Just a heads up: the City manager will present his proposed budget at the next Council meeting on the 28th. The managers budget is the second big waypoint in the budgeting process with the 5-year forecast (passed last fall) being the first. The Council will then take that as a starting point and work forward from there. It’s an otherwise normal Council meeting so Larry will probably present his work some time after 6:00, just a guess though. Check the agenda when it comes out Friday.
The next big date after that is the 14th of March which is a Public Hearing on the budget. That’ll start at 7:30.
The only other budget news I’ve heard is that PWC looks to increase their average tax bill by about 4%. That’s not final but that’s what I saw in the MJM. The GA is in the home stretch and should be done shortly.
Last year I agonized over how much budget stuff to post. This year I’m not going to sweat it. I know it’s not terribly popular but I’ll post as much as I can stand. If you’re interested, please come out and make your opinion known on the 28th or the 14th. It would be cool to have more than 3 people in Council Chambers when the budget is presented.
March 1, 2011 at 11:18 am
Yeah, I was wrong on the date too. I recalled seeing a date and thought the data was older. Marc did ask for Dr. Pope to evaluate the data.
March 1, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Manassas
Are you kidding me? You’ve never heard the school board complain about not having enough money? And because just about every school board member was at the fourm I attended I think that should be good enough proof that they do whine about not having enough money. Exactly how much do you think the school system should receive? How low should the graduation rate go before we have new leadership?
March 1, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Ray,
I’m sure Dr. Pope would never stoop so low as to intentionally misstate a fact just to throw off a public forum of her employers, the public and their reps, from focusing on a school system that is failing its students and community.
I’m sure she just misread the report. Maybe the school board should renegotiate her contract so she get some special training on how to read your own poor report card, maintain your self-esteem and then go off into the job market and see where it gets you. She might then be just the perfect speaker for the OHS graduation ceremony.
March 1, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Manassas,
Just to follow up. Do you feel the school system should have an agreement with the City Council to receive a certain percentage of the general funds each year? Not even the Police department is under any expectation of receiving a certain amount of money each year.
The school system is falling apart before our eyes. 90 million dollars is a lot to spend on 7,000 students. It’s time the schools did without so much money, given how other departments are suffering and would spend the money much more wisely and to a greater benefit to the City.
March 1, 2011 at 11:39 pm
No I don’t feel the pre-set percentage is the correct way to allocate funds, but that has nothing to do with you lying about the superintendent or members of the board of education. Who whined for more money? When? My mother was at the candidate’s forum and said no one asked for more money, they expressed what needed to be done with less. And I think only 3 of the current board were at that forum.
The school system is NOT falling apart; many students are doing great things. I went to Carnegie Melon and am now employed by the FBI here in WV. Many of my classmates went to some of the best schools in the country. Even now kids are going to UVA, VPI, William and Mary, the military academies and the Ivy league . The city population IS falling apart. The council has allowed the population to become increasingly poor and that is the cause of the lower scores and the drop outs to rise so quickly. 10 years ago when I was in school the scores were great, what happened? The population changed for the worse and that has nothing to do with the schools. The area changed and lowered the scores.
You just hate the schools no matter what. You want them to fail so you can get a voucher to send your kid to private school. You play with your toy guns wishing we were back in the Civil War so maybe your side could win this time and we could get rid of all the people who are not lily white like you. So keep flying your confederate flag of hate and head off to church. Probably All Saints Catholic Church, you know the one that caters to the illegals you hate so much. Go get yourself some help.
March 2, 2011 at 7:52 am
Manassas,
I’m not lying about the school board members wanting more money.
I’ll agree that some of the issue is with students, but the buck stops with the Administration. They are charged with running a successful school system and they are failing. They make excuses for poorly run programs, etc. The pool are good students are getting smaller and and smaller every year, because the administration is placing the focus elsewhere, mostly on esl students. That’s not how to run a school system.
As for your last paragraph, it’s clear you are the one that needs help. Toy guns? Nope, I have real guns and yes, I do go shooting from time to time. It’s a fun sport. I do not go to All Saints. We already use private schools. But, keep assuming, It’s fun to see how off the wall you are.
March 2, 2011 at 8:54 am
If you aren’t lying about the board of education ‘whining’ about more money than document when you heard it. I don’t think you can!
Focus on esl students? Really? If you would do some research rather than just bitch you would find out that the schools have the lowest amount of esl teachers allowed by state law. The law is like 60 students to one esl teacher. Sounds like no room to legally cut esl. Great students are coming out of Osbourn every year, but talking to you will do no good. You have too much hate in your heart.
Sorry about the toy gun thing. I thought for sure you were one of those confederate re-enactors dreaming of the happy days of dark people in chains. My bad.
March 2, 2011 at 9:01 am
I thought there was a slight increase in the requested school budget for the coming year?
March 2, 2011 at 9:19 am
WV Manassas Man,
10 years is a good benchmark, we moved into Manassas 11 years ago, and my scouting of the school system was one of the arguments I used to convince my wife, who preferred another location, to move to Manassas. Almost all the quality of life points I made for moving to Manassas collapsed within 4 to 5 years after moving here.
Don’t be so quick to lay the blame JUST on All Saints or the Catholic Church, would you lilke to discuss the FBI’s role in the collapse of our immigration system or the role of the institutions of higher learning that you cite? The ‘blame’ can be spread around our community, and the nation, with very little effort.
A word of advice, lose the hate rant at COM.
March 2, 2011 at 9:41 am
Manassas,
You do realize it costs more to educate an ESL student then it does a non els student. I guess you would just assume the school board and Pope are doing their job to the best of their ability, are not wasting money, and continue to give them blank checks. However, for those of us that are still tax payers in the City, we are not just going to sit back and assume all is well.
I’ve told you I was at the school form where there was plenty of complaining about the lack of funds. If you won’t to not accept that fine, but don’t keep saying I’m lying about it.
Again, I said there are still good students, but the pool is getting smaller every year. But, I suppose it’s easier for you to just keep railing on incorrectly about what I’ve said.
Test scores across the board are down. How many teachers have been caught up in criminal activity?
The next time I’m hanging out with the 17th VA, I’ll be sure to ask the black girl who is a member, if she too would like to go back to a time where we had slavery.
If you want to keep making a fool of yourself, fine, but you might want to stop while you are still ahead.
Dark people? Really? Wow, just wow.
March 2, 2011 at 9:42 am
Doug,
Don’t worry about me. I’m having plenty of fun.