am against purchasing new textbooks for mathematics.

The science and social studies books used by the 7th graders in our building are in poor shape and are terribly outdated. The social studies book says that the Iraq war lasted for 6 months, and the science books have us looking forward to the mapping of the human genome, something that has been done for years. 

For the past several years, we have been discouraged from teach from the textbook. I would think it better to put our resources into technology that can be used to access the wealth of online resources available to us. As a teacher at Spratley, I have been using apps from the iTunes App-Store, both free and paid, to teach Pre-Algebra through Algebra 2. With a $15 iTunes card, I have been able to access resources from all over the world for use in my class room. New textbooks are not necessary now, unless we are purchasing something that is in electronic format. I would like to see a cost analysis of using Nooks or other ereaders for students who do not have an internet connection and allowing others to access online textbooks via laptop or ereader.

We have to find other ways to cut cost besides cutting pay. I am supporting me and a 5-year old paying $880 a month for an apartment not to mention the other bills. I already have to work a second job to support us. If we take another pay cut, Hampton will lose a lot of good teachers. Most people will not be able to live. Prices for food, gas, and other items continue to go up. It is hard enough already. We have to look at the statistics of the schools already. The schools did not do well across the board on the state test. If we cut more teachers or their pay forcing people to leave, the educational level for students will decrease as well.

We need to cut some of the non-necessary spending such as for these after-school events. Have students pay a fee for after school athletics and other programs to help pay the cost. We can cut the electrical bill by lessening the watts of bulbs we use in the schools. i know my room is really bright when the lights are on. We need to cut the items that will not effect the educational level of our students. Otherwise we are being unjust to our students and setting them up so they will not be able to compete with students from other areas. If it is not a necessary part of their learning, than get rid of it. Have the people who make the money like the administrators and those higher up the chain who make more than enough to live on. You can only cut the little people so much before there is nothing left for us to work for. If our pay decreases to low, than you will have teachers who are not willing to work hard because you are not making enough to live on.

Do not impact the teachers; they are the key to our children’s, and in turn, our city’s success. 
Keep the bonus for Board Certified teachers.  Great teachers are key to a thriving school system.
Cut administrative staff if cuts are necessary.
Join forces with City departments where possible.
Keep funding for athletics.  Often athletes are high performing, successful students. 
Cut newspaper and magazine subscriptions.  It’s almost all on-line anyway.

Eliminate National Board stipend.  In the state of Virginia, a teacher must be certified by the state, not NBCT.  What real value does NBCT offer?

NOTE: NBCT is undergoing a program evaluation now.  The results of the evaluation will be reported to the School Board on December 21, 2011.

Stop paying for AP tests!  As a product of HCS, my parents paid the bill for my AP tests.  Students with a legitimate hardship can get a fee waiver through college board.

Stop sending select teachers and administrators all over the country for professional development.  Limit travel...perhaps no further than Richmond or Virginia Beach.

Return to the 7 period schedule.  If a student applies himself, this schedule will allow students plenty of opportunity to graduate in 4 years.

Reduce the number of NOVA net classes.  I have taken the training, and I am not convinced that these course have any real integrity.  Why not use the online courses we have available for online summer school instead?  Any good teacher can adjust that curriculum to fit an average student.

NOTE: We are exploring the option of using the WHRO online courses.

Eliminate some of our SAT prep sections.  Not all of our students are going on to college, therefore not everyone needs to take the SAT. Students who have no desire to take the SAT are only behavior issues in SAT prep classes.  We could also stop paying for every tenth grader to take the PSAT.  Allow this to be an elective item, and have parents foot the bill.

Examine more closely stipend positions.  Many club sponsorships come with a stipend, yet no club actually exists.  Only pay sponsors if an actual club/team exists and is meeting regularly.  Several stipend positions are now offered as classes during the regular school day.  If this is meeting during the workday, is the additional stipend
merited?

NOTE: All supplements will be reviewed during the budget process.

