Coraggio Consulting
Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Budget Work Session, Monday, March 17, 2025

Date: Monday, March 17, 2025
Place: Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 3h 39m (video)
Official meeting video (Granicus): https://albemarle.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=1313
Official agenda: https://albemarle.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=1313

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-15. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:03] I'm pleased to call the meeting of the Elmoral County Board of Supervisors in March 3:00 p.m. in room 241 of the McClare County office building on the North Street back here.

[00:00:21] I'd like to know that we have Supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District, Supervisor I'll keep going, and hopefully, before we really start, we'll get that echo fixed.

[00:00:48] And still ratchet up the volume. Oh, yeah. And again, I want to remind everyone to speak towards the ceiling, so I should speak up myself a little bit. We're also joined by our county executive, Mr. Jeff Richardson, our county attorney, Mr. Andy Herrick. We have our clerk, Claudette Morgerson, senior deputy clerk, Thomas Morris.

[00:01:05] We're also joined at the table, Trevor Henry, deputy county executive in Ann Wall, deputy county executive, as well as many others we will name in a minute. I'd also like to please introduce and welcome Officer Tavon Richardson and Officer Brooke Pacheco. Thank you for your service here today and everything on behalf of the citizens of Albemarle County.

[00:01:25] And with that, I understand that we have quorum for the school board. So I'd like to turn this over to Margaret Kim to call the school board. Oh, I wasn't anticipating that, but... Is that right? There's a quorum present, it's listed as a special meeting.

[00:01:44] Okay, then without the gavel, I do call this St. Patrick's Day meeting of the school board in session. And I'll let you introduce the representatives at the table or that will be fine. Well, I'm here. I'm Kate Acuff.

[00:02:04] I am the chair of the Elmoral County School Board as well as the representative from Jack Jewett, and I'm here with my colleague, Dr. Rebecca Boleyn, who represents vice chair and Whitehall district representative, and we have two of our other school board members immediate past chair judy lee of ravanna and uh also previous previous chair uh graham page from scottsville no samuel miller sorry about that and of course we have dr haws the superintendent rothlin schmidt the coo and many other supporting folk from the cabinet who are here to help us

[00:02:43] field questions uh if you have any thank you uh but with that i will turn this over to andy bowman our Chief Financial Officer. We'll take it from here. Thank you Chair for the introduction and good afternoon to the Board and School Board. I have just a few introductory slides to do with most work sessions just to set the stage for what we'll cover today. So today is the third work

[00:03:20] session of the Board of Supervisors. No action is requested today, but as we discussed last week, it is scheduled for the proposed budget and proposed advertised tax rates for advertisement on the afternoon work session for the 19th tomorrow we'll kick out the kick off the first of seven town halls the first which is at the center from 5:30 to 7:30 tomorrow and those will continue as shown on the slide just a quick recap for those who may just be tuning in if it's their first work session the intent of these work sessions is presented a level of detail in between the very thick budget document and the high-level county

[00:03:57] executives presentation staff for county government we're here to address any board questions as we go through this so if there's any amendments desired by the budget will be captured those as well to bring those back Wednesday for the proposed budget also for anyone who does not see a response that we say that the board will get back to that all of those are posted on the website for transparency so today we'll begin with the school board and then after they are done with their presentation of the board questions and answers I would propose a break just to if no other reason allow us to change seats we'll then cover the capital improvements program and debt chapters and then we

[00:04:35] would recap everything we discussed to date heading into the March 19th work session if time allows we have a couple of chapters we could pick up that we didn't finish Wednesday but if those go to the upcoming Wednesday that is perfectly fine knowing there is a lot to cover today and we do not want to rush for discussion so my final slide before I hand it off to Dr. Acuff is just a summary of what we talked about last week with the board supervisors of those investments in the transfers that are going to the public school division this is only the revenue that goes to that and we'll hear from the public schools what that is provided so first in the

[00:05:10] transfer to the public schools for their operating budget there's a transfer of 14.3 million or 7.3 percent compared to last year's budget this includes the normal revenues and it also includes a 0.4 cents dedication on the real estate tax rate which is 1.2 million dollars this will be the first time the real estate tax rate has changed since the fiscal year 20 process where in 2019 the board raised the rate 1.5 cents for public operational and capital and debt needs related to the referendum and that this will be the first time that has taken place then and that is the rest of the public the rest of the dedications for housing and public safety we talked about

[00:05:47] last week in addition there is a 6.2 million dollar one-time transfer to the schools for their share of the one-time transfer the health fund that is funded county government specifically year-end funding from fiscal year 24. Typically that has not been provided this is a one-time situation that is included in the recommended budget. We also have the formula transfers to capital and debt. We have seen as our CIP has ramped up in recent years and the projects are executed we are beginning to issue the bonds and pay back the principal and interest.

[00:06:17] 2.6 million of that is for the public schools based on the timing of our most recent issuance and projects underway. Finally beyond the formula transfer to capital and debt we have for public school capital we discussed when if tax rates are raised in calendar year 25 that impacts both fiscal year 26 and fiscal year 25. that would generate six million dollars in the current fiscal year that would be recommended to be collected in june and provided in the school cip to support those projects currently included so with that i will turn it over to uh dr acup and

[00:06:51] thank you okay well good afternoon chair andrews vice chair mikhail and members of the board I'm here today with Dr. Rebecca Berlin and we're going to go through our presentation with you. We appreciate this opportunity to update you on where we are currently with the school divisions funding request for fiscal 26. This needs-based funding request represents finance more than just financial figures it reflects our commitment to ensuring every people will not be able to hear

[00:07:24] you if you're listening so please try to pretend on a big auditory this needs based funding request represents more than just financial figures it represents our commitment to ensuring every student has the resources support and opportunities they need to thrive another reason we're glad to be here today is to thank you for your ongoing support and partnership we're fortunate to partner with the Board of Supervisors that understands the importance of

[00:08:00] investing in public education it was exciting last month to break ground on not one but two new schools including Mountain View upper elementary and the Albemarle Career Exploration or ACE Academy at Lambs Lane both of which will open in the fall of 2027 we're looking forward to having these wonderful educational spaces available for our students and we were delighted to have some of you join our recent groundbreaking ceremonies and celebrations I was fortunate I went to the one that was at 60 degrees rather

[00:08:35] than Mountain View which was in the 20s behind every budget decision into every investment every reduction and every initiative there are real people our students our educators our support staff and leadership our families our community members and partners like you this afternoon our presentation will cover key areas including a review of who we are who we serve and our budget development process we'll talk about our return on investment and we'll provide and where we stand currently with the budget we'll provide an overview of

[00:09:10] specific funding proposals revisit our capital needs and discuss the next steps in our budget process we kindly ask that you hold questions until the end of presentation at which time we will be happy to take questions and engage in discussion and now dr. Berlin will present the first two segments of our funding request thank you very much before we dive into the details of our funding requests we want to highlight the context of who we are as a school division our students our staff and the services we provide this foundation is essential to understanding how we prioritize funding and allocate

[00:09:48] resources to best support our schools and our community during this section we will provide a brief overview of our budget development process which reflects a thoughtful collaborative approach to balancing the needs constraints and long-term goals it is important to ground ourselves in the numbers of our county Elbermar County Public Schools stores more than 14,000 students from preschool through 12th grade as well as post high we operate 24 schools including 15 elementary schools five middle schools three comprehensive high schools and one charter school as we move

[00:10:26] into the 25-26 school year we will operate four specialty centers and programs the albermouth career and exploration academy at sun mall trail this is currently center one but has been renamed the center for learning and growth our alternative education center for students in grades 6 through 12 who require short-term placements with targeted behavioral and academic support the intensive support center which currently provides intensive behavioral supports for k-12 students and will expand this fall to include services for k-12 students with emotional

[00:11:03] disabilities and functional life skills instruction for post high students those students age 18 to 22 with IEPs. We'll share more about this expansion later in the presentation. And the last specialty center, the Newcomer Learning Center, our program for students who are new to the United States.

[00:11:22] Additionally, we offer Scholar Studios, a program that provides students in grades 9 through 12 with real-world learning experiences while building essential skills for success. We'll also discuss this program in more detail later in the presentation. I am so honored to work with the incredible workforce of over 2,800 employees, which includes dedicated teachers, administrators, and education support professionals who keep our schools, departments, and facilities running every day. About half of our staff are teachers, and more than two-thirds of our educators hold

[00:11:59] at least a master's degree. We are so proud of our 86.8% teacher retention rate, but our work is not done. We continue efforts to attract and retain top talent not just in the classroom but also as teaching assistants, bus drivers, and transportation staff, building services staff, and after-school professionals. Our student enrollment places us among the largest one-third of school systems in Virginia. We currently serve 14,173 students from preschool through 12th grade.

[00:12:37] A few more details about those students. More than 13% receive special education services, 28% are economically disadvantaged as measured by the number certified to receive free and reduced price meals, and 13% of our students are English learners.

[00:12:56] While these numbers continue to shift every day, we know that our students come from over 103 countries and speak 78 different languages at home, leading to the continued diversity of our system.

[00:13:15] Beyond the classroom, we provide essential services to students to fully participate in their school day. Our child nutrition team serves an average of 7,600 meals daily. Our school bus drivers travel more than 9,400 miles each day to safely transport our students to and from school.

[00:13:36] Our technology team supports more than 19,000 student and staff laptops, 5,600 laptops for our youngest learners, and a growing number of digital tools and infrastructure that support instruction, communication, and school operation. They also help to ensure that families across the county have reliable internet access at home.

[00:13:57] Another critical student support that we have is our homeless education program that served nearly 400 homeless children, including 353 of our pre-K through 12th grade students.

[00:14:18] Our strategic plan, Learning for All, is the core of everything we do, including our budget development process. Developed during the 2021 school year and adopted in 21-22, this plan guides our vision for student success.

[00:14:34] Our vision, mission, core values, and strategic goals help ensure that every student not only has access to high-quality learning experiences, but also has the support they need to succeed. This funding request reflects our efforts to make decisions that get us a step closer to achieving these goals.

[00:14:54] Our budget is built on six guiding principles to ensure responsible funding decisions that align with our long-term goals and maximize resources for student success. We prioritize fiscal responsibility, aligning resources with our mission while maintaining financial stability.

[00:15:14] Community engagement ensures families, staff, businesses, and the broader community have a voice in shaping budget priorities. To attract and retain tech talent, we offer competitive compensation with market-aligned salaries and benefits. We also maintain sustainable operations by using best practices to ensure facilities, transportation, and services are used efficiently.

[00:15:36] Every budget decision supports strategic alignment with our school board priorities and strategic plan. And finally, we rely on database decisions using performance measures to ensure that funds are used effectively. These principles help to keep our budget focused, responsible, and centered on student success.

[00:15:56] Our budget cycle begins each September and extends into May. The process involves extensive analysis, planning, and community engagement, and multiple levels of review. today we come before you in the final stage of our budget development budget development is a shared effort involving division leadership advisory groups and extensive community engagement by working together we help ensure that our funding priorities and our decisions reflect the needs of those we serve throughout this process we received numerous emails phone calls and public comments related to our community's priorities with this foundational

[00:16:36] context in mind let's take a moment to focus on why investing in public education matters. Our schools are not only places of learning, they are central to the success of our community, our workforce, and our combined future. The investments we make today directly impact student outcomes, economic growth, and the well-being of our entire region. As the parent of two public education graduates, I know that public education is one of the most powerful investments a community can make. Whether we're aiming to bring a stronger economy, to build a stronger economy, attract business, lower crime mates, promote healthier lifestyles, or increase civic

[00:17:15] engagement. It all starts with the investment in quality public education. A well-educated workforce earns higher wages, in turn boosting tax revenue and reducing reliance on public assistance. A 2003 study from the Economic Policy Institute showed that students who graduate high earn on average 30% more, and that fuels local economies. Quality schools attract businesses that need skilled employees. In Albemarle County, that's most apparent in our technology and healthcare sectors. Strong schools make neighborhoods more disposable. The National

[00:17:54] Bureau of Economic Research says that every dollar invested in schools leads to a $20 increase in property values. Higher graduation rates reduce crime and save billions in law enforcement costs. The U.S. Department of Justice determined that a 5% increase in graduation rates could save the U.S. $18.5 billion annually. Also, education leads to healthier lifestyles and lower medical expenses. Our health care career pathways leads to help address regional workforce shortages while reducing long-term public health care costs. And

[00:18:33] And finally, research shows that high school graduates are more likely to vote, to volunteer, and to give back to their communities. Your continued investment in Albemarle County schools directly correlates to a strong, thriving Albemarle County for future generations.

[00:18:53] Public education also has a strong return on investment, and we are seeing that in ACPS. As shown on this slide, we spend more money poor student than the state average, but our students are also performing above the state average. In addition to showing how our students perform compared to their peers across the state, we've also included comparative data for our neighbor, Charlottesville City Schools, where per-pupil spending is higher than in Albemarle.

[00:19:21] As you look at this data, you'll see that ACPS outperforms both the state and Charlottesville City Schools in nearly every measure. Whether you look at pass rates on state assessments or the number of students who earn an advanced diploma or enroll in AP or dual enrollment classes or graduate on time, you'll see evidence that Albemarle County Public Schools is making wise investments and seeing strong results. And now I will turn it over to Dr. Acroft to provide an overview of our funding request. Thank you, Dr. Berlin. Now that we've established why investing in public education is

[00:19:58] critical, let's take a look at the numbers. This section provides a high-level overview of our funding request, where funding comes from, how it's allocated, and the key factors driving our financial decisions. Our budget overview provides a snapshot of our current position. For the first time, we're introducing our budget by showing the big, big picture, our total budget that includes revenues from both the school front, which is what we have usually started with, and the special revenue fund. This total of $308 million represents the revenue we expect to receive from our local,

[00:20:34] state and federal sources as well as a small amount from our fund balance or savings most of our funding about 71% or two hundred and nineteen point three million comes from local sources thank you very much now primarily from county tax revenues the state contributes nearly 25% or 75 million and the federal government provides just over 4% or about 13 and a half million the total budget includes both our main operating budget known as the school fund and our special revenue funds which account for our self-sustaining programs like child

[00:21:13] nutrition our extended day enrichment programs as well as federal state and local grant fund within this budget money moves between funds for specific purposes so when calculating our total budget we make adjustments to avoid double counting the takeaway here is that 308 million dollars reflects all revenue available to support our schools in the coming year in our total budget you saw that ACPS anticipates receiving 13 and a half million in total federal funding all federal revenues with the exception of a $460,000 Medicaid

[00:21:51] reimbursement from some of our medically needed kids is budgeted in special revenue funds these funds are separate from our main operating budget and are restricted to specific programs that serve students with the greatest needs there's three main programs that make up the majority of federal funding first school lunch or school meals it provides free and reduced price meals to students and helps offset food costs IDEA the individuals with Disabilities Education Act which helps cover federally requires special education services and

[00:22:29] And Title I, which directly supports reading and math interventions for students facing the greatest academic and economic challenges. It's important to note that these funds are not flexible. They must be used for these designated programs.

[00:22:45] If federal funding for these programs were reduced, the services they support would be at risk, forcing the division to rely on local funding to maintain them. This would severely limit our ability to serve students and families, especially those who depend on these programs for the support they need to succeed in school.

[00:23:05] While federal funding plays an important and critical role in supporting specific programs, our primary operating budget, called the School Fund, is what keeps our schools running day to day. This fund covers core expenses such as teacher salaries, classroom resources, and school operations.

[00:23:25] Our proposed school fund revenues for FY26 totaled $284 million, reflecting a 5.4 overall increase over last year. The majority of the funding in our operating budget comes from local sources, about 75%.

[00:23:43] $460,000 in federal funding, or 0.2% on the operating budget, comes from the federal government and includes our Medicaid reimbursements. At first glance, you'll see that the state revenues have increased compared to last year.

[00:24:04] It's important to note, however, that they remain significantly lower than two years ago. In fact, we're facing an estimated $10 million loss per year due to the change in the state's local composite index.

[00:24:19] So let's take a closer look at that. The Local Composite Index, or LCI, is a formula used by the state to determine how much funding a school division is expected to receive locally versus how much it will receive from the state.

[00:24:36] Prior to the most recent LCI calculation, which had its first impact in this current FY25 budget, we were able to come to you for several years with a balanced funding request.

[00:24:52] Last year and this year, with the most recent LCI change, however, we are facing significant revenue gaps. As a reminder, the LCI is based on three financial factors that are supposed to measure a locality's ability to generate revenue for schools.

