FY 2018 Proposed Budget Alexandria City Public Schools

466 Pages·2017·5.43 MB·English

Alexanddriia CCiitty PPubblliic SSchhoolls
FY 2018
Proposed Budget
ACPS 2020 Vision ACPS 2020 Mission
Our students achieve at high levels, are well-rounded, Every student succeeds:
critical thinkers, and have a passion to learn. Educating lifelong
learners and inspiring civic
ACPS has an engaging and collaborative climate that
responsibility.
promotes ethical behavior and values diversity.
ACPS is a vital part of the fabric of our community, and
Alexandria residents and businesses take pride in our
schools.
January 2017
http://www.acps.k12.va.us/
Alexandria, Va. 22314 (United States)
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FY 2018 Proposed Budget
Alexandria City Public Schools
Alexandria, Va. (United States) http://www.acps.k12.va.us/
School Board
Ramee A. Gentry, Chair
Cindy Anderson, Vice Chair
Ronnie Campbell Christopher J. Lewis
William E. Campbell Margaret Lorber
Hal Cardwell Veronica Nolan
Karen A. Graf Jennifer Abbruzzese, Clerk of the Board and
Policy Liaison
Susan Neilson, Deputy Clerk of the Board
Superintendent’s Leadership Team
Dr. Alvin L. Crawley
Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Terri Mozingo Mary Beth Chambers
Chief Academic Officer Interim Chief Financial Officer
Superintendent’s Designee
Joseph P. Makolandra
Dr. Elizabeth Hoover Chief Human Resources Officer
Chief Technology Officer
Clarence Stukes
Dr. Julie Crawford Chief Operating Officer
Chief Student Services, Alternative
Programs and Equity Officer Clinton Page
Chief Accountability Officer
Dr. Lisa Piehota
Executive Director, Elementary School Anthony Kurt Huffman
Instruction Director, School, Business and
Superintendent’s Designee Community Partnerships
Gerald Mann Helen Lloyd
Executive Director, Secondary School Director, Communications
Instruction
Acknowledgement
The Financial Services staff extends thanks and appreciation to the School Board, principals,
executive staff, program managers and support staff who contributed to the production of
the FY 2018 Proposed Budget. This process takes a tremendous amount of time, effort,
coordination and teamwork. Your hard work and cooperation allow us to prepare and present
an effective, comprehensive budget.
Financial Services Department
Mary Beth Chambers
Interim Chief Financial Officer
Michael R. Herbstman
Director, Budget and Financial Systems
Mekdes Amedi
Business Support Specialist
Budget Office Staff
Robert C. Easley
Assistant Director, Budget and Fiscal Compliance
Shelly Sikhammountry
Budget Analyst II
Lauren Walker
Capital Program Analyst
Financial Systems and Reporting Staff
Sarah G. Rhodes
Assistant Director, Financial Systems and Reporting
Daniel Fugar
Business Systems Analyst
The Alexandria City School Board is committed to nondiscrimination with regard to age, race,
national origin, ancestry, disability, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sex, sexual
orientation, genetic information, pregnancy, marital status, status as a parent, or political affiliation.
This attitude will prevail in all of its policies concerning staff, students, educational programs and
services, and individuals with whom the Board does business.
Please direct all inquiries regarding ACPS non-discrimination policies to the Chief Human Resources
Officer, 1340 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-619-8010.
Preface ACPS FY 2018 Proposed Budget
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ACPS FY 2018 Proposed Budget Preface
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This Meritorious Budget Award is presented to
ALEXANDRIA CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
for excellence in the preparation and issuance of its budget
for the Fiscal Year 2016-2017.
The budget adheres to the principles and standards
of ASBO International’s Meritorious Budget Award criteria.

Brenda R. Burkett, CPA, CSBA, SFO John D. Musso, CAE, RSBA
President Executive Director
Preface ACPS FY 2018 Proposed Budget
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Superintendent’s Message
FY 2018 Proposed Combined
Funds Budget
Staying the Course in Our Pursuit of
Excellence
January 12, 2017
To Students, Staff, Parents, Members of the School Board and the Alexandria
Community:
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) continues to move forward in our pursuit of
excellence. We remain focused on our strategic plan, ACPS 2020, setting us on a
course to be a school division where every student succeeds. Our enrollment continues
to grow and our division remains one of great diversity, providing a rich cultural
experience for our students, families, and staff. Our students are to be commended for
the consistent and indisputable growth we are seeing in their academic achievements.
It is rewarding to see that the investments we have made to provide resources to our
teachers and their classrooms are making a difference.
The steady growth in enrollment presents challenges for us, both today and in the future.
Not only is our total enrollment growing, but the population of students with additional
needs is growing both in number and in complexity of services required. I am grateful to
be surrounded by talented and committed staff and want to ensure we have the
resources to fully provide all of our students with an outstanding educational experience
and the optimal learning environments they deserve.
I am pleased to present the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget for FY 2018. It is a
modest budget that supports our staff and provides limited additional resources for next
year. This budget reflects input from community members, advisory committees and
councils, parents, students and staff, all of whom share a commitment to making
Alexandria City Public Schools a high-performing school division.
The proposed operating budget of $261.8 million and 2,319.73 FTEs is $8.4 million or
3.3% increase over the current year, providing our students the opportunity for
continued academic success.
Budget Priorities and Guiding Principles
In September 2016, the School Board set forth its budget priorities for FY 2018. These
priorities provide guidance and broad areas of focus for the Superintendent and staff to
consider when developing the detailed budget for next year. At a high-level, these
priorities are a continuation of those established for FY 2017, with a few additional
areas of emphasis within each. The priorities are:

