Six Pools in Three Schools * UPDATED

Several months ago I addressed the PWC School Board about their plans to build a pool in the 12th high school.  I asked how the annual cost of the pool could be justified when our classes are jammed to the gills, our schools are overcrowded, and our teachers are underpaid.  Over the past several months I’ve acknowledged that there is a need for addition year round indoor pool facilities in our county – that the facilities at Chinn, Dale City, and The Freedom Center are simply inadequate for a community of our size.  As I’ve explained multiple times to anyone willing to listen, I’m not opposed to a pool in the school, just to having the school division manage and pay for it.  To me, pools, and the programs in them like Mom and Me swimming classes or aquatic aerobics, are the responsibility of the Park Authority and not the school division.

I’ve changed my mind.

I don’t think the school division should build pools in the 12th, 13th, and 14th high schools, no mater who manages them or pays for them.

Is PWCS Inflating Construction Costs?

Loudoun County awarded a bid to build their next high school for $64 million. Stafford County awarded a bid to build their next high school for $59 million.  PWCS projects that it will  cost $100 million, excluding the pool, to build their next high school.  The schools will house approximately the same number of students and the bids were awarded or will be awarded within 5 months of one another.

Why is PWCS projecting nearly $40 million more for a high school than Loudoun and Stafford’s actual cost?

Are We Being Ripped Off?

As of July 1, 2012, PWCS had almost $760 million in bonds outstanding.  To date I have never seen anything that accounts for what those bonds are used for.  I’ve been trying to track the bonds PWCS has “issued” in the past two years, and I can’t find about $20 million.  I have no clue what the bond money was used for, and on one I’ve asked does either.

I hope you find that as shocking as I do.

$1.2 million for Conferences and Travel

Over the past year we’ve all been treated to stories about federal employees having a grand time at taxpayer expense at conferences in Las Vegas and other locations.  Because of the controversial nature of these events, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at conferences and travel in PWCS.

In the original FY 2014 budget PWCS projected that it would spend over $1.2 million on conferences and travel, with more than half of that coming from our elementary, middle, and high schools.

Budget Update #3 – Final (?) Budget

Last night, March 20,2013, Superintendent Walts provided his adjusted budget to the school board.  The school board approved his proposed budget with the adjustments.

Adjustments to the Superintendent’s original budget were necessary because state and county funding was roughly $5.6 million less than expected.  Further adjustments may be necessary if the county changes the revenue sharing agreements with the school division or changes the proposed property tax rate.

Including adjustments, the FY 2014 Operating Fund budget is 9.6% greater than the FY 2012 budget and 2.5% greater than FY 2013 budget.  Central office budgets are 22% greater than they were in FY 2012 and are unchanged from the FY 2013 budget.  Budgets for schools and school based programs are 7.2% greater than they were in FY 2012 and 3.2% greater than the FY 2013 budget.

The $5.6 million in reductions from the previous budget were provided primarily through a .5% decrease in funding for schools and a 1% decrease in central office budgets.  As Chairman Johns noted, the decrease isn’t a decrease from the previous year’s spending but less of an increase.

The reductions, which total $5.6 million,  include the following:

• Postpone Technology Improvement Program – 500,000
• Cancel expanding specialty programs – 100,000
• Reduce allocation to Governor’s School – 50,543
• Reduce budget for utilities – 484,481
• Reduce allocations to Elementary Schools – 1,429,707
• Reduce allocation to Middle Schools – 636,201
• Reduce allocation to High Schools – 807,832
• Reduce allocation to Traditional Schools – 44,220
• Reduce allocations to Other Schools – 69,957
• Reduce School Based Programs – 20,178
• Reduce Central Offices – 1,451,301

This spreadsheet, 2014 budget approved, contains the approved FY 2014 Budget for PWCS for each school, office, and program.