[00:25:08] First, property values, or the total value of taxable real estate. This is 50% of the LCI calculation. however that this value does not take into account the lower tax rates in Elmore County for land use income levels or the adjusted gross income of residents that's 40% of the LCI that does not take into account high net worth individuals coming and skewing skewing that figure significantly which we believe happened four years ago and finally making up the remainder is 10%

[00:25:46] retail sales tax with the amount of taxable sales locally and the higher localities LCI then the higher the expectation that the locality will fund its schools using local revenue and the less it will receive in state aid a change in the LCI calculation and for the 24 to 26 fiscal years resulted in a significantly higher LCI for Albemarle County meaning that the state has

[00:26:20] determined that our locality can contribute a larger share as a result of the recalculated LCI the state contribution plunged by an estimated 10 million dollars per year which if it had stayed at the level of 24 we would not be here with a funding gap this shift means we must rely more heavily on local funding just to maintain the current programs so school fund expenditures now

[00:27:00] that we reviewed where our funding comes from let's take a closer look at how we allocate those funds to support students employees and schools the tape this table shows a comparison of our FY adopted budget with our proposed FY 26 budget broken down by expense category our projected expenses for the next fiscal year total 285 million dollars a 5.7 percent increase you can see from this that salaries benefits and other wages continue to make up the largest

[00:27:35] share of our budget nearly 87 percent reflect that excuse me reflecting our commitment to investing in our workforce and emphasizing that education is a people business that's what we do is we have people who make it all work our expenses in areas like transportation and other essential services have increased but as a reflection of our strategic reductions to meet budgetary needs our overall operational costs have decreased by 2.2 million dollars to help visualize these expenditures the next slide presents this information in pie

[00:28:11] charts making it easier to see how resources are distributed the you can see the chart on the left breaks down expenses by category you see that the salaries benefits and other wages the dark blue light blue and a little wedge of orange account for the majority of our budget again 87% operations make up of that 10% and covering critical which cover critical costs such as classroom supplies utilities fuel contracted services and transfers round out the

[00:28:45] remaining balance you look at the pie chart on the right it shows expenditures by the state reporting categories instruction the dark purple makes up the largest share at 71% this includes not just classroom teaching but also school level administration counseling library media services and others building services at 9.4 5 and transportation at 6.7 reflect our ongoing commitment to maintaining safe and accessible learning environments and administration attendance and health at 6.2 includes essential support services such as school

[00:29:25] nurses, psychologists, speech services. The clear takeaway is that the vast majority of our funding is dedicated to supporting students, employees, and schools. As you know a major driver of rising causes health care. Over the past two years our health care contributions have increased by more than 54 percent. 54 percent. Driven by higher premiums, increased medical claims and adjustments to our fiscal year budget calculations one key factor is that health care reserve managed by local government to

[00:30:04] which we contribute has fallen below the recommended level based on industry standards we remain committed however in managing these expenses while maintaining the quality coverage for employees one important step in this effort is a new Albemarle care clinic which is expected to help control costs and improve access to health care over time. Another key factor driving up costs is enrollment growth. Our FY26 requests include a budget to budget increase of 1.3 million dollars to accommodate enrollment growth. This is

[00:30:44] based on a projected to projected increase of 178 K through 12 students. enrollment growth extends far beyond our k-12 population however in recent years we've seen a significant increase in our post high student population which includes students ages 18 to 22 who require specialized support to transition successfully to adulthood this growth has outpaced our current capacity with 29 students now enrolled in a space designed for 24 in the facility behind Burley Middle School to address this our FY 26 funding request

[00:31:23] includes $649,000 to expand the intensive support center this investment will enhance services for k-12 students with intensive behavioral needs while also relocating our post high students to a more suitable facility ensuring they have the space and resources they need as we also look further ahead to FY 27 Mountain View upper elementary school and Albemarle Career Academy exploration Academy at Lambs Lane will open requiring significant staffing and operational investments our FY 26 request includes early staffing

[00:32:03] adjustments to ensure a smooth transition ahead of these openings learning for all proposals our funding requests include 8.3 in strategic investment that support our students staff and schools is learning for all proposals are directly aligned with our strategic plan are reinforcing our commitment to equity excellence and sustainability our goal is to ensure that every student has access to the resources and support they need for FY 26 we are prioritizing five key investments that dr. Berlin will talk more in depth

[00:32:41] about but one is a 3% compensation increase for all of our employees and additional adjustments for some staff with specialized roles like special ed assistance and some for transportation expanding educational resources in response to recommendations from our 2023 bellwether instructional practices audit supporting staff and operational needs for our scholars studios otherwise known otherwise known as career learning pathways to ensure equitable access to

[00:33:18] this rigorous innovative learning experiences for all students as I mentioned a minute ago enhancing the intensive behavioral support for k-12 students and expanding the functional life skills for post high students this will be project what now is what is has been the IDP school I'm strengthening school safety by ensuring all comprehensive high schools have a dedicated school resource officer service reductions we've not just added proposals we've made some quite severe cuts to address revenue constraints from

[00:33:54] decreased state funding and rising costs associated with enrollment growth and providing health care coverage the funding requests include 6.4 million in service reductions proposed cuts include five and a half million in structural changes such as reducing or freezing central office and department based positions reducing the number of instructional coaches by 40% eliminating our foreign language in elementary school program and pausing our furniture replacement program. Our proposed reductions also include $935,000 in

[00:34:30] deferred cost to FY27, including deferment of our classification review and technology replacement cycles, as well as administrative positions for Center 2, SCA's Academy. These deferments would yield a one-time saving as our FY27 budget will need to pick up the slack. These reductions, including a loss of more than 40 FTEs reflect difficult decisions as they have both anticipated and unforeseen effects on students' experiences and staff support.

[00:35:04] They also come on top of the $3.5 million of cuts, including the reduction of 16.3 FTEs last year – well, this current fiscal year, which included increasing class sizes made the current year underscoring the continued financial challenges that we face that said we are committed to minimizing the impacts of these cuts while we are statutorily required to present you a needs-based funding request it does not really fully meet our needs rather it's a continuation

[00:35:39] of difficult decisions to cut programs and staff on top of last year's difficult decisions despite the budgetary's challenges we remain committed to meeting the needs of our students staff and schools this slide highlights our progress and funding key priorities you'll see those that we funded in green and the red is those programs that we've not been able to fund as the priorities we include in our FY funding request represent important investments at the same time we recognize that there are several significant priorities that remain

[00:36:18] unfunded including initiatives that support instruction employee benefits recruitment and infrastructure while these are not included in our current budget proposal they remain critical to achieving our mission and will continue to be part of our long-term planning here we have a summary of our proposed 15.3 million or 5.4 increase in expenditures including 2.6 million in baseline adjustments to maintain existing commitments accommodating a 26% increase in

[00:36:51] health care or plan year 25 10.8 million in mandatory or unavoidable non-discretionary charges changes including inflation enrollment growth another 24% increase in health care costs and technical changes such as funding for positions including additional English newer teachers to meet updated state staffing requirements our increase also includes eight point three million in new investments that support our commitment this increase our commitment to learning for all this increase is

[00:37:30] offset by six point four million in service reductions to address ongoing revenue constraints as a reminder and nearly one million of these dollars of these reductions are one-time savings, meaning the cost will shift to the following fiscal year.

[00:37:48] Despite strategic investments and cost-saving measures, we face a revenue gap driven by rising costs and depressed state funding. This gap also reflects the school board's unanimous commitment to preserving essential supports.

[00:38:04] Our current revenue gap in the funding request stands at approximately $750,000. However, this figure after is after the 6.4 million service reductions, nearly 1 million of which comes from one-time savings.

[00:38:19] In reality, our truer picture of our funding gap is 1.7, as those deferred costs will still need to be addressed, whether in FY26 or 27. Board of Supervisors will help us close this recurring gap now. We won't be starting the FY27 budget process already in the hall.

[00:38:38] now Dr. Berlin will take a closer look at our learning for all proposals. Now that we've outlined our overall budget picture and funding gap, let's take a closer look at the key investments that drive this request. These five strategic proposals reflect our commitment to supporting students, staff, and schools, ensuring that even within financial constraints, we are making targeting investments that have the greatest impact. So the first one is to increase compensation. To remain

[00:39:11] competitive, we propose a $6.5 million investment in employee compensation, including a 3% salary increase for all employees, effective July 1st, 2025. In addition, we are making targeted salary adjustments for special education teaching assistants and transportation assistants, positions that we feel are critical to student success, particularly for our most vulnerable learners. Currently, these salaries lag our market goal by 4 to 5 percent. By increasing their pay

[00:39:47] and adjusting their pay grade, we can improve retention, provide greater stability for students, and recognize the vital role these employees play in our schools. This investment aligns with our long-term strategy to keep salaries 10 percent above the market average, ensuring that ACPS remains competitive in attracting and retaining top talent across all employee groups.

[00:40:15] This slide compares our proposed 3% salary increase to the reported proposals in many divisions in our adopted market. While full data isn't available for every division, we have gathered information on much of the market.

[00:40:32] Note that ACPS is an orange, their market is the green, kind of grayish background, and our closest competitor, Charlottesville City Schools, is in gold or maybe orange. ACPS remains competitive in the early to mid-career salary straps, with salaries exceeding the market by as much as $1,654 at step 15. However, beyond 20 years of service, the gap starts to close, and at

[00:41:05] step 25, ACPS fall below the market by $945. By step 30, ACPS salaries lagged the market by $1,836. But when compared specifically to Charlottesville City's proposed increases, ACPS falls short at every step. The difference grows significantly in later years, with Charlottesville City surpassing ACPS salaries by over $2,400 at step 25 and by more than $3,600 at step 30. Additionally,

[00:41:43] Charlottesville's plan 1.5 step differentiation, not reflected on this slide, could further widen this gap, making it even more challenging for ACPS to stay competitive and retaining experienced teachers with our closest competitor. A 3% increase is essential in maintaining our competitiveness.

[00:42:02] especially as we work to recruit and retain experienced educators and prevent further salary gaps from widening. Our next initiative is to invest in instructional resources. Our instructional priorities are driven by recommendations from our Spring 2023 Bellwether Instructional Practices Audit, which identified key opportunities to strengthen instruction and address persistent late learning gaps in literacy, mathematics, and equitable access to rigorous standards-aligned

[00:42:38] content. In year one of this plan, which is the next 25-26 school year, we are investing $500,000 in expanding intervention programs, new assessment tools, and curriculum enhancements. This includes a multi-tiered support system database, progress monitoring tools, and virtual intervention licenses resources designed to better track and support individual student learning we are also making one-time investments in targeted math and literacy interventions as well as new algebra 1 and math 8 textbooks to improve math readiness and better align to our secondary

[00:43:18] curriculum looking ahead our long-term instructional strategy includes a comprehensive secondary math and middle school language art textbook adoption in the 26-27 school year These investments will ensure that all teachers, and in turn their students, have access to high-quality, standards-aligned resources that support both state requirements and our division's instructional goals.

[00:43:43] Our next proposal is to support the Scholar's Studio staffing. Scholar's Studios is a four-year program starting in ninth grade that gives ACPS high school students the opportunity to explore their passions through specialized hands-on learning experiences.

[00:44:03] Open to students across the county, the program offers 12 studios, each designed around a specific area of interest. Within these studios, students engage in collaborative real-world learning that connects them to work-based experiences and industry credentials.

[00:44:21] Through a combination of academic coursework, project-based learning, and real-world career experiences, Scholar Studios helps students build the skills and knowledge needed for success in college, careers, and beyond. To maintain and expand Scholar Studio Initiative, this proposal includes a $406,000 investment in staffing and resources, ensuring equitable access for all students.

[00:44:45] This funding supports Studio Leads, dedicated assistance to English learners and special education students, and operational resources to sustain and enhance our programming. In the first year of this plan, the 25-26 school year, our focus is on stabilizing existing programs by establishing core staffing and resources.

[00:45:04] Then, in the second year, we expand support for English learners and special education studios, introduce scholars' physics, and enhance advanced learning opportunities, strengthening pathways to high-demand careers. This investment reinforces our commitment to providing rigorous, innovative learning experience that prepares students for success, helping to build a stronger workforce, attract business investment, and contribute to a thriving local economy in our county.

[00:45:36] Our second to last is expanding our special education services. The Intensive Support Center, ISC, provides intensive behavioral supports in a low teacher-to-student ratio setting for K-12 students with disabilities who might otherwise be placed outside of our county.

[00:45:55] Beginning in the 25-26 school year, ISC will expand to serve more students with intensive behavioral needs, including K-12 students with emotional disabilities and post-high students who require functional life skills and instruction. This expansion will allow ACPS to transition students currently placed in Ivy Creek School through PrEP to our own program, providing a greater continuum of care.

[00:46:21] To support this expansion, our FY26 funding request includes 649,000 proposals to establish ISC as a fully ACPS-run center, strengthening stability and ensuring that students receive high-quality, consistent support within our schools.

[00:46:39] This investment also reduces long-term costs associated with external placements. With this funding, the current post-high program, now located behind Burley Middle School, will relocate to ISC at the Lands Lane campus, allowing the two centers to operate as one.

[00:46:56] This move will also free up space for the Center for Learning and Growth, our alternative education center for grades 6 through 12, to operate during the day rather than being limited to after school or evening hours. Expanding access to these specialized services ensures that students who need them most can benefit from dedicated instructional time and resources. By growing our internal capacity to serve students with complex needs, this investment strengthens our ability to provide specialized instruction, staffing, and resources, ensuring every student has the support they need to thrive in our school system. And our last proposal is to

[00:47:35] add school resource officers. This proposal funds one additional school resource officer at Monticello and one at Western Albemarle, ensuring that all three comprehensive high schools have a dedicated safety presence. This $252,000 investment enhances school safety by strengthening proactive safety measures and crisis support for students, staff, and families. SROs are more than law enforcement officers. They are trained to work with students, build positive relationships, and support school safety through education, mentorship, and crisis response. Their

[00:48:12] specialized training includes adolescent psychology, de-escalation, working with students with disabilities, and mental health needs, and strategies for ensuring fair and equitable interactions with all students. In addition to crisis response, SROs collaborate year-round with school leadership and safety teams, providing guidance on topics such as citizenship, substance abuse prevention, and legal awareness. This program operates under a formal MOU between ACPS and AC Police Department, which defines the role and responsibilities of SROs our schools the mou is reviewed every two years with the next review set to reflect this expansion

[00:48:50] during this opportunity there will be opportunities for public insure input to ensure transparency in line with our school divisions values by ensuring a consistent safety presence in every comprehensive high school strengthening school law enforcement partnerships and providing dedicated crisis support this investment reinforces our commitment to creating a secure and supportive learning environment for all our schools. And now Dr. A. Kupp will take a look at ACPS capital funding request and close us for the day. And I'm almost done. We're almost done. You'll be happy to know

[00:49:26] this. In addition to our operating budget, we must also consider the long-term investments to support our students and schools. We again are grateful to Albemarle County Partners for the support of critical capital projects that shape the future of ACPS. However, as our student population continues to grow additional funding is essential to ensure that our facilities and our infrastructure keep pace with our needs a needs-based funding request that supports equitable transformative resources must also address our capital needs ensuring safe modern and effective

[00:50:02] learning environments for students and staff your support of our second high school center and two new elementary school represents a significant investment in our future for FY 26 to 30 local government has approved 189.6 million in capital funding covering about 33.9 percent of our request while this funding is critical additional investment is needed to support our growing student population and address the infrastructure needs of our aging school buildings our operating

[00:50:38] budget moves us forward in many ways but our ability to fully meet student and staff needs is directly tied to the quality of our facilities as we close we want to summarize excuse me summarize the key takeaways from our funding request and the challenges we face in this budget cycle this final section provides a high-level overview of our funding priorities our remaining deficit and the critical next steps in the budget process here's a summary of how we arrived at today's funding request and highlighting highlighting the and

[00:51:14] highlights the key financial decisions made along the way on February 20th when the superintendent presented the division's draft funding request the revenue gap stood at seven point eight million dollars to help close that gap we identified two point seven million in service reductions for FY 26 on top of the 3.5 million in cuts we already made in the FY25 budget and our first work session on February 27th we were informed of an additional 2.8 million from local government from a local government transfer that would reduce

[00:51:52] the funding gap to about five million dollars during our second work session in March on March 6th we reviewed a range of options to further close the gap. Community priorities made it clear, however, that two critical reductions in social-emotional learning coaches and mental health support specialists, along with school safety coaches, should not be cut. There was unanimous agreement on the school board to maintain these services.

[00:52:23] Our priorities in working through this funding request have been in fulfilling our strategic plan with a particular emphasis on the mental health and safety of our students, supporting high-quality teachers and staff and focusing on instruction today we are presenting a funding request with the remaining revenue gap of $750,000 to sustain these high-priority services to reach this point we have proposed six point four million in service reductions for FY 26 while we asked for

[00:52:59] the supervisor support in closing the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollar gap we also recognize that it does not fully resolve our funding challenge the best path forward would be to address the full 1.7 million dollar gap now covering both the immediate seven hundred and fifty thousand dollar shortfall for FY 26 and the nine hundred and thirty four thousand cost deferred to 27 FY 27 so we don't start out next year's budget process already in the hall we appreciate your ongoing partnership as we work to balance these

[00:53:36] priorities and ensure long-term sustainability and of course by March by May 8th we will pass a balanced budget as we always have so again the upcoming school board meetings on April 10th and 24th will provide opportunities for public input and any necessary adjustments to our funding request on May 8th school board will adopt the final FY 26 budget we are happy now to

[00:54:12] take any questions you may have and we did it in under an hour I know is a little wrong so I do apologize for that Thank you for the detailed presentation, and I appreciate the work that went into it. We have our order that we go through, so we will look for comments from supervisors, starting with supervision.