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 Core Achievement in literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, writing and
world language
 Student Services including specialized instruction (formerly known as special
education), English language learners, talented and gifted, honors
support and opportunities for acceleration, student, family and community
engagement, and student health and wellness
 Targeted Interventions, including support for struggling students, pre-
kindergarten initiatives, alternative education programming and substance abuse
prevention and intervention services
 Recruitment, Training and Retention, including competitive salaries, effective
recruitment, creative retention strategies, leadership development including
succession planning, and cultural competence
 Operational Effectiveness, including revenue and grants development,
communications, optimal and equitable learning environments, and redistricting
The budget we have developed addresses those priorities, accomplishing several key
goals. The proposed FY 2018 budget is one that:
 Protects the classroom, addressing growing enrollment across all grade levels.
 Strengthens the provision of student support services, especially in the areas of
nursing, psychological services, and translation.
 Positions ACPS to recruit and retain highly qualified staff, and continue to offer
competitive salaries and benefits.
 Continues to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the central
administrative offices and improve the support provided to schools.
 Supports the modernization and maintenance of our facilities, creating optimal
learning environments.

Budgets always present us with hard choices, where we wrestle with the reality that we
cannot do everything we would like. Every ACPS program was closely reviewed as part
of this year’s process and the decisions reached reflect our efforts to drive resources to
where they will most impact our students’ ability to succeed.

In addition to the operating budget, ACPS serves each student through funding from
grants and special projects and the school nutrition program. When combined, the FY
2018 budget totals $285.8 million including 2,519.43 FTEs.

Highlights of the FY 2018 Proposed Operating Budget
There are key areas within the FY 2018 Proposed Budget that require additional funds
or the realignment of resources within the budget. These include the staffing necessary
to address growing student enrollment, rising medical and retirement benefit costs, a
modest increase in compensation for our employees, and other targeted growth areas
to support academic achievement. Here is a high-level look at the primary drivers for
next year’s budget:

Preface ACPS FY 2018 Proposed Budget
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Growing Student Enrollment: $1.2 million
Growing student enrollment impacts our budget directly. FY 2018 enrollment is
projected to increase by 2.8%, giving us a total of 15,523 students. By FY 2027, ACPS
is projected to have enrollment just under a total of 18,000 students.
Enrollment Growth
FY 2014 to Projected FY 2018

Elementary Middle School High School
18,000
15,523
14,729 15,104
15,000 14,224
13,623
12,000
9,000
6,000
3,000
0
FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018
Actual Actual Actual Actual Projected

We are firm in our belief that a primary key to student success is having a high quality
teacher, who is fully prepared to deliver a 21st century curriculum, in every classroom.
While we need fewer homeroom teachers in our elementary schools, the changing
needs of our students at the elementary level require additional staffing for specialized
instruction and English learners. At the middle school level, we require more instructors
for world languages, specialized instruction and physical education. Both campuses of
our high school have a need for more core subject teachers to ensure manageable
class sizes in language arts, social studies, and world languages. Additionally,
increasing the number of teachers for more electives at the Minnie Howard campus will
provide more opportunities for students, and reduce the need for daily transitions to the
King Street campus to access certain elective courses.
This proposed budget represents an ongoing commitment to ACPS students by
supporting initiatives that have been implemented to decrease gaps in achievement
across economic, educational and racial groups.
The budget continues to allow us to offer a broad spectrum of challenging educational
opportunities for our students, including elementary Dual Language programs, a
secondary STEM Academy, the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID)

ACPS FY 2018 Proposed Budget Preface
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Program, the Primary and Middle Years International Baccalaureate Programme at
Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 School, and honors and Advanced Placement classes, to
name a few.
In total, the FY 2018 Proposed Budget allocates an additional $1.15 million to cover the
costs of the additional teachers and instructional support personnel required to achieve
the necessary numbers of instructional staff at all levels of the division, as well as
additional materials and supplies needed to support growing enrollment. These
additions directly support our goal of achieving academic excellence and educational
equity for all students.
Compensation and Benefits: $8.8 million
The ACPS 2020 strategic plan also states that we must attract and retain the best and
brightest teachers into our school division. In doing so, we must offer compensation that
is competitive with our surrounding school divisions. ACPS plans to award eligible staff
a full-step increase at the beginning of the contract year. The increase in compensation
is projected to be $4.8 million.
Benefits costs are projected to increase next year. Both the retirement contribution
mandated by the State and the cost of medical insurance will increase. In all, benefits
are projected to increase by $4.0 million.
Other Areas of Focus: $2.1 million
The FY 2018 Proposed Budget includes additional resources to further support our
strategic plan goals of academic achievement, family engagement, and effective
operations as follows:
 Supports for our students and families, including Amharic and Arabic translation
services and registration and assessment assistance.
 Substance abuse counselor providing assessment and early intervention
counseling working with families, community agencies and school staff.
 Textbooks for elementary reading, secondary mathematics and World
Languages.
 School cultural specialist and professional development funds supporting
improved school culture and cultural competence.
 Increased maintenance and custodial support.
Areas of Reductions: -$3.7 million
To ensure resources are allocated efficiently, the FY 2018 Proposed Budget includes
reductions in several areas. These include:
 Each department reduced their operating budgets by at least 2.0%, resulting in a
savings of $1.5 million and a decrease of 3.0 positions.
 Savings in lease costs and other one-time expenditures budgeted in FY 2017
and not needed in FY 2018.

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