Walts asks schools to scrimp

Prince William County Superintendent Steven L. Walts is telling county schools to start saving their pennies.

At Wednesday’s School Board meeting, Walts announced that he would be asking schools and departments to save money where they can in the current school year, in anticipation of the difficult upcoming budget season.

“As one measure of preparing for a difficult budget next year, we are encouraging schools and departments to save funds within the current year,” Walts said at the meeting.

In past years, schools and departments have been allowed to carry one-tenth of one percent of their total budget over to the next year’s budget.

Walts said that amount would be increased this year to one percent.

“This will permit schools and departments, early on this year, to begin saving money,” he said.

Also during Wednesday’s meeting School Board members discussed what cuts they could make to their own budget to help save money for the next fiscal year.

Grant Lattin (Occoquan) proposed that the School Board members not attend anymore state or national conferences in the current school year, to help save money.

“Frankly, I would like to do what we just heard the superintendent suggest... and try to think of ways we can save money this year that will roll over into next year,” Lattin said.

Lattin said he no longer plans to attend the Virginia School Boards Association conference, scheduled for later this month in Williamsburg. He said he planned to skip the conference so that the school division would not have to pay for his mileage, hotel and other expenses.

“I would hope that we could chose as a board to do that with all of our travel for this year in light of the very challenging situation that we are encountering,” Lattin said.

Lattin said that according to numbers prepared by school officials, the School Board spent an estimated $44,000 attending conferences in the past year.

Board members were split on Lattin’s proposal.

Some said they wanted to still have the option to attend the conferences, which they said provide valuable opportunities to talk to members of other school boards and to learn about education topics.

“Every single thing I’ve ever attended has been absolutely worthwhile,” Julie Lucas (Neabsco) said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the education I have received and would like to have the opportunity to continue to attend these conferences.”

Lucas added that the $44,000 figure overestimates the amount of money board members spend going to conferences. It includes money school staff members spent on lodging, as well as airfare, for a high school chorus that attended the National School Boards Association conference last year, she said.

Board members Betty Covington (Dumfries) and Denita Ramirez (Woodbridge) said that they do not regularly submit mileage or expenses for attending conferences anyway. Board members can choose whether or not to submit those expenses for reimbursement, they said.

“I think the point here is not the amount of money, but how it looks to the workforce,” Donald Richardson (Gainesville) said. “They want to know that we’re taking all possible measure now to minimize the damage later in the budget.”

Lattin’s motion to refrain from sending School Board members to VSBA and NSBA conferences in the 2008-09 school year failed. Four members, Lattin, Richardson, Gil Trenum (Brentsville) and Milton Johns (Chairman at-large) voted in favor of the motion. Lucas, Covington, Ramirez and Michael Otaigbe (Coles) voted against it.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.