[00:54:32] Sure, and we do really appreciate it. We appreciate you being very efficient. That was a lot of information to be absorbing in a period of time, but that's great. Would you help clarify for me, just go back over where your gap is,

[00:54:52] What the actual gap is and the difference between the two years just to help us with that or help me. I should say. I'm looking at slide 39. Okay. It would be good to have to make sure I understand the current gap and what you did. And then we're talking about the three years this year and next year.

[00:55:17] This year we have $750,000 operating revenue gap. We did cut or defer programs, positions, but we also deferred some of the expenditures in terms of staffing up, having some preliminary staffing for Center to having deferring our computer

[00:55:51] replacement cycle deferring our furniture purchases and those will eventually catch up with us we're going to have to pay for those but in order to cut for this year's budget we delayed or paused those purchases for those hires until next year. So that's the 6.4 million that I see listed. Yeah it is within that 6.4 million dollars that the six point, I don't have my glasses, I do have one.

[00:56:26] It was too long for me too. Within the six whatever million dollar savings it includes to defer about a million dollars just under a million dollars in deferred costs okay um and then if you're projecting over two years so that says 9.9 million in reductions over two years so those i'm just trying to make sure i understand this yeah 9.9 million dollars is the combination of the fy25 reductions and the fy26 right

[00:57:02] that's the past two years okay okay right so yeah three and a half were last year which included uh increasing class sizes we we had no way to get there without doing that And, Mike, if you go to slide 25, we could show those deferrals.

[00:57:22] So the deferrals we're talking about are, as Cherrycroft said, it's the classification review, the technology, and center too. So that's the 934. Yeah. So your existing gap for this year, what we're talking about, your current gap is 750K.

[00:57:48] If you're looking at pushing that forward, your gap is 1.7 is what I think I just heard. If we include the paused or the deferred payments, yes.

[00:58:05] Okay, all right. So those are the two numbers. I'm curious from staff, just right off the bat, let's just ask. 750K and, so two separate numbers, a 1.7 million would mean what on the tax rate?

[00:58:22] I'll speak to that. Andy Bowman, Assistant Chief Financial Officer. Each tenth of a penny is worth about $310,000, so to fully cover that gap, there would need to be three-tenths of a penny, which would be about $900,000 to take care of the first number. You would need six-tenths of a penny, which would be $1.8 million, approximately, to take care of the second number.

[00:58:45] Okay, so go back and tell me. The first number is what on the tax rate? 0.3 and 0.6. Three increase. Yes. And then 0.6. Correct. assuming that it is dedicated so those would have to be dedicated correct so explain to the public what dedicated means sure so we have a uh practice uh in the board's financial management policies where the change in the value of our shared revenues through a formula we published in the book we split 54 for public schools 36 for county government and 10 for the joint capital and debt

[00:59:23] programs uh what is included in the recommended budget this year is that split applies with the exception of the four cents in the real estate tax rate so which are dedicated for public safety housing and uh education so the board were to increase the dedication for public schools from 0.4 cents to either 0.7 or one full cent uh that's the point three the point six that would address the school's gap those two numbers right and if it wasn't dedicated it wasn't dedicated i'm trying

[00:59:58] to complicate your life Andy, but I'm just trying to. No, it was not dedicated. The school's value of a penny is about 1.7 million, and so we would need a full penny split in order to cover that. For the fraction of a penny of $600,000, we would, remember you sailing me one moment. It's okay.

[01:00:23] I've caught you by surprise. It's okay. That would be about a, uh, about a little less than and half a penny, either three or four tenths, if you split. Okay. All right.

[01:00:43] You do somehow or another, just for my benefit and maybe other people's, but I would love to have that in something after this meeting, just so I can refer back to it in my brain. Sure, we can find that as a grid with the next board follow-up we send out. Yeah, that'd be great. And I've had little notes everywhere, so now I have to go back and look at my notes.

[01:01:00] But if I was questioning your retention, I saw the retention rates of one department, I thought, overall that's what I'm going to because we used to get the HR report and we saw the retention rates and I'm missing that I'm just asking what they're in general with the rather than just the one department which I thought was in here oh it was an overall teachers yeah there was a teacher's right 86.8 so retention rate for

[01:01:39] teachers is that 80 about 86 percent closer to 87 87 how about for classifieds just straight going back to my old days and how I used to understand I think when we were looking at the TAs it was around 80 percent okay because the TAs were a little less than that and that was the ones you mentioned yeah and that reason for within our compensation our first learning for all request is a little bit of a bump for particularly the special education TAs and that is because to support that and you're classified in general they'd be included in your classified well we had just to

[01:02:18] break it out we broke it out because we couldn't afford the whole recommendation based on our market yeah we were looking at several classified positions but we just were targeted because our special education advisory committee that was one of the recommendations was to increase the pay for special education teaching assistance yeah and that makes sense and then the other was bus driver assistance because they're also very hard to hire and we get a lot of turnover in those positions so you targeted two of those

[01:02:52] those two. So that's great. That helps me. Thank you. Again, going back to my notes, I guess we'll be able to have another round. It's always hard when you were the first because then you hear other questions that prompt something. Talk to me a little bit about the additional school resource officers. And I will say right off the bat that I am very supportive of SROs. I'll just say that right away. Having said that, I know you have nailed support officers and so you're going to keep the support

[01:03:29] officers in place and add the SROs to them. Right. Just help me a little bit with that. I think it was five years ago, five to six years ago, we decided to push pause on having school resource officers in the school and we hired school safety coaches and they have a complementary but not identical function to school resource officers.

[01:03:55] more I think interact with the mental health team they interact with the students a lot more they don't have any law enforcement duties but what we discovered I spent after last year we hired a director of school safety and security and his recommendation was to add an SRO as a pilot at Albano High school we have seen that at the same time to address a lot of the concerns that we had or that some of our members of our community had we redrafted the

[01:04:33] the MOU with police department to bring it up to best practices to specify the training they needed to have both in you know in child development and conflict resolution and there's a whole stack of trainings that are required and we're going to review that every every other year we've had a very good response from Albemarle High School with the SRO in fact the the president of the PT at PTSO

[01:05:09] I guess it's called an Albemarle he took me aside the other day and talked about what a good fit that SRO was. I mean obviously as I said we're a people business but it depends on carefully hiring and screening the people that want to work in it in a high school. She sang his praises and also we had reports from a comment from our principals at Monticello High School and at Western Albemarle that they they didn't want to have to choose between having school safety coaches or SROs because they had different different roles and there have

[01:05:48] been I don't know if mr. Bradley's here or not but you know there they deal with what you might expect I mean some drug use or salts but not high numbers it's mostly they are there for deterrence and for closer coordination with the alcohol police department um i don't know dr hos if you want to add anything to that i think you did a good job really covering the landscape thank you all right we did receive the sro reported a

[01:06:22] number of calls and um it's interesting um with the free high school and with monticello and western okay um so that's good let me go back and see what else my i'm sorry jim i'm taking time here but I want you know I made notes on my presentation I need to come back the homeless children the number of homeless children from me is shocking it's always shocking it's even higher of course

[01:06:59] than it was last year and given our lack of social safety not just in this community across the country. I would assume that those homeless children are, while they're probably scattered throughout the county, they're probably more, there's probably certain areas where, like urban rain, I would assume, have more in the urban rain. Do you know, and I don't want

[01:07:37] real breakdown other than can you help me a little bit because the number is so shocking as to what you all are doing right now with it used to be some service that you were I know after the Lanslake campus maybe some services to try and help the children that were homeless and moving around to stay in one school and not be constantly just help me just to back up a little bit I met with Steve Sanders a principal of Greer elementary last month and about 10% of those almost 400 students are at Greer yeah I figured right in our neighborhood

[01:08:16] and there's a hike I think one I think a student just wrote me that one in 42 of Elmol high school kids is homeless so it is it is a significant issue and it's disproportionately concentrated in our interjectuate district but I did not say in the urban but specifically I can imagine on the landslide campus.

[01:08:40] I don't know the second part to your question, I don't know the answer. There are 60 at Woodbrook. Yeah, that makes sense, yeah. Or it's still in the urban area. But it's historically been that way, but we're also seeing a ship. There's 24 at Holleybead, right?

[01:08:55] Okay, good to know. To answer your question, yes, we are actually, once they're defined by a certain set of criteria, weren't legally required to provide transportation to their base school. So our transportation staff does very creative solutions.

[01:09:12] And that's also starting to strain their resources. But yeah, we do everything in our power to keep them as stable as possible, at least in their education environment. Just reckon, well, I just was wanting to, with that number, to make sure that you all were still able to offer that service to those kids.

[01:09:30] This is grueling and important that they not. Because at one point we were seeing them jumping from the city to the county, the county to the city. So you're trying to stabilize them in one school now? Well, in their base school, not near. Base school, regardless.

[01:09:45] From where they started. Yeah, that's good. And I'm sorry if I want to go down in the weeds a little bit, but I did have some of those questions. So it's interesting. Tell me the data point that you gave, and I can't remember if it was you or Rebecca.

[01:10:04] I'm sorry. dollar invested in schools that was pretty interesting I had not heard that and I think the public should hear this yeah a dollar invested in schools equates to was it $20 I just I wrote it down then I thought did I write that down right it was a dollar it was a dollar invested in school construction equates to $20 in real estate values over time and one dollar investment in schools in general is returns four to seven dollars to the

[01:10:42] local economy over time okay so I'm glad I so right I'm what right tell me that again a dollar investment in school construction is $20 in real estate values over time okay and a dollar invested in schools public schools just in general this can be four to seven dollars those are national research studies I don't have the citations anymore but that's what that was in my

[01:11:08] presentation that's why I was a little taken back maybe it's because it's a two-year I'm looking at your rising cost of health care coverage and that 54.2 is is an increase for two years.

[01:11:42] 26 in this fiscal year and 24 for FY-- OK, so that would be better, Jeff, to our figures for our increase in health care coverage.

[01:11:57] Because I was thinking theirs was double what ours is, but theirs is over two years. I'm just trying to work that through. And just for the public, now that I brought it up, ours was 20-- We're using the data science for county government, it's a $3 billion increase year to year, but there's differences in employers, I'm sorry, there's difference in pay schedules, there's difference in employee elections, it would shake out some of the difference.

[01:12:22] That's right, that makes sense. So, when you all are referring to the Scholar Studios, that's what I think of as career learning pathways.

[01:12:41] Exactly. What my life is. I know, we need to do a side-by-side. It's a rebranding of that state terminology. So that's my old-fashioned term for career pathways. Correct. And that equates me to Center 1 and Center 2.

[01:12:56] Yes. And specifically Center 2, I guess, right now. But it was, I guess, Center 1. Well, I think it'll be more comprehensive than that. They're housed at all the schools. Right. And do you remember, not the last time we met, but the time before we met with the chairs, that was the presentation.

[01:13:14] Yes, and that's what, in my head, it's career pathways, but you're referring to it as scholar's students. Okay, all right. So we've adopted 12 of the state's 17 career pathways and sort of rebranded them, and with the ultimate hope, I mean, I won't go until like the explanation, but yes.

[01:13:35] No, I can just make a comment, but I don't want to go and damage on the weeds either, but I'm hoping that the chamber steps up and helps you all with some of this, but that's a topic for another day. so we have received some questions from the community about duplication with PVCC could you all just address that a little bit because PVCC certainly is working on career pathways so just address that a little very quickly if you can as to why that there while there it may look like there's some duplication in my head they're different programs and different they're

[01:14:14] addressing differently well we partner with PVCC so they do provide a lot of our programs for not just for post-secondary academic education but also for credentialing programs so we do partner with them so we don't really overlap with them in any other sense than we do cooperate and work with them and PVCC emphasizes adult education more so than the schools but again we do have access to their adult education programs and they have a advanced manufacturing lab at PVCC for example that they just built the ball and that's

[01:14:53] what I think and we have we have students that they were part of the consortium of students that can attend that so there are there are k-12 students that attend that but we're more partners with them than we are overlapping or duplicating their programs right and that answers the question exactly okay and it was a new bill extended that I think that was very exciting I've had some some questions from the community about overlapping so what you're saying is that your you are a partner or you can our students can attend it yeah that's great thank you I really appreciate that explanation I do

[01:15:28] remember years ago certainly Monticello high school because of its location had some really good connections with PBCC as well we have the just a commercial but we do have the early college scholars program at Monticello where students earn their high school diploma and an associate's degree.

[01:15:47] And is there any reason why now that couldn't be expanded to the other two high schools now? Students from other schools attend it. It's an every other day program. So they'll travel to Monticello for the courses for it, or they'll switch their base school to Monticello.

[01:16:03] But the Almar and Western students-- So they're not being excluded? No, no. They attend it. We provide transportation. Yes. Thank you. That's helpful for me. It's in our scholars pathway, that's one of our pathways, is that program. For me and for the public team, that's great.

[01:16:21] And we're coming close to the end of my questions, Jill. When we're talking about expand, now I'm going to expand the special ed and Ivy Creek, the school at Ivy Creek.

[01:16:40] And I understand, and I really do support what you're doing at Ivy Creek. I think that's a great idea, I'm not questioning it. other than part of what you're doing from the big picture with special ed is trying to avoid those external placements that were so expensive, sometimes up to $100,000 a student.

[01:17:01] Correct. It's for the typical day placement for a student is $150,000 a year. Wow. So if we could pull three or four of those students back. Ultimately, it will be a cost savings, an operational cost savings over time.

[01:17:18] the funding that were requested from the board is as a it's a net funding based on our recuperating staff to be at that intensive support center and then a little bit over that is the like the administrative overhead that's the net part that we need to get in there for the first year but in the out years it should be a net savings from year to year but most importantly it will allow us to keep our students in our school system and not have them have to travel

[01:17:54] away or be in spaces that we're currently leasing for those students in some of those distances if I remember correctly were pretty far pretty far and even if they're just down the block it still doesn't send I don't think it sends the right message to the families and I would agree but some of them really some of them are very far away even out of state so it is interesting because in my head I thought of prep as a facility that helped us by pooling our resources with other school systems to actually save money or what goes around comes

[01:18:32] around and this is a good example now when you look at something differently or maybe just timing you can save more money if you go if you do something differently interesting I had to rejig my brain um and I think that's all I have for right now other than, and this will probably come up maybe from other folks, but the concerns about the chaos right now at the federal level, I'll just maybe leave it with that and try

[01:19:08] to deal with both our board and your board, what could be coming down the road. And I guess just leave it at that for right now. But anyway, thank you very much. Thank you. Supervisor McKeelpray eliminated some of my questions.

[01:19:27] I like thank you for speaking to different ROI things I think as I go through my notes I may be challenging on some other areas where you could also look for some return on investment and I recall you and I having a very when I was on the school board having this some of this conversation just about how complex it is to try to figure that out I mean the real estate one is fine i think the hit the workforce you know the greater good in terms of quality to the community

[01:20:06] i think those are clear to getting that how you actually say what's the return for each student that we educate what's there to them it's that we spend what are we spending about twenty thousand dollars per student for that investment we've put into them we hope the return comes back to them not just to our quality of life or to our property values or to our prime stats but to actually setting them up for quality life but I don't I I guess I don't recall really ever reading any research on that gets it back I think they're dr. Berlin had

[01:20:45] mentioned it's a $200,000 increase in their lifetime earning for a high school diploma just a high school diploma yeah does that then break it out by region and other obstacles yeah see that's I mean you could tell that story for the East Coast I suppose but that doesn't do anything for Alamo County especially when you're looking at the high wealth that this community is that you would think that if we're producing that kind of high wealth quality of life for people that live here our students should be participating and enjoying I don't know that they all and I've had the privilege of participating on the

[01:21:24] strategic plan for economic development for the county and that is one of the things that not to go off on a detour but that that is a topic I mean you're you're discussing that now is pressing it to the topic that's part of the economic development strategic planning he's trying to figure out and that's with the 12 pathways that we have out of the 17 state pathways are ones that are viable in the local economy in our in the scholars pathways there we're required to do an annual career technical education plan and it has to

[01:22:02] the part of the development of that plan has to be based on what is viable locally for students to gain employment and to have a sustainable wage and it's been a through-line in the economic development strategic planning conversation is retaining young people and not just meaning graduating from high school and staying here immediately following that but we have a large percentage of students that return to Alamal County I think it's more than 40 percent will return it doesn't mean they're here forever they could be here

[01:22:37] longer if we had more jobs for young people that are at the entry-level professional level so it's a and I think it takes all of us working together to do that we recently had a meeting with Blue Ridge Home Builders Association where we presented our budget and talked a little bit about the pathways program and they were really excited about it because they have they're just one representative of different associations in our community that can present a lengthy list of mid-level positions that students could aspire to and do internships now and grow into those jobs either as high school graduates or

[01:23:17] coming back after posts some post-secondary study yeah to build a house I think it says it's 29 different subcontractors and each one of those subcontractors is a different industry the different set of skills and they don't earn small wages right as our housing costs tell us right I'm glad to hear that if you come across anything that speaks to that type of thing I'd love it to be shared I'm kind of detached from my ed research days so I

[01:23:44] don't know there has been like I was hearing so I'm involved with different economic development committees things regionally and it just seems like an ongoing criticism – well, maybe criticism's not the right word – but complaint of local business that say the schools aren't producing what we need.

[01:24:17] And I'm not saying that they're saying ACPS schools. It's a general statement of the schools aren't doing their job, or at least not doing their job for the skills that we need for what we're seeing the shortages in. And I don't – you know, I don't think that they're – I think they're maybe right on some areas, but I don't know that it's so well-defined that we're just saying these general statements.

