Awhile back (April), I had asked for a presentation to the Finance committee on the particulars of the School Budget and the revenue sharing agreement. That presentation was made last Wednesday night (agenda is here). There were also several School Board members present. Here are the facts, short and sweet:
If we had no revenue sharing agreement, the Council could allocate whatever revenue they allocated to the schools by broad category. There are 8 categories (instruction, transporation, etc). The law doesn’t give the Council the authority to allocate on any sort of line-item basis. That’s in the state law, not city code. You can find the details in the Agenda.
Under the revenue sharing agreement, it doesn’t appear that the Council has the authority to allocate on any basis except a lump-sum payment.
The opinions of the longest serving members on both bodies are very interesting. Mr. Bushnell (former chair of the school board) observed that “when the agreement was struck, it was his opinion that the Council wanted to divorce itself from the details of the schools”. I think that’s about right but now that we’re having mixed rsults that’s changed. Mr. Randolph well remembers the food-fights before the agreement was struck.
I believe that the performance of the schools are the City’s biggest challenge. To that end, I, and the rest of the Council have asked the City Manager to schedule a meeting with the School Board to cover the performance of the system and some recent studies that have been printed – the ROI study and the Challenge index in particular but the State report card is also of interest. This meeting will be important and people should attend. I’ll post back when the meeting is scheduled.
Another moving piece here is the Education Forward committee (a piece of the original Manassas Next). The committee is scheduled to meet August 11th at 7:00, second floor conference room. The schools proposal, as I understand it, is to add 4 reading specialists to the schools. I’ll wait until I see all of it but it sounds a little less ambitious than I had hoped for…..
July 31, 2011 at 1:05 pm
on a line item budget…as I have said and written here in your blog before, one direction should be the Schools prepare a format same as the City Manager. And even though the State Code says “broad categories”, other School Districts are preparing them in more detailed level. Part of it is the visability of open government, part of it is sound management. And if you don’t think we can do it here, ask Dr. Werner about it – he came from a School District that prepared a detailed budget.
July 31, 2011 at 3:36 pm
If you’re talking about the Content Literacy Continuum coaches Dr. Meyer proposed to the school board at their May17 special meeting, they are more than just “reading specialists.” Content literacy is about listening-speaking-reading-writing skills AND strategies to organize and learn concepts. She said CLC coaches are demonstrating success at the city’s 5 elementaries and Mayfield & recommended expanding to Metz and Osbourn. Here’s a video I Googled after school board member Kermit Dance talked about CLC success at Patrick Henry HS http://vimeo.com/20852336.
As for transparency in govt, why not ask the PTOs or Ed Foundation to sponsor an open community forum with members of the Education Forward committee as the panel? If you didn’t publicize the Ed Forward meetings, I wouldn’t know about them — the community at large really needs to be part of the conversation. We just had a rousing coffee hour on the subject of public education at church this morning. The parish hall was packed. The agenda was simple: what is going right? What is wrong? What can we do to improve the schools? Granted, you’ll either get “25 mechanics all trying to tighten the same bolt on a car” or you’ll get some activated citizens willing to support our schools’ efforts with time and talent — but isn’t it worth the chance? Just pull your Aug. 11 meeting down to council chambers, promote it better as an open forum, and allow citizens to comment after the presentation.
July 31, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Another aspect on schools: The Council LUC got the October 2010 report from the Urban Land Institute. It was a technical assistance group with regards to the Mathis Avenue Corridor, looking at the 2006 approved sector plan and pros/cons. For those who are interested, it is attached to the LUC Agenda of July 28th beginning on page 28 and the link is:
http://www.manassascity.org/archives/53/Land%20Use%20Mtg_072811.pdf
I found it interesting on Page 14 of the report where it addresses “Allocate Proffers from Redevelopment to Enhance Weems Elementary”. Outside of the reference to “negative perceptions about the area’s public schools”, the point made on having the Weems School (since it serves the Mathis Corridor) a key to redevelopment is a great idea! CAVEAT: To others, please review the report so you do not take their suggestion about Weems out of context with my thanks!
August 1, 2011 at 4:37 am
I agree with Cindy. The joint meetings should be held in council chambers so that there will be room to accommodate a crowd.
You are very limited in the conference room.
August 1, 2011 at 7:36 am
A couple of things:
1. We can move the meeting if we have to. Maximum attendance thus far has been about 5.
2. I don’t believe we should have any sort of forum until there is a proposal that everyone agrees with. I suppose we could have a community forum but without a firm proposal to debate I can’t see how it’s anything other than a food fight.
3. I do stand by my earlier comment. If the only thing standing between us and a top-performing system is 4 employees (of any sort, doing anything) then I’m all for it.
August 1, 2011 at 8:41 am
Attendence is 5 because you are the only one publicizing the meetings, Andy.
August 1, 2011 at 8:49 am
Perhaps. I guess the only thing I really lament is that it seems that folks only turn out for “negative” or controversial (those might be the wrong words) things. Think back to KK’s. We had 150 members of the greater Manassas area as well as Del. Miller and Del. Marshall demanding the Council close the store. The biggest challenge to Manassas is not KK’s.
@Ray: you are right, the Council can request a very detailed budget – but we can’t allocate money at that level of detail.
August 1, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Andy, not asking for allocation, just details 🙂 My firm belief is if the active citizens can see more than just a line like “$61 Million for Instruction”, there can be a more even discussion, and possibly innovative ideas. The ole “the devil is the details” thing…LOL!
August 1, 2011 at 6:40 pm
You’re right and we are entitled to information at that level of detail if the Council, or any other citizen, asks for it. Those are public documents.
August 1, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Didn’t notice until today that there is a Montesorri (sp?) school at the old Marsteller school. There is also a sign there on Sudley that says a new school (“Good Shephard”) is opening.
August 1, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Looks like they may be Good Shepherd Academy (currently on Balls Ford Road?), a feeder school to Seton, and Renaissance Montessori, a Catholic Montessori school. Assuming so, they seem good additions to the community.
August 1, 2011 at 9:35 pm
Rich, you got the spelling right 🙂 for Montessori. Not suprised the folks at Manassas Baptist opened a full school – the Hearth & Home Adult Health Day Care they opened years ago is based on the Montessori model.
August 2, 2011 at 7:12 am
I talked to School Board member Pam Sebesky last night at the Weems Town Hall meeting. She explained the process of Education Forward so I understand better why you want to kick ideas back and forth before getting a huge open forum of citizen input. I’m sure she repeated what you’ve tried to explain to me – I just didn’t get it until now. Hope more citizens show up to observe the exchange among council and school board members on Aug. 11.
August 3, 2011 at 10:25 pm
an addtional note on the Renaissance Montessori School (the full name):
At the Planning Commission meeting tonight for the Sudley Road Sector Plan, Pastor Higgins of the Manassas Baptist Church addressed the various activites at the old school building. One of them was this school, with him noting it is a Roman Catholic school. His point being more happens in that old building than just Baptist Ministries. The Good Shepherd Academy is also Roman Catholic.
October 12, 2011 at 12:35 am
Andy,
Those documents you refer to are not free when asking fir specific information and are misleading at best. Did you know that a person with a teaching license doing admin work can be listed under instruction? What about a breakdown of the top level salaries and where they fall under? If the budget was transparent, council wouldn’t need to allocate. The numbers would speak fir themselves. By the way, what percentage of our children attends private schools or are home-schooled? We talk about about who’s moved in but what about who has moved out & where did they go? Schools have to know this type of
data. This information should be a coversation starter.