A suggestion that I would like to be posted anonymously: 
when installing such items as toilet seats (at Phenix), use quality products upfront so that replacements do not have to be purchased before the school is 2 years old.  Most of the ones in the adults restrooms are sliding off (and there is a potential for injuries as well, which would mean larger expenditures).

Thank you for considering this small, but possibly helpful, suggestion.

Has thought ever been put into consolidation of High schools. I know there are many factors as test scores, community relations, Alumni worries, transportation and space. But we are spending a great deal of money on operating 4 high schools. One which is not near capacity. We are spending lots of money on renovating these schools, trying to keep the namesakes Hampton, Pheobus, Kecoughtan and Bethel, alive, but I feel we are getting into drastic times and we need to be conservative and make changes that will keep us strong into the future. This has been done and been found VERY successful in southwestern Virginia, as well as Texas in many school districts. Its not a closing of one and sending to the other, it needs to be thought of as a blending. and you hyphen the name.

If we consolidated 4 schools into 2 you would save a tremendous amount of money short and long term. And it would be very beneficial to the school system. Electives would grow, bands would get bigger, sports teams would be even more competitive, and it would have a lower bottom line than our current situation. We may have to spend in the beginning to accommodate in building space. But long term you will save tremendous money. This will allow you to build a new school on the site of a closed one very longterm, and then not spend money on costly repairs every year, and then really be able to change the culture of the high schools in HCS.

Blend schools based on geography, and which school can serve, or has the most potential to serve the most students.
You would save on 2 sets of admin, office staff, cafeteria workers, band directors, athletic directors, data processing personal, ITRTS, THE BUILDING COSTS AND MAINTANANCE, you would only have to fund 2 school sets of sports teams, coaches stipends, Uniforms, Maintenance of school equipment, you could retain the best quality teachers and actually improve the education of our students. Growing class size is going to happen regardless. If you have more students in one location, and have a strong administration setting a culture of excellence, supported by first class teachers, you can effect a greater number of students, and the more students in a building will help test averages for the city. Yes you would need to add to the current staffing of 2 schools, however you would not need to transfer the ENTIRE staff. If you stay with a position, you should be highly qualified, and leader and demonstrate great teaching.
               
I know this at first glance seems impossible, but it could be done, with great cost savings. Pembroke closed, it was not the end of the world, just a chapter of history in hampton. Yes we would lose positions in the transition, but as a employee of HCS I understand that this is a tough time and that jobs are going to be cut. The bigger picture is that we have to provide a quality education, and that something is going to suffer, if we are fighting to survive by reducing teacher pay, resources, larger classroom sizes, materials, renovations, soon we will all have a job but be so miserable and un-able to provide for our students. I would rather see rational fiscal decisions made in the best longterm interests of the school division rather than, try to hold onto what we can. I am a high school teacher, and I know many of my peers will greatly disagree with this, but I am confident in my teaching ability and how I serve students, so being “riffed” does not intimidate me, because if I am riffed, that it is in life with these times, and I will find employment else where. I feel I matter in HCS, but HCS will be here LONG after I am gone, and decisions need to be made to keep this school division thriving. if we did this you may be able to provide raises and support the activities and classrooms better, by the cost savings. and still keep high schools around 4,000 students roughly. We would be the equivalent to many northern virginia schools. you can then create a larger "alternative school" and focus on trade, and discipline issues there, which would also help the discipline of the schools. 
I suggest looking into this, not saying its the answer, just see what it holds to the bottom dollar, and effective recruiting and retention of teachers.

Sell your mothballed real estate.   Schools like Wythe Elementary should be sold so these buildings can continue to contribute to the community rather than produce blight.  At the same time sale and reuse of the properties will generate tax revenue  and provide funds to the school system through the sale proceeds.  Anyone who thinks hanging on to these properties is doing something positive for either the school system or the city should think again.

I'm not sure how much this would help, but we could save on utility costs by asking teachers and staff to turn off lights and electronics when they aren't in their rooms.  I also have heard of certain schools that charge teachers a nominal yearly fee to keep a microwave, refrigerator, or coffee maker in their room/office. 