[01:24:39] But I'm glad to hear, like, you talking to the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association is a way to attack that. So I guess I would challenge everyone involved to speak to that or try to foster partnerships that help with it.

[01:24:56] To just – because in the chamber, somebody mentioned – Diantha mentioned the chamber. Because that's just not – you know, you can't just make a statement like that and then all that's the truth. That's fact. So you did the – I know you compare yourself.

[01:25:14] I know the presentation, you just used Charlottesville City Schools. So I know you do comparisons beyond just Charlottesville. But to the point, which I appreciate, which is fine, this isn't meant to put anybody on heels, but I'm just curious.

[01:25:29] If you go to the niche studies of the top 10 or 12 school divisions in the state, there are definitely the school divisions that are paying the most per student on that list. We're on that list. We're number eight, I think, on the most up-to-date one. But they're, I think, numbers five, six, and seven are all pretty much lower than us on the per student cost basis.

[01:25:51] You all do that sort of imperative analysis, not necessarily, you know, I mean, your budget is what your budget is. But I'm saying, like, from an intellectual standpoint of, or a curiosity, man, we're spending $20,000 per student.

[01:26:08] These folks are spending $15,000 per student, and they're doing better than us. From this one particular, you know, you can nitpick performances and things and how they pick who's doing what. But I'm just curious, and maybe more so for sometimes what I hear is criticisms coming from our community, to just hear how you all go, all right, yeah, here's what we do to say, well, this is what we spend.

[01:26:33] Your budget's an indication of that. I'm not talking about the transparency of the dollars spent. But trying to say, well, here's what we're going to try to learn from other places, because we always do this comparison for salaries, et cetera. So there's been a couple of good projects that we've done over the past few years, particularly coming out of the pandemic.

[01:26:54] And it's not necessarily about the dollar spent, because there's other factors around cost of living and cost of employment and cost of housing in Elmore County that are beyond our control. So I cannot do anything about the cost of housing in Elmore County.

[01:27:14] that's going to drive that's to a great extent that's going to drive what we need to be able to pay our employees because 62% of our employees do live in the county and I think it's 16% 17% live in the city and we are among the handful the most expensive places to live in Virginia possibly you know a larger scope than that right so but what I but what we are very intentional about is identifying school districts that are the same size as us and have

[01:27:50] some of the same geographical features same demographics so that we can learn from them and how and how to be more successful particularly with our mission of impacting the predictive value of race and class gender special capacities on student achievement that's really what drives these comparisons so for that, I would say that we've worked with York County, Hanover, Roanoke County, and Augusta County is a very low, well, just also happens to be a very low cost, low LCI school system,

[01:28:27] and had meetings with them to talk about how they structure their instructional programming and, you know, how to work on getting better results. And that's helped us to a great extent over the past few years in addition to the bellwether audit. And for me, bringing in the bellwether audit was like bringing in hundreds of other school systems because of their experience in consulting across the country recently now I'm not going to identify the school systems in this next one because we all agreed not to identify each other to our boards because it had to do

[01:29:01] with the now this is more about cost and it's more about staffing of I guess you would call it central departments in particular because whenever we have financial challenges over time and even when we don't, the cry from the community comes out that there's too much central staffing.

[01:29:21] So I did have some outreach from another school system in Virginia. When I look at Albemarle, the thing that's unique about it is its geographic size, the urban, rural, and suburban communities that are all combined within it, and having an urban ring, and having the economy that we have, we try to identify five other school systems that were similar to us it was initiated by one of the school systems and then we that school system sent out a spreadsheet of all the various central

[01:29:58] department positions that they have and said fill in your fill in what you have for us but when Maya started filling it out it it started getting to the point where we're saying well it's not really apples to apples because a director in our county might be a chief in another county or something like that. So what we did was pull together three of the school systems. We all went to and met together so we could pin down who does what and how they accomplish what they accomplish given the different staffing levels that they

[01:30:35] might have locally. And I think that was the most productive thing to do because it gets to what your point is has to do with how much are you spending for what positions to to get the functions done that are that are required through Virginia code for us to get done and so just a long story short what we found was for the school systems that are very similar to us we have very similar sizes of our departments there were some variation in some of the departments and again I don't want to

[01:31:09] um call it out but it was it was a great exercise and it took more than half a day to get all the apples matched up to apples and oranges to oranges but it also enabled us coming back to look and make more reductions you it was right around the timing of we had made our first sweep of reductions we made some we did some freezing in reductions last year made some reductions going into our presentation to the school board and then around in that timing we had the meeting came back and did another scrub and I still have some long-term areas

[01:31:47] that we want to look at not it's not about cutting because when you cut your we are going to cut services and they are going to be felt somewhere or you're gonna have people wearing more hats than then maybe they should or maybe they were prepared to do but I think if we're strategic about it we can keep we will continue to be efficient in in accomplishing those goals with the right number of people I would say now I don't know I don't think it's fewer I mean we are growing school system but we want to be more cognizant of that I think thank

[01:32:25] you for that this this next question might be a bring back later kind of looking at Rosalyn because it's about CIP and things like that but when we had our our two of two by twos we were at least in hours we were just started talking about some of the things that were needed in the schools and in reflecting on that discussion meaning I remember you're talking about like you know you paint a door and then maybe the hall next to the door is not job and so

[01:33:00] now you get this freshly painted door with the whole walls when the in the CIP we have updates, renovations, add-ons, things like that. Are there things in the out-year CIP that really should be under ongoing maintenance where we know they're just going to get handled?

[01:33:30] Because I think of painted doors and painted walls as should be in the regular maintenance. I would think that if bathrooms aren't, and you have some schools with up-to-date bathrooms while others aren't, that I would even challenge in the county off the local government side that may exist too and some of our buildings that ongoing refresh of bathrooms should in a in a proper CIP you should go well you get this many bathroom renovations or updates every year and then you have to just priorities pick which one you're gonna do it I think we do a good job with with the roof right I know for years this building didn't get its window

[01:34:08] replacement because it was stuck out in this initiative and not just in the end of the replacement cycle so I guess if you could just speak to that I don't need all of the stuff. But I mean, if there's opportunities to move some things that are stuck in these renovation pieces into the ongoing maintenance, we haven't exactly done it all right. It took years to get the buses into the damn CIP. So see where I'm getting at?

[01:34:34] Yeah. So our, what we call our CIP maintenance, our biggest ongoing program in that CIP request does include bathroom upgrades. It does include painting. It does include roofs or mechanical mechanical systems. The school renovation projects that we're talking about that are unfunded are a more comprehensive approach to that so that you can do them all at the same time. And some, right? And reconfiguring spaces, adding outlets, things like that.

[01:35:03] So it's kind of a blurred line. But I would say there are some components of those renovations projects already in that maintenance program. Yeah, I mean, I get to your point, your outlet one and you're like I don't think 20 years ago anybody would have thought oh we need to put adding outlets and a ruck on some sort of cycle like we do a roof but I think I wonder if it's time to just relook at all the things that we feel like are getting pushed off just to say well look this is different than it was 20 years ago and this really is kind of a roof thing and it may not get you the whole building done I understand why you like to be able to do a whole building at one time especially for a school but if you can get some things

[01:35:42] knocked out in a school that you'd want to be done and spread it out over five years or six years of a maintenance cycle you may find that ten years from now when we're saying we haven't done renovations in a while that we might have checked a lot of things off the list in the meantime now it still adds dollars to our maintenance budget but it's better planning that way because we're treating it like a roof or a gymnasium floor replacement or something but I would say that's what we're doing that is what we're doing now that's why you're the example I gave was a school where bathrooms were done right beautiful bathrooms and then right next door is a classroom that looks like 20 years ago right and it ends

[01:36:20] up being this kind of patchwork of improvements where if we did a more comprehensive school renovation project again can do it gets to gain some efficiencies limit disruptions to the school and do a more systematic approach right now we are doing it all through the maintenance program doing the roof and then doing the mechanical system in a different sequence i don't know how to get and i'm going to make a comment later about cip just so we're all aware of it it's not good news um slide 25 so your fte reductions like your dollar gap your five that's your two-year fte

[01:37:00] right because last year you did 13 16.3 ftas in your reductions yeah this is just for this stuff this is just 25 is just this is just uh so those 40 would then you combine that with last year 16.3 so it's 56.3 i think about 16.5 increasing class sizes i mean there were some vacant for your it looks like you had vacant positions last year on the elementary foreign language but now you've

[01:37:39] eliminated that so it just got rid of the remaining positions so it's all kind of so those those seven were not the frozen ones from last year those are actual the existing positions from last year to this year that exist in the current school correct it's a combination of vacant positions and On slide 31, when you were doing the comparison towards Charlottesville City Schools, do they do employer contribution to help plans to...

[01:38:13] I would assume so, but we can get more... I'd just be curious. I mean, you're doing an income, a salary comparison. Sometimes benefits should be in there, and I just don't know the answer to that. I don't know if I ever remember that. So the prep, I think I understand what's going on with prep, but let me say this out loud just so I make sure I understand it.

[01:38:37] So when Supervisor McKeel asked the question, it's not just you're bringing in the prep, the Ivy Creek kids inside, you're doing that, but it's all those other programs we were sending to in addition to the Ivy Creek students.

[01:38:53] You're still using the prep where you don't have 12 students and you need to serve two inside the school and then that staff person goes around the nine counts. Right. So we still will use prep for some of those areas where, like, you have a student that's visually impaired they might have another identified disability and there may be one or two licensed teachers to work with them in virginia um and there are to get so we use prep for a service like that they also do our medicaid that's another service they provide

[01:39:33] we're still going to have services with prep i do want to clarify it will not remove our need for when you said all private day placement, the needs of our students are great and very difficult. We won't be able to serve all of that. It's just a greater need specifically around emotional disabilities. It's just one practical example. We paid prep for 29 slides. We used about 14 or 15 of them and then were denied use of the others and we had students that we felt could qualify in prep syndrome. This would allow us to start serving ones that we would like to

[01:40:07] serve but it's not going to be the end all of all but in addition to those 15 even if you had used the full allotment that they gave we still had students that you were sending out that weren't being served by prep correct and you're saying that you're bringing you're serving both the folks being served by prep and the outside of the division being brought not not all of me but we'll make significant headway into there's a lot so we'll get more figures on that but But I just want to set expectations that that one program is not going to be able to serve.

[01:40:40] And I just never thought of this before. Andy, is the SRO FTE the same as us adding a police FTE in terms of cost? Salary benefit and like one-time cost to equip? Yes, under the MOU, the school division provides the ongoing cost.

[01:40:58] The people are going to provide one-time cost, and I would have that as a technical adjustment with a funding solution that was this work session. We have 69 students in private day and residential places. Say that again. 69 students.

[01:41:15] And then you're going to serve, you think, how many of those? Hard to say. It'll be a minority of those positions. The math we were using is even if you can serve only three of those, it's a cost neutral.

[01:41:31] Well, they're expensive. And it's more expensive, I'm assuming, for the non-PREP students than the PREP students. We don't have control over how we would serve them, and that's what we haven't budgeted for. It's something you can't really do.

[01:41:48] It varies so much. So this is just, I've called this out, Supervisor Malik and I have called this out for our board, and it could be different down the road.

[01:42:03] But a future concern to our CIP funding is the fact that the state is really pulling back on what they're providing to localities through SmartScale and for road and transportation projects And they're starting to call on localities to have to do more cost sharing than we're currently doing and I'm telling you to the tune of tens of millions of dollars So one project that we had we put seven projects between the MPO and Elmore County the project over at Hills Your district greenbriar

[01:42:38] Barracks, so it was a combo city county project the total project would have been a hundred and thirty million dollars If they only the VDOT was suggesting they may only spun 30 to 50 million dollar projects in that area Yes, so that's a 60 70 million cost split between the city If we wanted to try to get that project done to bring the costs down And if we did it by half that would be about 35 million dollars, which is a elementary school So I'm calling out that everybody needs to be, you know, forward-leaning and getting this one-set sales tax piece

[01:43:17] Approved in hard lobbying not just in future GAs but in elections because what who's saying support them? I would think we would want them to be elected and then we need to lobby them to do what they say But if we have to start doing this type we put transportation leveraging in our CIP to the tune of what 10 million Andy 20 million but it's but it's but that was for our revenue sharing programs which were already kind of a revenue turning smart scale into a large-scale revenue sharing in a way now that could change depending on who we who's who running the Commonwealth Transportation Board gets appointed to it but I don't want

[01:43:55] anybody to be shocked by that down the road and you all for your out years by you and Andy you all use the same revenue projection right in terms of growth before four point or 4.1 or whatever uh yes they have regular updates on our revenues we're using the same thing so you're giving the projection and then you're just kind of yeah we do our own state revenue but for the local thank you um and i'm just going to make

[01:44:28] this is more a comment and a statement so that um i think it's important because i think everybody knows it's an issue it's no secret that housing is a problem in our county and supervisor mckeel was talking about the homeless population but it occurs to me that if we do more to help folks afford their housing that we help people have homes because you can't tell me that just the homeless are experiencing educational issues and concerns at the schools because those that are pressed to afford housing not who are lucky to be in a home but family is under stress to afford

[01:45:06] the home are still getting services from you to help with that. We do a good job trying to identify things we can do that we can invest funds and supports that help us with cost avoidance somewhere else. And I'm hearing today that support for housing initiatives can help offset costs that the school division is realizing, especially for their homeless population. I'm just taking it a step further and think that exists for others i certainly know about the woodbrook and the

[01:45:41] greer and the population that's there but if you go to an agner or even down to a red hill and some of the other places where it's difficult to afford your house that that says to us and what we're trying to do under our housing initiatives can help us avoid some things that the school division may have to pay for which is important in my view but i also say that because i think the school board recognizes just the significance of the crisis that's happening with housing costs in our area specifically but that you know you never want to have

[01:46:19] competing interests right but that's what a budget is it's housing versus schools versus public safety versus and it's that's where we're at so I just wanted to make that comment thank you thank you all very much and I too have I've gotten some answers, but thank you for the work you've done every day and getting us prepared and giving us a chance to learn all about this.

[01:46:46] I'm in my study. No, I'm not. Now I'm in my study. Okay, so I've seen a couple of different figures. One is 20,000 per student and one is 17, and then you multiply it by 14,000 students. That's a lot.

[01:47:07] So can you just, which one is what I should talk about? So the 17 on the slide was meant to be a comparison to the state. And so that's from 22 to 23 because that's the most recent publicly available state data. The current FY in this budget proposal, the cost per pupil, is just under 20.

[01:47:30] Thank you. On 16, you were talking about the fund balance. And how much is remaining in the fund balance? You said you wanted to be proposing to use almost $700,000 of it. And I wonder if you keep up to $6 million or something like that now under the MOU.

[01:47:53] On slide 16, the use of fund balance is mostly in our special revenue funds. So those are restricted to special revenue funds. We are not planning on using our school fund balance, but we do have a projection at the end of this year will be about $1.3 million in June.

[01:48:20] All right, so looking at the 14 point, on slide 18, I'm looking at the 14.5 million increase.

[01:48:39] Does that also include the 6 million in health care transfer if that is adopted or is that? It is not included on this slide. So the total, if all of that happened, would be 20 million increase this coming year.

[01:48:58] Okay, so no. I saw her do it, and I did it to Supervisor McKeel.

[01:49:13] Can we just clarify something on that point before you move on? Please, please. I was getting rid of that. It was the same thing. Go ahead. I want to just make sure I understand the answer to Ann's question. Yeah. Yeah, because it caught me a little bit by surprise. I want to be clear.

[01:49:29] I'm sorry. I don't got the included, the dollars included. So go over that one more time. The one-time transfer to the health care fund for the ACPS portion is not included on this slide. Because it's not your expense, we're covering it.

[01:49:45] Right. We're still figuring out technically how the transfer would move within all of our funds that are together. Simpler, county government would transfer that money to the schools because it is an expense of the schools for their health care.

[01:50:01] Then the schools would transfer that into the health fund. But it's still this local government dollars going into that side of the budget. That's all I'm trying to understand is the total. So it's 20.5 something plus rather than. What are you looking at that's 20? I don't know. $14. So the $11.8 should really be $17.18. Well that's one way to put it. Yeah sure. Right. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. The expenditure side of that is not reflected in any table either. I know this is revenue here so. I think the bottom line is still a job.

[01:50:35] I want to figure out how much additional money we're giving you. I think that's really the question. Is how much attention. Isn't that right, Anne? Yes, I'm just trying to make sure I know what people ask. I want to make sure I say the right thing. I wasn't questioning you either. I was just questioning my understanding. Yeah, that's fine. I'm going to understand. I agree. And I had a benefit from other people's questions as well.

[01:50:56] So I'm going to jump over. Sorry. Scribbles. So the Scholar Studios, you mentioned that you were new teaching staff for that. But for example, with the change in the format for Environmental Sciences Academy, will those teachers become scholar studio teachers or are they going away and because of the end of the cohort this year?

[01:51:26] I mean, in terms of that, minute detail, I don't have that for Dr. Hayes. Did you have any? Not minute from the parent's point of view. Well, no, I mean, down to that level, I don't, but Dr. Hayes is here for the department. And I would just like to clarify what, when we say new teachers, what this is, is there's different studios, different career pathways.

