No Shame in the Arlington Superintendent’s FY 2007 Budget
The Superintendent presented his proposed budget to the Arlington School Board this evening. It’s not posted yet, but, when available, you can find it here. As usual, the budget provides a target-rich environment for cutting costs, and we will be identifying those in the next several weeks. In the mean time, though, several things are worth noting. The first is that expected enrollment for the 2006-2007 budget year will decrease by 148 students to 18,263 (page 67 of overview). Despite that decrease, total employment will decrease only 3.0 FTE (page 52 of overview). In addition, total salaries and benefits are budgeted to increase by 6.46% (page 52).
The most significant number, in our opinion, however, is that the cost per pupil is proposed to increase by 8.86%, assuming the School Board makes the Superintendent’s budget its own. Compare that 8.86% increase to the reality of most Arlington taxpayers. That increase is more than twice the latest inflation rate, at least according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation rate (i.e., 4.0%) for the Washington metropolitan area, which staff presented to the School Board during this evening’s budget worksession. As I left the Ed Center on North Quincy Street, a Great Arlingtonian noted how appropriate it is that the planetarium is in front of the Ed Center since the Schools’ FY2007 proposed budget is out of this world.
Arlington taxpayers are urged to contact the School Board office to obtain a copy of the Superintendent’s proposed FY2007 budget so they can review the numbers for themselves. They’re also urged to join ACTA to provide us a louder voice urging Arlington’s political elite to curb unsustainable spending.