Growls

Yesterday evening, the Arlington School Board formally adopted its own budget for FY 2009 (item F-1 from yesterday’s agenda). While some politicians on Capitol Hill whine about oil company profits and the need to tax excess profits, the approved School Board budget was enriched by Arlington County’s own form of excess profits (aka the Revenue Sharing Agreement, which we growled about on April 29).

The budget proposed by the Superintendent called for a “county transfer” of $348.7 million. However, thanks to the Revenue Sharing Agreement, the School Board’s budget received a “windfall” of $4.1 million. The approved transfer is now $352.8 million,which results from $1.3 million in “additional local revenue from the prior year” and $2.8 million from re-estimated FY 2009 revenue. Some of the “windfall” will offset reduced revenue from the state, including $0.5 million less in state sales tax.

How will the School Board budget grow. Among a number of items, the operating fund grows by 5.3% from the FY 2008 appropriated budget. Staffing will increase by 39.9 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions over the Superintendent’s budget. A third item worth noting in the staff report for agenda item F-1 is the almost 21% increase in debt service resulting from the School Board’s “aggressive” capital spending, increasing from $27.7 million to $33.4 million.

Unfortunately, the School Board cannot see, or chooses to ignore, the annual windfalls from its Revenue Sharing Agreement with the Arlington County Board. Instead, the two boards blather on about an increased ability to plan school spending from the present scheme.