[01:51:47] Each studio has a lead teacher who is responsible for that. What that does is it gives them an additional planning period to support the work. That's how you get to that 1.67, is they each get a 0.17 of an additional planning period to support the work and leadership of this.

[01:52:06] And then the other two are around providing support to our English learner students and respect students. So this is not around the teaching of the actual scholarship, so that those teachers are those teachers. They're teaching the same courses, classes, this and that.

[01:52:23] This is around the support and leadership of this program. Okay, so that's where the slide 33 is where the additional people are. And then slide 24, I guess when you said support staffing, that's classified anyway as opposed to teachers.

[01:52:39] Okay. Now, is there still a dedicated technology annual fund from the state that used to buy all the computers way back when the million dollars is now? Hopefully it's increased some because I'm sure the cost of all of the medicine has. But I'm glad to know it still exists in some form.

[01:53:08] - 700,000. - Yeah, it's been that for a while. - This is Dr. Jakes, our team check out. - Yeah, great. - But the recession, it went down, and now it seems to come back. - Okay, thank you.

[01:53:24] So I would just encourage Alomar to consider working with the Workforce Center, because one of the things that employers talk to the workforce folks about is the soft skills, the work, capacity, just the understanding of what going to work means, And there's a whole element of federally paid-for education going on that all the local jurisdictions, except Apple Model, are using as partnerships with local.

[01:53:53] So this may be an opportunity for you not to have your own stand-up on the side. There are others available to do that. There are construction, all sorts of different elements of the different skill sets which are provided.

[01:54:09] I do remember many years ago, a joint university chamber board meeting over at Pantops and I think you were there as well, and Leonard Sanders talked about what he really needs is people who can measure, can read, can talk to each other, and know that they have to show up to work.

[01:54:30] And this is sort of what they call soft skills. It's not advanced manufacturing knowing how to run a lathe or something like that, or machinist it is understanding how you participate in the local economy or in any economy so these are the kinds of things that the Workforce Center does really really well and I just want to I keep harping on that but I need in a different audience I need to make sure I don't miss a chance the Learning Center for Learning and Growth I misunderstood is it going somewhere is it starting up a new thing and it's going to be okay so it currently operates out of the Ivory

[01:55:08] We create a facility, but due to space constraints, it operates after school in the evening. So the intensive support center is there during the day, and then center for learning and growth happens in the evening. That is not the ideal scenario. So once we have full ownership of the whole building, those two programs would have their own spaces.

[01:55:28] Perfect. Okay. I think like you're, oh, so I think somebody answered the security hires at like 27 something all throughout all the various levels of schools from elementary and high schools that are currently employed or are there new ones that are going to be added because this was not in your presentation it was something that flew by in somewhere in the last couple weeks and I just wrote it down and said please but I need to find out we have three types of positions that have safety or security in

[01:56:06] their title one is our school security officers those are at our middle and high school anywhere from one to three then we have our student safety coaches there that is one per middle school and high school and then our school resource officer currently at Albemarle High School and in this proposal one at Western one that's our secondary schools and perhaps in it we in one of the proposals to cut costs was to reduce the number of school safety coaches at the high schools to be able to pay for the school resource officers but we had a lot of community

[01:56:42] feedback uh to keep just so even from students to keep the uh school safety coaches so our proposal would have both okay but what was the first one the first one is a school security officer they were formally referred to as our security tas and those we have i'm sorry yeah anywhere from um each school is allocated anywhere from one to three depending on the size of the school so those are more around monitoring hallways making sure all the doors are locked working

[01:57:18] the front door at the you know at elmar high school those types of things maybe the back door when they're going to the trailers yeah yeah more compliance okay okay now um I was so interested, and I know you all are really working hard to keep it straight, but in the sort of 2008-2010 capital, we always had above the line, below the line.

[01:57:47] And maintenance took up everything above the line for years. And there was, I think, then a real remastering to making sure that there wasn't sort of surreptitious, really ongoing capital stuff that got in there.

[01:58:03] So I'm glad to hear that you're figuring out the most efficient ways to do this, but also being very fair about what's really going on. Can I make one clarification on the school renovation piece that I, somebody reminded me that I forgot is, yes, it's a lot of internal renovations, but those projects will also need some small additions as you're trying to reconfigure and make more contemporary spaces.

[01:58:26] So that's why it's kind of hard sometimes to be fully maintenance, right? They are small improvements. The HVAC is different than tearing up the school and trying to get it all done by August. So I get that very much. And I'm so impressed with the way you're trying to do better for the students in this whole CSA element.

[01:58:47] Because one of those moments, well, two things from 2008. The state who signed it in August, oh, remember that $8 million that we were going to send to your school is when we're not. And that threw me down a rabbit hole so far. Secondly, the cost of the children, I don't know whether it was one or two, going to a residential program in Massachusetts for $156,000 in 2008.

[01:59:16] So that, heaven knows what that multiplier is now. But my last confused question is, you mentioned residential day placement. Their day placements, do they still live at home? Is that what that means when it says day placement?

[01:59:33] But in Massachusetts, it could be a full residential program, like a boarding school. So help me understand if there's more to be had about that, otherwise later is fine. Yeah, we'll get back to you. Okay, that's all from me. Thank you very much. Right now.

[01:59:48] Thank you. Mr. Pruitt. Thank you. While we're on this slide, I appreciate the work that's already gone in today explaining kind of how this program has evolved, how those scholar studios have evolved, and what we might know it from previously.

[02:00:07] I might just need a whole bit more help while we did a goal. I know we've invested heavily in the center concept, and that's really, like, I think it's not unfair to characterize it as essential to the school division's success moving forward. That is how we've decided we are expanding high school education and managing class size.

[02:00:27] It is also my understanding that we're still not always where we would want with enrollment in the center, which is particularly challenging if we're doubling the number of centers. I guess I would like a little bit more help understanding, we talked about the relationship between the centers and PVCC.

[02:00:48] Can you help me understand a little bit more about the relationship between the Scholar Studios Program and the centers and how, if there is any effort to create kind of a through path to, frankly, drive enrollment at the centers, which it sounds like we need from not just a, frankly, a fiscal perspective.

[02:01:06] We need more enrollment. So we really have one center right now, and that's center one that's at Seminole Place. I was referring to two because I know we broke the crap. And it is under-enrolled, and that's largely due to our poor recruiting efforts.

[02:01:28] Through the recruiting efforts that have been going on since the fall, the entering class of ninth graders is fully enrolled. So we're going to, as we continue to do that year after year, it will be fully enrolled. With Center 2, we're going to house several studios there that we're not counting on that facility being fully enrolled studio students or pathway students in the first years because it's right next to Albemarle High School.

[02:02:03] So to alleviate capacity issues at Albemarle, we can schedule any classes out there and students will just walk out and we'll be able to remove the portable facilities. that we have there, and it'll alleviate the core pressure on the building.

[02:02:21] And then over time, ideally, you want students that are choosing to attend the programs that are out there. When I say out there, just envisioning from the school to the building that's out there. So it's 400 students a day, and the programs that we do are every other day.

[02:02:39] So it would be 400 different students each day going out. What we found through research across Virginia that school systems that have programs like these, about 10% of students will move from school to school, like for your whole high school population.

[02:02:58] So we have about 4,000 students in our high school. So that's about 400, 500 kids that are going to get out and about and go to different schools for their programs. So in housing them, we want to be sure that we have equity of access to all the programs.

[02:03:16] But at the same time, it's still a student's choice as to whether they would travel. And it's not the case, it's my understanding, that the Scholar Studios could operate even without the centers. Right. Our whole point in the Scholar Studios is unlike when we had three academies.

[02:03:36] The academies, especially Mesa, became very much elitist. It was very, you had to decide in eighth grade to be in that academy. Kids would even, I had a student say to me, I'd rather do the health and medical sciences, but there's more prestige with Mesa.

[02:03:53] It became very exclusive and we have 4,000 students, we need to do a better job focusing them on career pathways than 150 or 160 students in the Mesa program. So this is an effort to engage students across a wide variety of career paths and interests that they don't all have to be, I mean, it is coincidental in many ways that the center is part of that.

[02:04:21] The centers, in terms of our high school education plans, were instead of asking you all for $150 million to build a new comprehensive high school, that's excluding land costs because we could have built it at Burkmar.

[02:04:38] It was an effort to say, this is a more flexible learning space. We don't have to have so much expense. And if we invest, even if we modernized all of our high schools, which is what our original proposal was, it would be far less than the price tag of a single high school.

[02:04:57] So the centers can support the scholar studios, but they don't need to exclusively do that. And the beauty, in my view, of the space is that they're very flexible. And many, many schools across the country are looking at this kind of flexible space.

[02:05:18] maybe an easier way to invite employers in, or partnering for work study, or apprenticeships, and stuff like that. So this-- and also, I know I get comments that we're not solving our capacity issues.

[02:05:35] Well, you all approved this first-- the second center for 2019. And it won't open now until 2027. And by this time, we had hoped to have another center, perhaps better distributing you know students around the country around the county but you know there were we had an intervening pandemic which sort of set us all back a bit anyway my little speech that was very helpful and the public to hear too thank you on the next slide this is much simpler

[02:06:13] straightforward can you help me understand we we have there in the middle of the screen the we netted out right we talked about the the cost of the savings, which are both pretty significant. So I appreciate that. Um, can you help me understand looking at this? I would assume that this, none of this is a year one cost. It's going to be consistent as it's carried over year to year, but is that correct? Because it's all on salaries, which are going to mostly run consistent and the savings are also, uh, routine operating costs.

[02:06:45] There's no start-up costs. This has got to be the same balance. On slide 30, and a little bit on 31, I think we can stand on 30.

[02:07:02] So my understanding is, Greg, you have a target market that you've developed. You attempt to keep all your different steps, all the different steps of your salary scale, at 10% over that.

[02:07:21] Currently, TAs are only 5% over that or 4% over that. And also, your very senior educators are under that. And this seems to be proposing a 3% increase across the board and a specific one to get the TAs up to bear.

[02:07:39] Is that 3%? Is that fully, evenly distributed? Or is there additionally, like, a deeper salary or comp realignment that is addressing this? Because you identify a very specific gap, but I'm not seeing what sounds like a very specific comp realignment.

[02:07:59] So what's in the proposal right now is a straight 3%. We have in the past explored what we call, to get to your point around the top of the scale, more of an adjustment in our step. That's an additional cost, and at this point we just haven't been able to afford that.

[02:08:19] So currently it's a 3%. Yes, you're right, different step increases would address the top of the scale issue. So that would come at a greater cost. And 3%, does that get us to parity with market, or is that still below market at the specific steps that we're under?

[02:08:35] So that's what this comparison is. Oh, this is with the 3%. Oh, I missed that. If we did the 3% and if the market did what we think it's going to do, to the best of our knowledge, this is the outcome. And this is where the concern is if you didn't do the 3%.

[02:08:52] Could you explain just for us, for the audience, insofar as anyone is listening, what the adopted market actually does mean? Who is the market, right? I think you touched on this, but if you could just reiterate it briefly.

[02:09:09] So the adapted market that we compare to is Alexandria, Augusta, Charlottesville, Chesterfield, Fakir, Hanover, Rico, Montgomery, Prince William, Rockingham, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and New York.

[02:09:29] And for years. We readjusted the market basket, what, four years ago? Three or four years ago. Right. So we readjusted the market three or four years ago, and we pegged our compensation at 10% over the median. And within that market basket, we have some schools that are of reach.

[02:09:54] We know that they pay more, but we also had some of our closer neighbors. Can you get me, help me better understand when we look at both the, on this slide, We talked about the retention rate for the TAs, for the special education TAs, and much earlier you also highlighted the general instructional staff, so we're looking at just under 80 and just over 80, respectively, if I'm remembering correctly.

[02:10:24] I don't know, when we look both in your comparison market, actually how good that is. I know it's worse than we do for county staff. I know it's worse than we do at most parts of county staff, but I don't know how it compares for teachers. Maybe teachers are more mobile. I don't know. Can you help me kind of place that in the market? I don't know if we have market data. We probably have states. We have some lagging state data, but we're outperforming the state in terms of our retention and our vacancy rate at the beginning of the year. We're outperforming the local market. Nationally,

[02:11:02] I think the teacher, last time I looked, the teacher retention rate was at 83%, and ours is 80 close to 87 so there were coming out of the pandemic there was more state reporting on this so that other districts that we could benchmark with other districts but we are outperforming virginia um i am almost hesitant to like talk about this in a really direct way but like it feels prudent and you mentioned briefly in your um in last year's budget as part of the way you

[02:11:38] managed funding that didn't match what your requested was, was an increase to class size. Was that across the board? Was it targeted at specific class? So when we say increase class size, what we mean by that is we have a bunch of formulas about how many staff is allocated to schools. So we increased that ratio, that student to teacher ratio and we did it by formula so it impacted all schools whether it physically impacted class sizes depends on a lot of variables right but yeah that was across all schools

[02:12:15] by formula is do you have a sense because uh what we use in the rules of evidence you open the door so um help me understand how we do compare to our our peers next door well out the window uh in the city because because we do a lot of comparison against them on salary how are we doing against them on class size you can sum it up so in elementary school our class sizes are lower

[02:12:52] average class sizes in middle school higher and high school we're lower so say that again just so i can hear it so with elementary school we're lower for middle school we were we're a little higher in high school we're a little lower can you i i realize we're well we're ballparkers but so long as we're we're ballparking we're using the language of people who discuss strategy not the language of accountants um are we in spitting distance of one another on each of those ping pong and ride around the median or or is there

[02:13:31] a notable difference at any level no it's pretty close um i'm just on most everything i have i will I will say, just because I did a deep dive the last time this came up, a little less than a year ago, I don't mean to change how we're thinking about this, but for our members of the board who have to deal with housing and homelessness on multiple levels, right?

[02:14:09] This is not the only time in which we encounter this problem. I would just raise the fact that the data that we are looking at here with students and when we look in our community, those are not commensurable pieces of data. They're based on a different standard and a different metric.

[02:14:25] Schools are using the McKinley-Vento, which includes people who we would not call homeless in other contexts, namely people in trailer parks and people who are the standard of grandmas. So those are people who we would not be hitting with the same interventions.

[02:14:45] And that's a good point. That's all I got. Thank you. This is Rosalyn LaPistola-Credit. Well, I'm afraid I'll put the rules on that. Sorry. I said I won't bring up his rules of evidence for anyone that's listening.

[02:15:08] I do have just a few questions. I did want to commend you, frankly, regarding the students with your on-time graduation rate and even the dual enrollment with PBCC.

[02:15:25] Those are in your low chronic absenteeism. It would be nice to have it lower, but it's lower than everyone else. And your advanced diplomas. I mean, I need to commend you on that, because not a lot of school districts have those kind of stats, at least not where we go to the West Coast.

[02:15:47] So those are very impressive, because I do hear from constituents, and they say, well, our schools are failing. Well, we have evidence that, no, our schools are not failing. In fact, our schools are doing, compared to Charlottesville and the state, are doing very well.

[02:16:06] So now I'm going to get down at the more specific questions I had Your TAs do you have one in each class regular classroom? Are they only for special ed to our? regular TAs by allocation how much school gets it or our k1 Classrooms about half part-time and then schools elect to use TAs and other Functions, but not everything. Okay, so it's not in every classroom because why I'm thinking of that even but special ed has their own TAs

[02:16:44] No, it depends on the student's IEP That's right on their IEP and if they need that or if they go in the regular classroom or in the special ed classroom To me that's a path of to hiring new teachers If you can get TAs for especially for special ed and regular classrooms That are going I mentioned this that are going to college or they're going to PBCC. They can work part-time I don't know if you have full-time TAs Okay, but that's a pathway to becoming a teacher There's your Potential what we do we do

[02:17:24] Actively try to grow our own Yes, you're actively growing your own exactly exactly It bothers well in your homeless students Um, I, I'm not sure because of what Supervisor Pruitt said regarding if the 353 K-12, if, with some of those, if they were listed, they're living with their grandmother, they're living in a trailer. Um, but I would think, I would hope that once we open a premier circle, that,

[02:17:58] ah, no, there would be some way to perhaps give those families some kind of priority, but that's not, we'd be able to, to decide that, that, that would be nice.

[02:18:14] The parts of the Premier Circle that are considered temporary or supportive housing part of it might still be homeless under rehab. Okay, okay. But they'd have a place. Some of them, from my understanding, the Premier Circle can actually stay there. It's not just temporary.