At our faculty meeting at Syms, you had mentioned that you were considering a four day work week to save money.  I know that the biggest concern was the younger students.  I was thinking that if we had a modified plan where only the middle and high schools had a four day work week, this would alleviate this problem.  I know that parents still will need community services, but some will probably allow their children to stay at home.

If we later wanted to add the elementary schools, we could use the data from the middle and high schools to insure it would run smoothly. Hopefully this could save us money on bus fuel, heat, a/c, and electricity.

Cut the sports programs.  If these kids (and their parents) want to play sports, let them foot the bill for uniforms, equipment, transportation and coaches pay.  No other program in the school system receives this much money per year.  The money saved would certainly buy textbooks which one of my daughter's classes did not have but finally found some old textbooks to use.  Also get rid of the useless and repetitive positions. Do we really need two dean of students especially when both of them do nothing but walk around the building.

Ya'll probably have considered this, but I will throw it out anyway.  The K-8 school concept is being considered in Norfolk.  I think it would be good to look at a longterm plan to include the conversion, or building of k-8's similar to our new ones.  I haven't looked at any numbers but, the closing of schools does give alternatives in selling, leasing and developing property.  A 10 year plan should give consideration to reducing SAC,  School Admin, Transportation and Clerical costs, as well as the outlook for fewer students and open additional space for offices as Jones was used years back. 

Another area that I have been thinking about that would be more short term is the curriculum specialist area.  I believe that they are stretched very thin and the effectiveness is limited.  I wonder if the use of High School IL's would not be a more efficient use of time and money. 

I am a new teacher from PA and it seems that HCS is facing the same problems that PA school districts have faced. Here is what some PA schools did/doing to alleviate some budget tensions. 

1.) Early retirement incentives.  The district offered more seniority teachers a percentage of their salary to retire. Teachers did this so that schools could hire new teachers (like me) at a lower cost.

2.) Pay to Play. A lot of schools including my own high school adopted this. It would make school athletes more responsible for paying for  sport equipment i.e. shoes, jerseys, and transportation. I know that HCS for a lack of better word has a more "poverty" student population, however, if each student contributes $10 towards equipment this may give the district more money for other programs other than sports. In addition, schools began to cut the "lesser" popular sports so that they could relocate funds. 

November 8, 2011

In the Tuesday, November 1 Budget Message from the
Superintendent, she requested your input in the form of questions and suggestions regarding our budget development. By Friday, we had received a number of responses. Thanks so much for your thoughtful consideration and feedback! We have provided responses to the feedback submitted in the form of questions, as well as those suggestions that are simply not possible to implement based upon Virginia Code. The remainder of the suggestions are clustered below, and it is our intention to consider them as we proceed.

Your input this week prompts us to share the following thoughts:

● The best interest of students is always at the heart of our decision making.
● Part of the budget process includes looking at organizational structures, positions and associated responsibilities. This review is a component of the decision-making matrix that has been shared in our budget presentations. 
● Preserving jobs, salaries and benefits are always a priority.
● While we wish we could move funds from one funding source to another, externally imposed restrictions prevent us from doing so.

Again, thanks to all those who have provided us with questions and suggestions. Please keep them coming!

QUESTIONS:

Q: Have any inquiries been made to the appropriate state representatives as to why we are taking such big cuts in school district budgets, yet the state last year had a 200 million dollar surplus in revenue? This just [does] not make sense to me. When is enough...enough?

A: Yes! In addition to HCS efforts, representatives receive feedback from a variety of organizations to include: the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS), Virginia Education Association (VEA), Virginia Parent Teacher Association (VPTA), Virginia First Cities, Virginia Municipal League (VML), Virginia Association of School Business Officials (VASBO) and the Virginia Association of School Personnel Administrators (VASPA). Very often these organizations work in collaboration to inform elected officials. As a citizen, you also have the ability to contact our legislators.

