M. Park schools face budget cuts

Manassas Park City Schools are paying a heavy toll for a decline in real estate assessments and a drop in school enrollment.

Manassas Park Superintendent Thomas DeBolt proposed his 2009 budget Monday night to the School Board and it was full of red ink. Thirty-six and a half positions — including 15 support staff —would be eliminated for the 2008-2009 school year. That’s nearly 9 1/2 percent of the district’s 383 employees.

This is on top of a host of mid-year 2008 budget adjustments that saw the freezing of 11 vacant positions in the school system, a significant reduction in after-school programs and a deferral of maintenance and repairs.

These adjustments and other measures helped offset the 2008 budget shortfall of $1.9 million.

That shortfall stemmed from a near 9 percent drop in assessments and a decline in enrollment, which resulted in a decrease in state funds.

“The city has a problem too, it’s not just the schools,” DeBolt said. “We did everything we could to close the gap.”

On March 25, the School Board will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget and then on March 31, will vote on it.

The school system balanced its 2008 budget by eliminating $400,000 in programs and positions and saving $470,000 from the 2007 budget. The school system also hopes to get an additional $545,000 through the 10-cent real estate tax proposed by the city council.

The current tax rate is $1.14 per $100 of assessed value. City finance director Gary Fields said the city will likely advertise a $1.27 tax rate as opposed to $1.24, though, to allow for some wiggle room.
To meet DeBolt’s 2009 budget of nearly $35.3 million, the schools will have to use more than $618,000 of its restricted fund balance, which is typically used as a rainy-day capital improvement fund for projects like building schools.

DeBolt said this was necessary or else the school system would’ve had to make even more significant personnel cuts in this year’s proposed budget.

DeBolt said that normal attrition might allow the city to retain as many as 12 or 13 of the 21.5 teaching positions. But the city will likely lose all but three of the 15 support staff slated to be axed.
While he didn’t criticize the council for its recommendation to raise the tax rate by only 10 cents, DeBolt said that the School Board did an effective job in relaying to the council just what that increase would do to the school system.

According to the superintendent’s budget, an 18-cent tax rate increase was necessary in order to maintain the status quo for the 2008-2009 school year.

“It’s not pretty, but that’s what the governing body asked us to do,” DeBolt said. “We told them this [tax rate] was going to involve a significant reduction in the workforce.”

DeBolt said that the mass exodus of Hispanic children — he estimated around 100 — was partly to blame for the decline in enrollment. DeBolt cited adjustable rate mortgages, a loss of construction jobs and the Prince William County resolution restricting services to illegal immigrants as reason for the enrollment plunge.

Overall, the school’s numbers are expected to drop from 2,516 students on Sept. 30, 2007, to 2,400 this Sept. 30.

However, with the Park Center project coming on line soon, which could add up to nearly 300 residential units, the school’s enrollment could be in good shape in a few years, said DeBolt. Until then, there is a strong possibility that class sizes will increase slightly and specialized services like English as a Second Language will be limited.

“The American economy is resilient, it will come back,” DeBolt said. “We want to remain a strong school system serving whatever students we have.”

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738 or at jhanley@potomacnews.com.