[02:18:31] Is that right, Mr. Richardson? Could you repeat that question, please, ma'am? For Premier Circle, there's some that would be for homeless, but for chronic homelessness, some of them could actually stay there. they wouldn't be would be necessarily temporary correct or am i i'm not sure so so part of the premier circle plan is supportive housing um which is a shorter term as design and it has wraparound services that are baked in another part is that's the piece that was also in commanding glove with uh pha that is that is actually just a subsidized rental

[02:19:11] housing right the idea is that they're going to graduate into them but it is just subsidized rental housing and also to get back to the question if they were on that side of the operation my understanding is uh children in that situation would no longer be considered homeless under the federal act um i also should just add i have no idea if they allow children yeah they do or they don't do we don't know we don't know yet okay all right i'm just trying to get though there was we did have discussion about children coming out of the premier circle because they would be going into the school right right but I can't answer that was

[02:19:51] just my two cents worth regarding help out it bothered it concerns me that last year you had 16 FTE cuts and this year we're proposing for it seems to me that we're that's a dire situation in my opinion and it almost seems like we're kicking the can down the road because we're not addressing our shortfall. You say that

[02:20:22] for 750 for this year, but the real gap is 1.7, correct? So by going with 750, we're kicking the can down the road. By going with something closer to 1.7, then we would stop the can from going down the road so to speak and I have to tell you that really concerns me and the other reason that really concerns me is because the federal excuse me how much on federal is what

[02:21:01] 13.5 million is it could that be in peril are you looking at that that that could be in peril I'm sorry I couldn't any federal revenues sure we're getting 13 point you're getting 13.5 could that be with what's going on in Carol I mean I would say is that as you look at that 13.5 this is why we had them pull it out I mean the I mean IDA and title

[02:21:39] one and head start are in statute right so it's hard even though they could move like things like like they might move departments they are in statute it is harder to take those away. I'll just say it that way. The one point at the end, I mean, are things that aren't necessarily in statute, so it makes it easier, but we're all, we're continuing to look at contingency plans, but the biggest proportion of ours, I think, as anyone could think about, is probably okay. It's that $1 million, I would say, at the bottom, because there isn't legislation

[02:22:19] necessarily kind of guard rules and statutes behind it but it's it's it's hard to predict we don't know I don't know I mean school lunches are also not necessarily statutory correct and so you know we could have a lot of hungry kids or big sales or something so yes we're of course look you know concerned about it Medicaid arguably they can't cut that but who knows we don't know what's going on so potentially that 1 million could be added to the 1.7 million and

[02:22:57] same thing with well school lunch we are okay I mean yeah what that would cause you to have a complete free redo of the budget like we had to do which we might be facing the same thing we make right at the exact same concerns I and I did want to ask the if you could explain the 16 FTE cuts last year who what were they not named and the 40 this year and they are full-time how you what would be

[02:23:36] cutting any teachers so the reduction last year again was by formula by school and so I think we would have to go back and some of it could be partial the reduction of TA hours I think it'd be highly variable but all schools were

[02:23:53] impacted the 40 we have outlined so what was your question about okay but you were actually able to perhaps increase class size well I mean when you have a

[02:24:33] reduction of FTE there were pop likely some teachers who lost jobs or reduced hours or things like that but I would have to go back in I would like to know that number if you don't like at some point well and once again regarding the number of teachers that live in the city and live in Charlottesville 79% I thought that's pretty say that if they're not okay those are all my

[02:25:10] questions. Thank you very much. Thank you. I want to make sure I don't repeat the questions, they're really a minute that it's great. I'm impressed with the depth that people have gone into on this, knowing that, you know, at the end of the day, your goals that you are charged with trying to make these determinations as to what the priorities are. Just to clarify, since we're on this slide, I want to make sure I understand there are a number of slides in here that talk about additional FTVs for different positions.

[02:25:44] Is this a net or is this just positions that are being cut separate and apart from those that are being added elsewhere? Correct. These are just reductions. It's not a net. So it's not a net. Is there a net number?

[02:25:59] We would have to calculate that. I will say we'll provide that. I will say the complicating factor of that is our intensive support center where we was almost moving from a contracted service to there's like 32 FTE related to that but again you're moving from you paid prep to do it now you are hiring those people so we'll make that yeah make that clear so that we don't think of that the same way because obviously it's a cost savings to move it internally and we really appreciate that okay similarly there's been a lot of discussion about our comps and a lot of it tends to be around the class sizes and salaries and

[02:26:39] things like that I would like at some point just a little bit better story to tell people about our demographics because even when I first came here in like 1979 I was told you know that there are two Charlottes it was an extremely wealthy Charlottesville and there's Charlottesville that wasn't now looking at Albemarle County kind of the same lens but also recognizing that some of our assets as a school system, draw in people who may, you know, have needs that other school systems might not have to face at the same degree. So I'd just like at some point to

[02:27:14] understand that better because I think our schools are serving a population that has a lot of needs. So I appreciate that. I'm just going to flip through this here for any than I thought really needed to, but I haven't.

[02:27:39] A common sort of question, there have been a number of places where we talked about students moving from one place to another. Sometimes it's because they have a base school, whether they're due to homelessness, or it's because they have a base school, but they're gonna use center one.

[02:27:59] I just really haven't got a handle on how much that costs in time, as well as expense moving students around every day. It would just be helpful to understand how much that's gone. I appreciate the teacher salary market analysis that someone mentioned benefits before so I just want to sort of say it'd be nice to have a sense of both salary and benefits together as a package. Recognizing that I think you're doing it right and I frankly think that teachers make a decision when they see that their starting salary is higher and they're

[02:28:36] not looking 20, 30 years out to say, oh, but some of those people aren't making good money. And then lastly, I guess I will hear more soon about the CIP. I understand where we're at, and looking at high school improvement and elevator additions is such a part, but although we're a long ways apart on that, and we're going to talk about our CIP in a little bit, So I think I'll hold off on that.

[02:29:07] That said, you know, again, I appreciate the questions that everybody's asked to get to the fine details, but it is a school budget, and I know you're charged with a lot of this. So CIP, we get a little bit more involved in, but a lot of the day-to-day, it's now become a problem that Supervisor Galloway identified, I think, very clearly, that there are going to be a lot of competing needs that this board has to say.

[02:29:32] Well, okay, I guess choices are either we find more revenue or we decide one program gets, one area gets money and another doesn't at some point at the end of the day. But I appreciate the information you've all given us and the means that you have.

[02:29:51] I'm sure there are other comments. Yeah, and I do, of course, I maintain my right as one person out there, but just quickly, and I know Jeff is fond of saying we will run out of money before we run out of programs. needs to be people I just wanted we were talking about the lack of high school diplomas I just wanted to say to people that I'm also a regional jail 20% of our inmates have a high school let that sink in for a few minutes that's average now

[02:30:25] which shows you if you think not educating people it's a lot more expensive not to educate people just saying um the other thing I wanted to mentioned was um because i've had at least one person very angry in the community and i want to just clarify publicly that with a changeover at k-tech k-tech students that are going the students that are going to k-tech that are albemore county students um the school system is paying the tuition for those students there was some confusion about a paper an article in the paper and i have no idea

[02:31:05] what but i had a constituent very angry because she thought we there was double dipping going on that the students were having to pay and that she as a taxpayer was having to pay i just want to clarify that so the school system is paying for the kids tuition at kt yeah thank you i mean just publicly to say that in case other people are confused and i do want to just ask one quick question and then this is it jim i promise um i'm looking at the cip and i noticed that um project number five is a middle school facility master plan and i understand that planning is never as

[02:31:41] expensive as building out but i'm very concerned that we're creating a master plan for the middle school when we have a master plan for one of our elementary campuses that has not been prioritized i'm looking at lands lane master plan is number seven and we're already doing a middle school facility master plan and i we can just let that go after that statement um so we're going to have one master plan that we haven't implemented or you are and we're starting on another master plan

[02:32:15] just a comment ended up in yeah timing issues so it will be a comment to just let it uh

[02:32:38] we will follow up with the information that you asked to the best we can and uh thank you for letting us go on for almost an hour in our presentation you all asked some very good

[02:32:50] questions and thank you so following that very rich discussion um i'm going to switch up the agenda a little bit i'm going to start with helping the board of supervisors get ready for wednesday this is a slide that was very late in the presentation on slide 36 and then uh after i

[02:33:29] cover that I'll look back to the chair about what time he'd like to start this meeting we should go as far into the CIP or not based on how the discussion goes but on March 19th is the force work fourth work session and this would be the scheduled agenda for that meeting we would complete any remaining items from firework sessions that would include administration of parks because I don't think we'll get those today pick up community development transit and then position changes and re-engineering those are not primarily driving the tax rates the biggest changes of the budget but we do want to cover those as we board proposes budget

[02:34:07] second we will have some updates from prior work sessions which will be a series of technical adjustments such as that sro change we mentioned earlier and how that would play out the other time we have is for the board to consider any adjustments right now now what we heard last week is a desire from board members in different ways of perhaps including or increasing the amount of the affordable housing investment fund before wednesday staff is going to put our heads together and give some options about what that could look like and scenarios the board to consider right now there

[02:34:41] is not a other project or another initiative or position whatever that may be where we're doing that same sort of analysis but if there is it would help to hear that from the board of supervisors so we can work that as an option to get the board ready for wednesday this is not the only time to suggest that certainly wednesday the board can adjust the proposed budget the board can bring up things after the board the budget is proposed but there's any other program out there or something the board was looking to make an adjustment um if we know today that can help us get ready for wednesday so after we go through that on wednesday we will cover the tax rates for advertising and then the proposed budget for advertising again the keynote of the tax rate when it's

[02:35:21] advertised only that rate or lower can be adopted so that's just kind of where we're looking ahead to wednesday and obviously if we don't get through the full cip today we'll add that to the start of the meeting as well to work through that so i'll be happy to answer any questions on wednesday's process or if there's anything else the staff should be working through as we get ready for Wednesday. Are there any questions? I'll look to my right and left. So just to kind of help manage the board's time, I'll ask the chair, we have a six o'clock scheduled to start. I don't know if the board desires to go over, but just to manage expectations of when we may stop in the presentation

[02:35:58] of the CIP. I'm willing to suggest that we go over, but I think we need to find a sort of logical place, and I haven't been told by board members that somebody's got to leave at six or something. But at the same time, if there is a logical place, I'm just nervous that I know the questions will take some time, too.

[02:36:19] So some of us are wearing green and have some heritage things. Thank you. So I'm going to make sure I respect this. Just kidding. Just kidding. I really don't like green beer.

[02:36:37] So the information which is coming back to us that may pertain to things left over from previous work sessions yes be very helpful before we instead of doing those things now because we don't have those responses so if you think about putting those things off from what we heard in the previous work session yes we have a fully loaded Q&A that will send out a couple small batches before Wednesdays the board has all that information do you not expecting us to do more with the

[02:37:16] human services things now correct okay I just want to clarify if there was a if there was a request where the board since they wanted to go even further on the human services funding that would be helpful to know as we get ready for Wednesday but it was not there yet that's okay - what I can do is I can cover just pick up through the CIP there's some over overarching information I can share and then the school CIP they're here if we all get through that

[02:37:52] We can just sort of then see if we want to get the county government. Sounds good. Thank you. So as we move to the CIP Again, this work session continues to be guided by the six strategic goals So a lot of these projects could be framed in their connection to the county strategic plan I'm going to introduce the CIP and a lot of this is going to be Very similar to the comments. I shared in December 4th in the joint meeting with the schools Again, this has been a couple months. We've had a lot of work sessions and information between them So when we discuss the CIP, terminology is very important.

[02:38:30] Sometimes we talk about the capital budget. All that refers to is the very first year of the plan. That is the only year of the plan that will be appropriated by the Board of Supervisors. Also, that would include any active projects. So, for example, the course project has been underway for some time. That continues to be included, just like Center 2 was appropriated.

[02:38:48] That will continue to get carried forward every year until it's completed. The capital budget is different because it was the only one requested for appropriation. Years 2 through 5 is the CIP. So last year's CIP, years 2 through 5, 26 through 29, becomes a starting point as we deliver the CIP.

[02:39:06] Just as what the board approves for 27 to 30 this year becomes a starting point for next year's update. Also, the connection between the operating budgets and the general fund and the school fund is very strong because as debt service increases, as we execute projects, now it's also being retired, that limits are operating in capacity.

[02:39:26] as well as we need to plan for the ongoing operating impacts of those projects, whether they be new facilities, other related operating costs. So as we began to prepare the CIP, staff had a four-step process to update last year.

[02:39:42] First was giving the respect of the past board CIP and using that as the starting point for our projects. Then beginning to update financial assumptions, whether that be any change in project costs, the interest rates or other financial assumptions, and of course their revenue updates we held a december 4th joint meeting with the school board where the school board had ample time to discuss their multi-year process their long-range planning committee and how that played out and then from that we've said to the extent possible we'll include new projects guided by the strategic plan so in one slide uh since december this is really

[02:40:21] all the changes that have taken place to the cip first on the left is we have a revenue update as revenues have changed just like they have for the entire budget and we've also had some one-time revenue that we're programming into the cip whether that be from two million dollars from available year in funding or the impact of the tax rates in fiscal year 25. as was discussed last week that's what's changed on the revenue side what that does on the expenditure side is in the right column we've done cost updates updates for ongoing programs for example the school bus we heard from the schools in december 4th they had a large increase of that that has been addressed

[02:40:59] for the cost increase of that ongoing program we've also needed to address some costs with existing projects five of which are shown on this screen and then finally there were some new projects added across various strategic goals for the transportation leveraging there was funding added year four i'll say these are new projects added or expanded for example transportation leveraging i would say is expanded the northern theater pattern elementary is not a new project but the capacity adds 100 students there and that is included as well also there was school renovation funding that was increased it was prior 2.8 million dollars a year now it's 4 million

[02:41:36] dollars a year and then the community nonprofit capital request for loaves and fishes so moving from process to figures these are the revenues that fund the cip it is primarily funded where there's a really the board discretion is in the cash equity kind of that dark piece in blue making up 22% of the revenues and then the borrowed proceeds in red with the 72% piece of the donut.

[02:42:05] I'm not going to talk about the other revenues in detail because they tend to be applied to a project and can't easily be moved from one project to another. For example, for state revenue, there's a small state grant they get for school buses that can't be applied to another project. If there's a proffer specifically written for a parks project, that also can't be applied to transportation or schools.

[02:42:25] So we're going to focus on the cash equity piece in dark blue, and the planned borrower proceeds in the reddish-orange color. So cash equity, this is a slide of where it comes from and how it is used. CIP receives 10% of the change in revenues from the allocation of shared revenues formula.

[02:42:46] That is the primary source, and then any one time, if it's available, is where cash comes from. The very first thing cash does is it pays the county's debt service. That's both the principal and interest, that is essentially the county's mortgage payment over the next 20-year period for the particular bonds.

[02:43:04] After that is applied to debt service, we would have a standard for projects that are not eligible for borrowing due to the life cycle or other eligibility requirements. 100% of those projects are funded by cash. If there's a project where it makes sense to borrow from a financial planning perspective, 5% of that project cost would be planned to go for cash.

[02:43:23] So it's really kind of a hierarchy of needs. First pay your mortgage, then pay your things you're not eligible to borrow for, then what which you can't borrow for, pay 5% of that with cash. Looking next to the plan to borrow proceeds, again, that reddish-orange piece of the donut, that comes from bond issuances.

[02:43:42] The county, on a regular basis, will issue bonds to fund these projects, which typically have a 20-year life cycle. We've done issuances recently in 21 and 23, and the next one we would plan for is a little over a year from now in the spring of calendar year 2026.

[02:43:59] This provides a revenue that funds that 95% of project costs that are not funded by cash. So while we talk about bond issuances, I want to take a moment to talk about the county's bond rating, which is triple AAA by the three major credit rating agencies.

[02:44:20] The county had two ratings in 2003, and the third was attained in 2013. This is a pretty rare thing in local government. There's 55 of the 3,000-plus counties in the United States, as of October had that, and 13 of the 55 are located in Virginia.

[02:44:36] So while it is fairly common in Virginia with many of our peer localities, not so much in the greater United States. Three big benefits when you have a triple AAA bond rating. The way I think about this is just imagine you have a perfect credit rating. It works similar in that regard. You have a lot of flexibility. When your debt service costs are lower, that gives you flexibility to do capital projects in the future or just your day-to-day operations. Second is you getting the best possible rates. Last time the county went out, we had, I believe, seven different bids for that. That's a good market and allows you to get the best possible rate when you you are making a 20-year commitment to what your future costs on. And then third, always that

[02:45:16] ability to access borrowing when it's needed. If we ever had to do an emergency borrowing or just for an irregular borrowing, it's not a given there will be a market for your bonds when that's out there. But when you're triple AAA, they're assuming that you can get to the market borrowing something, a shock like the start of the pandemic, you should be able to access the market and get the best range you can. The CIP is within the county's bond, AAA bond, reading financial management policies to stay below the red lines. The left is the annual debt service

[02:45:51] payment as a percent of general fund and school fund revenues. The right is the total outstanding debt compared to the county's taxable property values. And in all five years, there is an adequate amount of headroom in those policies. I'll talk later, get to it today, about what would look like if the board wanted to go further so i'll move from a high level from revenues to expenditures we see the majority of the cip is for public school expenses and then the rest is covered across the county government functional areas to the right that other category of five

[02:46:27] percent is a little larger that really a lot of that includes the cost of issuance which is factored into the cid as well something i'm not going to talk about in detail in today's cip but it really speaks to the board's financial management policy speaks to the importance of maintaining your assets to avoid bigger expenses down the road so this really refers to any programs that are about maintaining and replacing our existing facilities not the kind of above expansion renovation projects we talked about there are those programs that are set by agreement or other mandated out there those ongoing programs actually make up the majority of the CIP at 56%

[02:47:07] and those programs in particular are listed on the slide non ongoing programs are 44% are what we'll talk about next and highlight through the strategic plan and to go to that I'm going to speak first to the public schools budget Ms.