Suggestions We Cannot Implement:

Suggestion: Require students to pay a book fee each year before we issue textbooks. In over a decade of teaching, it is not uncommon to have no less then a dozen books go missing each year, and most of those go unpaid for until the student is facing the possibility of not walking at graduation, and it will only be in the last week of school that lost book fees are paid. This may be something we may have to consider as a possible source of needed money.

Reason we cannot implement: Section 22.1-243.A of the Code of Virginia prohibits us from charging students for instructional materials and textbooks.

Suggestion: Have teachers of electives teach core classes. We have 5 teachers teaching an extra class this year (at $5,000 each). When the new class for World History II was created, that dropped my student total from 158 to 140. Not much of a change and certainly not worth paying a teacher extra money for and the new class only has 18 people in it. It is hard to justify needing money when we are paying people to teach an extra class that did not need to be created.

Reason we cannot implement: Teachers must be endorsed in the content area they are teaching. Students would not be eligible to receive a verified credit in those classes that have an SOL attached to them if the teacher does not hold the appropriate endorsement.

COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS:

● After reading your e-mail, I am very concerned about the elimination of the bonus given to those of us who completed the grueling process of being designated National Board Certified teachers. We among the most highly qualified. It would be very discouraging and upsetting for us to lose that stipend after working so hard. I hope there is some way to find the funds to continue.

● Our first responsibility should be to our students. If budget cuts need to be made for next year, those cuts should be made within areas that are administrative in nature first. If we are to remain even remotely competitive in recruiting and retaining teachers, salary cuts for teachers should be avoided.

● Before any cuts are made at the schools every administrative department at SAC should cut one FTE. If that does not meet budgetary needs then one Vice-Principal from each high school should be cut.

● The current push for students to take AP courses and tests was well as having all students take the PSAT and SAT, that may be paid for by the city. I think this is one expense the city can do with out. It seems a poor allocation of funds or resources to require all high school students to take a test that at most only 50% of them will really need. If only half of the student body may be attending college after high school, and maybe a quarter of those may only attend a 2-year college or technical school that does not require any SAT or ACT, it seems to be an unnecessary expense for the school system to undertake.

● Please do not cut our pay or have a pay freeze. I live by myself and I have been with HCS going on 8 years. I can not afford to pay my mortgage if we take a cut or freeze like we did before. I see money being spent on Promethian boards, improving the awnings at my school, etc. I hear that this is from "different funds" but I ask that you take the money from that fund and put it towards our pay, if that is the only way we can have an increase.

● I suggest that perhaps we look at transportation. We can take ideas from other states to either have students attend the home schools and either walk or use the before and after recreation programs or have parents pay for it. We could the bus tag system for students who pay have different tags each month or semester. Parents not wanting to do this could find their own alternatives. Public transportation is still available to all. New York is a prime example. Most private schools already do this.

● We could also look at four-day work weeks using an extended school day those four days. This idea would save in all areas across the board. http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2011-
03-06/lawmaker-urges-4-day-school-week#.Tq__Ls03158.
Hampton City Schools is leading the way in Education with our two new Prek -8 Schools. We can find the solutions and lead not only our schools but other school systems in this time of need.

● Perhaps we need to go back to teaching 6 classes a day instead of 8 every 2 days. That would mean that students
cannot fail classes if they want to graduate. It would also eliminate elective classes as there would be fewer spots in the schedule.

● Another option if block scheduling has to stay, would be to get the seniors out of the building instead of forcing them to take 6 classes. If they only need 2 classes to fulfill state requirements, then let them leave if they are not heading to college and then they will be joining the workforce and paying taxes. While it may be nice to say that all of our students go to college, it is an unrealistic endeavor. There are a significant number of jobs that don't need a college education and those jobs need to be filled also.

We appreciate your support as the School Board and administrative staff work to build budgets in these tough economic times that impact our city, our state, and our nation.  Please continue to share your thoughts and comments through our budgetinfo@hampton.k12.va.us e-mail address.

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