The school division presented it’s first draft of the 2012 – 2013 SY budget. The highlights:
(1) The rate we put aside funds for teacher and staff retirement has increased significantly, which will result in nearly $32 million in additional expense next year.
(2) Enrollment will increase more than 2700 students next year, which is projected to cost about $24.3 million more.
For those of your doing the math, that’s about $56 million more in expenses next year due to increased transfers to VRS and increasing enrollment. That $50 million additional expense will have the following effect on the 2012-2103 SY budget:
(a) No STEP or salary increases for teachers or staff.
(b) No canceled programs, but not expansions of existing programs either.
(c) No reductions in force.
(d) No increases in health insurance premiums or deductibles.
(e) No changes to CIP.
PWC Education Reform Blog 
February 2, 2012 at 9:47 pm
I am a teacher who can barely make ends meet. With increases everywhere, except for my paycheck, I am looking for extra work. This will take away from my time spent on my lessons, grading, communicating with parents, etc. The governor and superintendent say that the teachers need to sacrifice. We’ve sacrificed enough and we are not going to be patient anymore. When the teachers are struggling to make a living, the students will ultimately suffer.
February 3, 2012 at 4:01 pm
The interactive white boards we’re installing all over the county reportedly cost $10,000 each. I’d gladly do without the white boards if our teachers could get the $10,000 as a bonus.
February 4, 2012 at 2:16 pm
My school received about 8 class sets of IPads this year… again, not necessary.
February 4, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Good Grief! I know there are some SPED programs that use iPads because they’ve been demonstrated to help kids with autism and speech challenges, but unless the school is a SPED center, I can’t imagine that there would be 200 SPED kids at the school who would benefit from having an iPad. At $200 a pop, and that’s cheap for a iPad, that’s over $40,000.
February 5, 2012 at 8:53 pm
From what I can tell, the only PWCS backed program that uses IPads is the autism program, and I’m not sure of they’re standard in that program or part of a trial. There is no official program in PWCS for purchasing IPads for students to use. It could be that the program at your school was done by the PTA or with some sort of grant.
February 5, 2012 at 8:51 pm
Turns out the white boards only cost about $4,500 to install. I’m not sure about maintenance. That’s still a lot of money, but not as bad as $10,000 a pop. I think some schools have had fundraisers from their PTAs to pay for the white boards.