[02:47:22] Kumazawa gave a very detailed presentation back on December 4th and then they're here if there's any questions but this shows the total 189 million that was referred to a few moments ago by Dr. Acuff of what's in the CIP it shows the timing of where we have high school center 2 and elementary There's cost updates we'll recommend adding funding to followed by the northern feeder pattern which would have design in fiscal year 27 and construction in fiscal year 28 and then across the other years we have the Renovations the maintenance and the school bus replacement projects a different way to look at the same data is by project where those dollars are

[02:48:01] You'll see there's a couple other projects listed on here that really fall into that ongoing programs category of network infrastructure and the project management services But this is really just kind of the recap of the school CIP. I'll pause here if there's any board questions to date on the overall CIP or public schools, and then we can pick up where to go further at this work session.

[02:48:25] So this is the five-year CIP? Correct. So we're at some point, you know, we usually plan 10 years out in some ways, but we're really talking about the five-year right now. Five years is what we're talking at this time. Okay. And I'm assuming that the Southern and the high school, that's not well, I was going to say, that's a design work.

[02:48:52] Well, the majority of those projects have been appropriated as the final bids and everything there. There was a small cost update that had to take place. This is what you were talking about, about the additional cost update. Yes. I got it. That makes sense. All right. That's fine. Thank you.

[02:49:08] Whether you have any questions, I mean, I was supportive that they increased the capacity of the northern. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's probably not even enough. So Andy helped a little bit with, this is projection, prediction, and so sorry.

[02:49:30] But what I understood about the rule of stocks go down, bonds go up, is that the return goes up, or the costs go up to sell a bond, or we have to pay more to issue bonds in this turbulent stock market situation.

[02:49:46] Hopefully, it will all be quieted down by 2026, but I wanted to ask while I was having a chance. Sure, I'll say the cost of issuance we have for bonds tends to be pretty steady at around 2% of the issuance. What is there's more volatility is interest rates. We know historically interest rates will go up a lot faster than they'll come down. And so we work with our financial advisors to make the best assumption we can our interest rates. 5.75 is our current assumption for where will be a year from now. And so that's really striking that right balance of reasonably conservative

[02:50:25] financial planning so that we're not in the shock of a year now and we're in a very different situation. But that's one where the out years we would be even more cautious of because who knows what the world looks like in years three and five from now. I shouldn't say who knows what the world looks like. So our financial advisors give us the best information that we have to compare that.

[02:50:42] From Courtney. Yes, that is the uncertainty. If we find ourselves in a prolonged interest rate of a few years ago where those are lower we have assumed that lower in the past right now we recognize we're in a very different environment right now than we were the last two juices okay it was the annual cost that I was asking about so thank you very much that's all the northern feeder pattern uh the increase because normally we reported 45 15 million is that due to the fact

[02:51:21] that we're adding 100 students which yes the full 10 million increase is attributable to that extra 100 students okay and one other thing regarding that last question cip if the interest rates um go down a lot like the two really down would we pay off others in the lower interest rate or would we pay off first the ones that have a higher interest rate just wondering yeah so for the for the i'll say two-part question for the past bonds it'll depend upon the terms of those bonds in terms of when we would refinance right now in the next couple years there's not a good

[02:51:57] opportunity but we all have to look at what those rates are so the counties i'll say for example the 2021 and 2023 bonds were issued at very low interest rates so it'll be challenging to refinance those because the rates were so low in the first place and then when it comes to the lower rates in the future that'll just factor into that that future decision and if rates are lower that will create more capacity for a future CIP discussion several years out before you can refinance is typically yeah it typically is pretty far

[02:52:31] to that yeah Tim is a good rule of thumb and so the next if we were to go on we would be talking about our yeah so if we were to go on we would walk quickly through the projects and county government to highlight those which we can hit at a good pace but if the board would like to adjourn that's this is the board's time at this point I will turn this over to mr. Davidson Ryan Davidson our deputy chief of budget to go through the county government projects thank you

[02:53:10] um so as any said we're going to walk through the county government projects similar to what we showed you on the school side this graphic here illustrates the timing of when we're going to be looking at these projects 128.5 million over the five years really the CIP was about marching those existing projects forward and updating the budgets for increased cost as opposed to adding new things. And as you can see, most of the projects on that slide fell into the first couple years of our CIP with a few in the out years. A couple of slides earlier, we were really focusing on the project that supported goal five of the strategic plan. Now we're going to really look and highlight

[02:53:49] a few of the other non-ongoing local government projects that span across the several other strategic plan areas, including safety and well-being, infrastructure, et cetera. We'll go into a little more detail on each of these projects on future slides. So starting first with uh courts um first things first i want to point out on these slides the the little colored box aligns with the strategic plan goal and it does list the year in which the funding is going to be budgeted for and the amounts and so first in looking at the courts facilities edition

[02:54:24] this is really about the additions for when we went out and looked at market rates and the market conditions and having to do a cost update related to this project this work is you know around the first two bullets including the new general district court at the levy site and the renovations of the historical levy opera house scheduled to be done um in the may time frame and begin moving folks into the as new facilities and at that point we work we've moved to phase two which is where these cost additions are coming into play and start with the renovations of the historic

[02:54:58] circuit courthouse next is the the transportation leveraging program this is recommended at about just shy of 28 million dollars and this is spread over three fiscal years in varying amounts this program provides flexible and consistent funding we've talked about this at several times for those high priority transportation projects and initiatives within the county there's typically high cost these are typically high cost projects requiring significant financial commitment and develop time to develop and implement and a lot of times are involved with with call sharing programs with the state.

[02:55:35] And so we have listed several of the projects that are slated in our transportation in the five years, plus of our transportation leveraging program. On those slides, I'm not gonna go through. In the interest of time, I won't go through each and every one of those. But if you have questions about those, we can circle back to those at the end.

[02:55:56] Next is the Northern Convenience Center. This includes the design and construction of the Solid Waste Center, similar to what was recently completed in operation in the southern part of the county. Last year's CIP included the design work. We are slated for the construction dollars in FY27, not currently in 26, but that would be in FY27.

[02:56:17] And really this schedule follows what was adopted from the previous CIP and allows us to better spread out the operating costs of bringing multiple RSWA facilities between the Baylor facility, Southern Convenience Center, Northern Convenience Center online. It allows us to not bring everything on at the same time, but spread those operating costs and bring those on more gradually.

[02:56:41] Central Library. This serves as the main regional headquarters. This was one of our community capital projects that we put into play last year, or put into the CIP last year. We're doing this in conjunction with the city of Charlottesville. This is a co-owned facility, and in addition, 57% of the circulation at the library is attributable to Appamar County.

[02:57:05] There's several funding contingencies that we have put in there, and we can make sure that we're meeting those as we work in partnership with the city to step this forward. They have included this at the same timing as us in their proposed CIP that they have presented to their board of supervisors, so we're still in lockstep in terms of timing and funding amounts at this point.

[02:57:28] Let's get on. So big focus of the Parks and Recreation has been the implementation of the capital projects. We opened the park earlier towards the end of FY24. With the other elements coming online in the future, really we have about $3.5 million budgeted in FY26.

[02:57:51] There's a slight cost update within this project, but it still follows the same timing, and we had adjusted some of the timing of the funding to be able to move the Hickory Street bridge portion of this project forward, and that's still sticking with this particular schedule as we move forward with this project. That was a great amount last year, that is.

[02:58:16] Jordan Tau. This was my favorite picture that we got, and we all remember those fields, and this is a picture of the new grass fields that are going to be coming online. this is for the four grass fields that are that are out there we have one that will be coming online in the spring another that will be that is completed that will be going offline to rest and be coming back a year from now I believe and continuing with the renovation of the other two and continue to cycle those through one at a time as we move through the funding for this project and

[02:58:52] this is this again that again was a split with the city and the county about 70% county, 30% city based on the Darden Tower agreement we have with the city of Charlottesville. Urban Pocket Park as part of the FY24 CIP we identified this as a project. Last year we had placed in the FY25 CIP some initial funding for some design work. Parks and Recreation is finalizing some other recommendations and things around this and we'll come forward for future discussion with the board. But the funding we have put in for

[02:59:28] FY26 represents an initial construction estimate for something like this. And then, of course, obviously, as the conversations continue, we will look at these estimates and ensure that they're at the proper levels of it and the proper timing.

[02:59:47] And here we have the workplace facility renovations. This project's related to the development and implementation of the space utilization program for the county office buildings, both at McIntyre and at Fifth Street. The FY25 CIP included some funding for some initial planning, design, and construction work.

[03:00:07] And this has the additional work continuing on into the out years with about $2.2 million spread between FY26 and then the next fiscal year, FY27, to continue that program and continue those renovations and space utilization programming. I want to take a minute to just pause on the final area of the CIP, and this is the community nonprofit capital process. In the fall of 2022, the board created this process to establish a more formalized way to receive these community nonprofit requests and get them in the regular budget cycle so that they're not coming out of cycle and they're in there. We can look at it in

[03:00:46] the context of the entire county CIP and weigh those needs against the other projects within the CIP. We came back in 2023 with some revised criteria. I'm not going to walk through all of these right now, but those are shown on the board, or excuse me, on the slide, and those have not changed from what we had seen last year. They seem, they appear to have been working based on the feedback from the board. The board was happy with that criteria, and so we continued those on into this year, and based on our recommendations made off of these requests, and that being said, there were several community non-profit requests. All the information on those, additional information

[03:01:26] can be found in our budget book on page 287 for reasons behind all these requests, the amounts, timing. But in FY26, one community nonprofit capital project was recommended for funding. It's approximately $40,000 for loaves and fishes.

[03:01:43] It's for a walk-in freezer to help improve food support and food security in the community for the lower-income residents that they serve. Our affordability and capacity, unfortunately, did not allow, was very tight this year and not allow us to accommodate a lot more of these projects within these community projects within our cip request but this was the one that did fund and again we are continually funded three in fy 25 budget that we are continuing to work with those outside agencies to make sure those come to fruition as well thanks i'll pick this up for three more slides before i turn it back over

[03:02:22] to the chair the first is not a project in the upcoming cip but i wanted to bring the board's intention to remind them there's an advancing strategic priorities reserved that is currently budgeted in the cip so context what this is this was budgeted all the way back in the fiscal year 20 process right really right before the pandemic and the intent at the time was for the board just to set aside some capacity for a future strategic need of one-time use it's been used from time to time for some smaller projects all shown on the slide here that tend to be initiated by the board of supervisors and this is right now it is 1.9 million dollars that is unallocated

[03:03:02] really awaiting direction from the board on how that should be applied that is full cash funding it does not be a capital project if the board wanted to direct that outside of the cip to another one-time use that is available for the board to consider as we come back on wednesday if the board looks at options if anything one time that would be a use available to them i just wanted to remind the board that is out there again waiting for board direction whenever the board is ready thank you my final comments uh out there for really just refer to debt management if this really picks up on what the county's debt capacity would be uh so jumping back to the debt service

[03:03:41] charts uh this is a similar exercise we went through in december 4th with the board but to bring this back with them uh the amount of headroom the county has is right now we are tightest in our policies in fiscal year 29 on the policy of our debt service the annual payment compared to our operating revenues right now we're at 8% if the board were to go to 9% that would be about 72 million dollars of capacity I know the board would not want to go to 10% but you could double that to about 145 million if they were to go there but I want to show an exercise if the if the board were to wanted to go

[03:04:18] further what would need to be considered from a financial planning perspective so right now if the projects were to be added to the CIP the first question would be is there that capacity and yes there is there'd be 72 million if the board wanted to go to 9% of the 10% maximum if that were to happen beyond the capacity more importantly there would be the cash that would be needed to execute on those projects so if the full 72 million capacity to go to 9% was to be realized you would need 5% as pay as you go for that which would total 3.6

[03:04:52] million much more impactfully is once that that 72 million is executed point and we issue the bonds we will need to pay back just under six million dollars annually for 20 years in order to fund that i've got the annual debt service payment there if it was lease revenue which is sort of the traditional borrowing or if the board decided to hold a general obligation there would be a little bit better interest rate that would be achieved for the annual difference there there is no funding available in the recommended budget all available revenues have been planned for but that is sort of the analysis the staff does we would also need to consider you

[03:05:29] know when would it actually happen it probably wouldn't be all at once what would the operating impacts be if facilities were being constructed but right now this is the normal analysis the board has requested in the past of what would be needed to find that additional capacity so with that we've covered at a brisk pace the rest of the CIP for county government and we'll be happy to turn it over to the chair for any questions thank you

[03:06:00] have to find the beginning sorry um so um looking at slide 23 and i don't know you have to go to it i'm just a question because um ann and ned have mentioned it several times i'm just wondering do we know at what point the transportation decision or smart scale transportation funding decisions will be made well they've already been made for the current cycle so this is just and we only

[03:06:35] a one of our seven projects approved right pantops the continuation past the DDI the Peter Jefferson Parkway stuff so all our other projects fifth Street we're going Greenbrier they're all gone so I'm sure staff will come back with some sort of plan based on the feedback they got from VDOT because this was scored differently this time for recommendation for the next cycle but that next cycle is not for one two years two years we'll go through the whole iteration again yeah I was just trying to figure out at what point we might know But how the what the criteria and how that's changing and it'll be within the next two years. I guess is the answer

[03:07:15] Well, I would I mean it would be my guess that the criteria wouldn't so the criteria could change if a new Administration came there to change the CTV and then the CTV wanted to change the scoring criteria that they just changed I don't think that's gonna happen in two years Even with the change, but so you all heard this through the NPO is that that's where it's hard Yeah, and like I said, I threw out some snarky comments based on my understanding of what VDOT was saying and none of them Well, they may not have appreciated the snark. They didn't correct my understanding

[03:08:02] So with the Northern Convenience Center, just a quick question. We saw three years, four years ago, staff had a schematic of the Northern Convenience Center and moving the extraneous stuff off of the Lambs Lane campus to that site because it's proffered, county government and.

[03:08:29] So I guess my simple question is, when you all are designing the Northern Convenience center you're not changing the location of this convenience center or the design from what we saw previously so there is still room on that Crawford site for a car wash a gas station I'm just saying so it hasn't changed to my knowledge I will have to go back it I'd like to know but to my knowledge I know they're still working on the design piece at this point so I think they're working through that as we speak it's just because we had the ability to put the

[03:09:06] convenience center and the other utilities or whatever you want to call them from the Lambs Lane campus there was room for all of it and I just want to make sure we're not shifting it and causing ourselves another problem yeah we'll confirm that what was presented by our facilities team was really the northernmost section of that Crawford land off the Raya Mills Road but we'll confirm that it's not a great schematic we saw northwest corner of Raya Mills and Brooklyn. That's what I recall. Yes. Just making sure that that hasn't somehow or another

[03:09:39] moved or shifted in some way. And then when you say, and now I'm going to Biscuit Run, and I say phase one trail network, so the trails are multi-purpose for bikes and pedestrians?

[03:10:02] He's nodding his head, yes. I just want to make sure. Thank you. That's all I needed to know. I appreciate it. That was the correct answer, actually. I'm trying to go fast. Darden Tao Athletic Fields totaled 1.5. That pays for only one of the fields, which is clarity.

[03:10:27] No, that money, that's two fields. It's two. That's two, yes. That's the remaining funding split. It says rebuilding one of the four fields per year. I didn't finish my line. Okay, that's great. And that may be all I had.

[03:10:44] Oh, no, I had one more question. So I really appreciate the walk-in freezer for the loaves and fishes. I really appreciate that. The community appreciates it even more than I do. Having said that, you mentioned there were three others? I mentioned that in the FY25 process, we funded three community non-profits.

[03:11:06] My memory with that was so that was the design for the Venice village playground the earliest will fire station Renovations and then there was a Seminole Trail fire station. Actually, there was two different projects for Seminole Trail Volunteer fire. Thank you. I just need a refresher since I said the three Oh, I have one more question so we have 1.9 million in unallocated

[03:11:40] last slide. So that's one-time funding. So I appreciate the fact that the school's gap is one-time funding and it's not going to solve that problem to be perfectly honest with you. They need ongoing. Having said that, because we don't want to create another scenario like they're already in, but could we use that one-time, this is that 1.9, in some way, shape, or form for added to our affordable housing? Yes, as long as we use for a one-time expense, that would be perfectly fine.

[03:12:12] Okay, that was my only question. Thank you. And then I'm done. I tried to be fast. Great. Thank you. Supervisor Galloway. If you could just send out the details of the pantops for the transportation. I can't remember what slew of little things that includes. I think it's either on the top or on the western side, right?

[03:12:30] Okay, U.S. 250 pantops court. I know what the smart scale projects are, but I just need reminded of what. Sure. We'll draw that as a follow-up. But was that? But it was. I thought it was also the top. we've got other stuff going down the other side i just need clarification of what's and how it differentiates from what just got approved through smart scale i'm not remembering the rest of the projects aside from what was in the smart scale project if any i'm probably

[03:13:00] commingling down my brain anyway thank you thank you so slide 28 you talked about the urban park and the first task would be to find the spot and then the design and you sort of leapt into design I wonder whether there was some spot that had already been found a location or not slide 28 yes yes we've been working with Bob and his staff in the urban re we're looking at a couple of locations and his staff has been doing a lot of data analysis on foot traffic and close

[03:13:39] by neighborhoods walkability sidewalks and I think the only thing that's remaining supervisor Malik is for us to determine the total cost how much money we've got if we can do one location or if we can do some improvements in addition to that at a different location but I'll be prepared to get something to the board super quick on that I think we're close to getting it to the board it's much further along than I thought and that's great and I would just ask you to write on your list with the success of the Habitat soccer field where they said to the residents we're going to build you this wonderful soccer field down here and the residents said we don't want to be out there it's too far away

[03:14:18] from all the grandmas who want to watch we'll build it for you this weekend if you just give us right here and poof so it's important to make some engagement with people who will be walking by living by and try to figure out what they would perhaps most like as opposed to what we're going to do for them so I don't know quite how to do that but I hope that we can because I think it makes it turn out much better thank you let's see I will jump on to in biscuit run and I can correct me if I wrong there were also was a focus of bicycle

[03:14:56] only trails which are perhaps also under construction in one region there's all by itself just for bicycle right that is a partnership and we have campus and all the biking club and it'll be a downhill kind of fancy stuff technical yeah but that's not what you're talking about in this particular thing okay great thank you um and then slide 30 you talked about so come back after this budget is over it would be a time to find out i would like to know more

[03:15:35] about when you whenever the information will be available and when others that didn't get funded such as the ECC building which they've been meeting for five years what sort of timetable is happening and whether that's one of the ones that you're working with people to bring them and the other one is that the bridge from east side of John Warner Parkway to McIntyre Park which has $600,000 of state funding that the board supported going after and Senator Dietz brought home to us. And one thing I recently learned, which I did not know before, is that

[03:16:13] because it is going to connect and have a parking area where the shared use path from Ryo Road, all the way down on the east side of John Warner Parkway, this would provide Irwin County residents, all the people who live around Ryo, the ability to use the shared use path and then cross over the bridge to get to all the facilities at McIntyre Park as well as the guard so it is as much as I would support it even if it were just for the veterans and their families many and most of whom are county residents and

[03:16:49] counties people I think it has a much bigger scope than I learned about before so I want to share that with everybody we talked about that and the 30 on slide 35 you talked about the the debt capacity but what I know you have in find that isn't written here is the staff capacity to carry out the project because what we learned in 2008 to our great sadness was that if we don't have one of the people in FES to be riding herd on whoever it is who's carrying out the project we get a repeat of the situation at the four-way

[03:17:27] in Crozet where the contractor who did not have a supervisor and did not have a completion date left a hole the size of this whole area right here eight feet deep in the middle of the four-way They stopped for six months and went away. So we cannot be going into that, and I just – it takes an awful lot of work for our staff to be able to carry out all of these projects and make sure that they're done right.

[03:17:49] And so I just – they didn't want us to forget about that side. And whether – should we be thinking about $10 million for the $72 million extra, because we might have to increase staff in order to carry out that extra amount of workload. So that's all I have right now.

[03:18:05] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. On slide 25, this is Jaromir Ellison at the library. Can you help remind me kind of how our relationship with the library's foundation and their private dollar raising would work in this project as we move forward?

[03:18:28] Yeah, so there's the Friends of the Library who have provided significant support to projects in the past. They'll discuss the Crozet Library at any time and how that was a project where they provided, believe over a million dollars towards that capital project. What the libraries have communicated is, as this is the CIP is inching forward, they have been kind of saving some of their resources through all of their efforts toward this project and I think now as we were moving to fiscal year 27 that'll be a process I would reach out to their director of as we head into CIP to it to really determine how this is to proceed and so that would be one thing

[03:19:05] that would those dollars would not flow through the county's books because the City as the fiscal agent would be the construction lead for the project, but that is the expectation that they would be bringing money to the table for that. As they have committed, they would do. I guess to drill down a little more, the way it's phrased here almost implies like there might be a kill switch associated with their money, as in like cannot raise X, then our funding stops until you raise X.

[03:19:34] I wonder, are there other escalators, de-escalators that we might incorporate into this? Because, I mean, thinking as someone who raises money equally from all the public in a kind of regressive way, right, that is how our services are funded, I would think, oh, if the Friends of the Library exceed their target, would there be a public cost de-escalator built in?

[03:19:57] Is that something that we do? Is that a level of granularity that this incorporates? Am I asking more granularity than this? I would say to this point, because it's been an out-year project, we have not arrived at that, but those are sort of the conversations, not that specific question, about really making sure that between the city and the county and the friends and GMRL, everyone's efforts are aligned accordingly to bring that project to fruition.

[03:20:20] And please don't read into this to indicate that I'm in any way opposed to this. We use most of the library's usage, right, by a little bit. I think it's like 60-40, something like that. So it's a great asset to our community. on slide 28 you need to see it remember what i was going to say oh yeah um this is maybe more granular than we can get into but i hear pocket park and i feel like people can use that to mean radically different things we could talk about like a single athletic field or like a basketball

[03:20:57] court or something but also like i mean i spent i've spent a lot of time in baltimore i've lived kind of in baltimore briefly and pocket parks are very ubiquitous in parts of that environment and they literally refer to like a single corner site that has no amenities.

[03:21:13] It's just trees and a path and a bench. And I look at $1.5 million, and frankly, my assumption might be that it's closer to the latter. So I guess as we sell this budget and as we talk amongst ourselves, can you help us kind of shape expectations around what we're budgeting for, what is reasonable to expect in terms of what that's going to look like?

[03:21:37] Could you just give a high-level overview as to... You know, we're still in the planning process. And we've looked at a number of particular locations. So the short of it, we don't have a design yet.

[03:21:55] We have a vision and some thought as to some of the recreational amenities that would fit in an urban park. And I agree. Pocket parks are a little deceiving because in design, a pocket park, I mean, an urban park is larger than a pocket park itself, mainly in terms of acreage.

[03:22:17] But where I'm going with this is we're not real sure. We've got some ideas in terms of potatoes, playgrounds, possibly a water feature, even the possibility of an off-leash dog area. So, again, these are just some of the thoughts that we have come up with.

[03:22:36] Our plan is to, once we have the locations identified, is to begin a public engagement. We'll work very closely with the local community advisory groups and to do exactly what I think Supervisor McKeon was saying to someone, my apologies, I don't remember, getting the community engaged with that design process.

[03:23:00] Thank you so much. And it does help me kind of answer, I think, the core question of like, what is the scale of things? Because even though I recognize you're so early in there, you listed several amenities. And frankly, those are all a little further than what I know some people might think that they hear Pocket Park.

[03:23:17] I hear Pocket Park. Sometimes I think, oh, it's got a gazebo, maybe? That's about it. But we're talking potentially a sports field. Playground. Playground is a better word. Thank you. I couldn't remember the word for it. Potentially a splash thing.

[03:23:33] that's great thank you i appreciate that thank you um on 30 um for our community partners so i just wanted i had two very brief questions on on the one that we did not fund and mainly this is going to go the question is very similar i i was surprised that the reason that we're not funding dogwood or the reason one of the reasons that's given is is that the city has not included a

[03:24:12] comparable i really hadn't thought they had but is that the case the city is not moving forward with anything on on dogwood they are not they do not have any funding in their cip for that project as of right now all right for some reason i i guess i misinterpreted something so thank you um the other thing is help me out with the salvation army where where is the city in participation in this project i know we've already have a i would say a total uh in contributions to this project we put in what like a hundred k already am i misremembering i would have to verify

[03:24:52] uh that with miss dimick um but with that project um in terms of the city participation in that as well from what I've been sent from the city they have some operational funding in their CIP and they're kind of their affordable housing dollars for that but they did not have specifically called out capital contributions in that budget and I can again go back and make sure I'm verifying because they have some larger you know lump sums in their housing stuff to make sure that that's not contained within one of those lump sums but based on the last check of

[03:25:29] their CIP that's where they were with that particular project um I also do just want to like plant a brief flag for a talking point here um and call again to kind of what I believe supervisor Galway several about a month ago highlighted which is setting aside the dollar the budget questions of kind of the elephant in the room the housing trust fund um setting aside that, I think we are not in lockstep about what the hell a housing trust fund does.

[03:26:02] And I highlight that here because the reason given that we didn't fund this is it would probably make more sense to do this from a housing trust fund. That is not what I think of as a core function of a housing trust fund, frankly. I think of our housing trust fund as being primarily designed for the construction of housing that is going to be leveraged on the private market for income-qualified units, for sale or for rent.

[03:26:26] This is not things that are for sale or for rent. It is attacking a part of the housing problem, but it's attacking it from a supportive and even not even supportive housing. It's an emergency shelter housing. It is at a radically different part of the housing ecosystem.

[03:26:43] It is not something I think of as something that you would do in a kind of funding leverage model that is designed for, like, enabling a private or a nonprofit market for this. It certainly could be, but I see that as, frankly, skinning the wrong cat with what I'm thinking of this money as being best suited for.

[03:27:04] But we as a board have not established those norms and practices. We have not, I think, collectively agreed to what they're for. If we have someone come with a proposal of, oh, I want to do a small boutique kind of vouchering program, specifically targeting like the elderly with disabled in this community and help them place into other communities for opportunity, right? That's not even, that doesn't even have a brick and mortar element, right? That's a direct individual subsidy. But they came to us with a request for that. They say, oh, I can, I can run for some private donations. Would we entertain

[03:27:40] that through our housing fund? I feel like currently, why not? Because we don't have an established standard for it. And so I think it's really important that we have a serious coming to Jesus about what this tool is for and what it does. I raised this very briefly about this time last year when the support works, then called Virginia Support Housing, but when the Premier Circle project came before, because I suggested then that the supportive housing component of that seemed inconsistent with what I would conceive of a housing trust fund

[03:28:18] accomplishment. That was a complicated project because it also has something that does kind of mirror what you would traditionally do with this. But again, kind of the inconsistency of how we conceptualize what this is for I think is an issue that we have to grapple with in addition to how much we're funding it because frankly it should inform how much we're funding us that's all I just want to ask Bob regarding the urban pocket park is there a minimum just out of curiosity is there a minimum acreage

[03:28:54] when we looking like half an acre or two or three acres I don't say yes what they are there's really don't set in stone acre to the pocket for you you basically take advantage what you pay down to excuse me as much as half three-quarters of an acre to more than that so there's a lot of opportunity for

[03:29:32] recreation but I have your question yes it does thank you very much and regarding that the CIP advanced strategic priorities reserved that could go really for anything that can go for transportation needs it could go and when I say that like well let me ask this first because I know in the pan tops project we're going to get it hopefully the red light camera or the word yeah

[03:30:07] red light if you run a red light you know that camera we have one it was used in hydraulic that we use excuse me it was used at Rio and 29 and it was taken out because we did the grade separation and if that's used again and for the Pentops project this is something that we could pay for additional monies or additional red light cameras and are we allowed to do that I'm asking two Questions, I guess on the first question anything one time such as that might be an eligible use of that reserve

[03:30:46] I am NOT up-to-date on the latest in the red light camera balls I know that the the next discussion with the police department was more in the western area around the speed camera But that's one that we would need to take this follow-up to get brushed up on the the legal changes on the red light cameras well just to add that the Western part of the county had to do with the high school was the Western

[03:31:10] And that is very specific legislation that's tied to high schools, but we'll need to follow up with the board because the legislation is very specific and we don't want to say anything regarding what we can and cannot do until we follow up and then we get that back. Is that looking at our county attorney? He's okay with that.

[03:31:28] In my memory, he's going to talk about red light camera and any of this stuff. No, but we were moving the one from Albemarle, not the one from Albemarle, but the school zone. The next school zone was going to be Western Albemarle. Okay, but that's for speeding. That's a photo speed camera. But we did have one red light camera at Rio and Hydraulic, and then that was removed when we did the grade separation.

[03:31:53] And my understanding is that that was going to be moved to the Pantops 250 and 20. And I'm just wondering, are we still, is that something we can still do? I don't know the legislation.

[03:32:10] Is that something still in effect? I don't know. But that's the first time I would have ever heard that suggestion. So whoever suggested that to you should probably come clean so that the whole board is up to speed. Because I don't recall ever any talk after the red light camera was removed over there that it was going to be moved to another part of the county.

[03:32:31] That was in discussions when they were talking about the Pantops Project, so you might not have heard that. Maybe it'll be in the update, I guess. Yeah, but she's right in that there was one at Mayo, because we took it out because we didn't, the intersection, and the idea was that we could take it out.

[03:32:52] Right. And if we can put it somewhere else, that would be beneficial or have others because of our ongoing traffic problems. That's a point I was getting at. Thank you. Anything else? That's all. Okay. Thank you. Just a couple points that maybe clarifying or not.

[03:33:10] I'm very interested in this process that we have on slide 30 about how we fund community projects. The Salvation Army project in particular is one that I need to understand not just what are concerns about housing and where it fits in housing, but also how well it fits within these criteria that we've established, and that hasn't really been – I mean, if it already established – it already fits strongly within all the criteria, that makes a difference to me as to how I think about this.

[03:33:47] And I certainly agree with Supervisor Pruitt that we're not on the same page with respect to a housing investment fund versus a housing trust fund and what it can be used for, but I think we all agree that there's a list of projects that we want to help get going for housing, and whether or not we can use the money for that is going to be an important part of how we get to those projects, and I hope we do get to them, even if we can't get to the full discussion as to what we're going to set aside and how we're going to market and in other words qualify its use um but then i also want to add that the central library

[03:34:24] project which was talked about is in my opinion not a non-profit even though it's supported by non-profits and therefore we may be looking to see how their friends can help with this and how far they get but this is not a non-profit there's a different relationship where it is a creation of the county and the city and others and the county owns half the building jointly i am interested a

[03:34:48] a little bit in the 57% of circulation is attributed to Alabama because I'm aware that more and more often I download my books and I don't know where they came from but I go to the library app and I download a book and I just anyway if the library provide that information at some point. That's an important statistic to have. Yeah and it changes everything. 45,000 changes. Physical facilities are very important as well but it also is important to understand how we're using libraries, which makes a lot of differences.

[03:35:26] Any other, yes? - I have one more slide to get it ready for Wednesday. I need to better answer the question last week around the advertisement deadlines that I did on the spot. And so this is really-- - I apologize for putting you on the spot.

[03:35:43] - It's okay. So just to clarify advertisement deadlines, when we build the budget calendar, it's built to comply with Virginia code requirements. And it's also done based on a tax collection due date deadline of June 25th. So while legally you can adopt things until really June 30th, for purposes of tax collection, you can't.

[03:36:04] We need to have some dates in place so we can set aside time for the billing process and everything that goes in, giving people adequate notice. So this year, we built a budget calendar. We allow, because we've been doing this long enough, we know better, to always allow for at least one unforeseeable disruption.

[03:36:20] That could be a weather event that would cancel immediately. That could be something as aware of the daily progress or anyone to make an error in the advertisement. That actually just happened with the city of Charlottesville. They've had to reschedule their hearings. About seven or eight years ago, that happened with the county. So we do allow for one error just because things do happen.

[03:36:38] So we cannot go past the May 7th adoption without impacting the tax billing process. That is a major deadline we would entertain. Another consideration is that six of the seven town halls are scheduled after the proposed budget because that gives a little bit of clarity in terms of when we have that next milestone when that's happening so in working with the clerk and all our legal deadlines we could if the board wanted to delay that action on the proposed budget rate to the 26th but that requires everything else to hit uh both within the county's control and beyond the county's control to maintain um on track from now to the main settlement so that's an option that is available but again this would

[03:37:17] just be the rationale and how we worked through that we have no meeting scheduled between the 19th on the 26th correct yeah march 26 is an if needed work session um which right now um if the board were to take action on the 19th and nothing else came up it would be up to the board whether to hold that or not and then there is a six meeting after the 26th if needed yeah but should something go wrong then we go into special meetings and other uh timelines we would need to work through on the spot which can be done but that's the rationale into uh preparing the calendar the way

[03:37:51] it is. Wednesday's meeting is a very important meeting. So my final final slide will just be here. We'll come back with this agenda to pick up the items we did not cover. We'll send out Q&A to give the board as much as we need. We'll walk through the technical adjustments, the consideration of additional funding and the housing fund and then turning it over to the board for action. Thank you.

[03:38:19] If there is anything further from the board, from the county executive, that is not listed on the agenda. Just part of clarification, were they looking to see how the board felt regarding for Wednesday's meeting, whether or not we're looking at changing the tax rate or sticking with the tax rate?

[03:38:47] No, my intent was just to let the board know that if they don't have to make a decision in the 19th, but there are reasons why it would be advantageous to on the 19th. What other things? I just have one note that I want, it's fresh on my mind, and I want to just make the point that at some point, maybe it's immediately after budget cycle, I think the board needs to come back and talk about whether or not we want to prioritize a manufactured home ordinance of some sort so that we don't end up in that same situation that we were in last time.

[03:39:25] Because I think manufactured homes could be a help in our wheelhouse of affordable housing and for lack of an ordinance, I guess, or whatever it was we really ended up so I'm just putting that on the table that I'd like to at least have that discussion somehow or another.

[03:39:42] Nothing further we can adjourn to March and I keep 20/25 looking at the main auditorium.

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