FY 2014 PWCS Budget Update #2

On March 13, 2013 the Superintendent provided a update on how much PWCS expects to receive next school year.  The school division expects to receive about $5.6 million less than they’d originally budgeted due to the change in the tax rate approved by the PWC BOCS and a reduction in funds received from the state.  The numbers are below:

Projected Receipts	893,566,333
State Reduction in Cost of Competing funds	(5,236,964)
Funds provided for 2% salary increase	893,893
Other changes	45,256
PWC Reduction due to tax rate change	(1,295,602)
Adjusted Projected Receipts	887,972,916

* Possible reduction in federal programs in FY 2014 due to sequester could be $2.6 million. This is an 8% reduction in monies received for federally funded programs. Per the Superintendent, it would be impossible for the school division to implement an 8% reduction in those programs without cutting staff.

The Superintendent said that he would provide the school board and public with an updated budget before the markup session. He said that budget would reflect the $5.6 million reduction in projected receipts for FY 2014 and that he would not be cutting teacher compensation to find that $5.6 million.

Say Bye Bye to the 13th High School

Be forewarned.  Word on the street is that the 13th high school might not happen.  Not because of political pressure due to the controversy over the grandiose scale of the 12th high school and its pool, but because the county can’t afford to take on any more debt.

Promises are Meant to be Broken

There’s one things politicians like to do.  They like to make promises they can’t keep.  Politicians are also really bad at telling people the whole truth.  Below are a few of the whoppers I’ve heard from about the pool from people who are far too smart to be saying such stupid things.

How Much Does it Cost to Build a High School?

PWCS is looking at incurring $505 million in debt in the next 5 years for new school construction and renovations and expansions of existing schools. That’s a lot of money, money which will have to be paid back by taxpayers as debt service over the next 20 years.

Debt service money, which is the interest and principal on the bonds we issue to pay for school construction, comes from the school division’s annual allocation of tax receipts from PWC.  PWCS currently spends over $1 billion annually to operate our public schools and pay our school related debt service.  If debt service costs go up we have to either reduce the amount allocated to operating the schools or ask the BOCS for more money (aka raise taxes).

Because those bonds will have to be paid back, with interest, how much our school division pays to build, renovate, or expand schools is something we should all pay attention to.

Our current model is to build high schools that house 2,053 students in grades 9 -12.  The last three high schools PWCS built were Patriot, Battlefield, and Freedom High Schools.  Each was built to house 2,053 students.

Battlefield High School opened in the Fall of 2004 and cost $36 million to build.

Freedom High School opened in the Fall of 2004 cost $40 million to build.

Patriot High School opened in the Fall of 2011 and cost $70 million to build.

When I’ve asked about these increases, which seem a bit high to me, I’ve been told that the state has changed the requirements for new school construction and that construction costs, after decreasing in the crash, have begun to increase again.    Freedom was built in a wetland, so it’s site development costs were higher and Patriot was built in the rural crescent so the school division had to bring water and sewer to the site.  Clearly some of the difference in cost is due to changes in state requirements, issues with the sites, and changes in construction costs.  I don’t doubt that at all.

It’s what I haven’t been told that concerns me.

Battlefield and Freedom were build from the same design.  Patriot used a new design.  How much of the increase between Freedom / Battlefield and Patriot was due to the design change and how much was due to site issues or increases in construction costs? I have no idea.  All I’ve been told is that we want our students in schools that have the latest in technology and reflect what we’ve learned about the best environment for learning.

Loudoun County has used the same design for new high schools since 1999.  It’s been adapted for each site and revised as needed when state requirements for new school construction have changed, but it’s the same basic design.  Loudoun awarded the bid to build their next high school, HS-6, a couple of weeks ago.  The school will house 1800 students, will open in the Fall of 2014, and will share a site with Rose Lee Carter Elementary School.  The bid to build the school was $63,520,051.

That’s 18 months to build a high school for 1800 students at a cost of $64 million in Loudoun.

In Prince William we build schools for 2053 students – 253 more than this school in Loudoun.  Ignoring site issues, if we used Loudoun’s design to house 2,053 students, we’d be looking at construction costs of $73 million; $78 million if you assume 4% inflation per year with a Fall of 2016 opening date.

PWCS’s 12th high school will open in the Fall of 2016 and is projected to cost $111 million to build.

Apparently, in Prince William County, it costs $33 million more to build a high school than it does in Loudoun County.

PWCS Budget Working Session Feb 20, 2013

PWCS held its first meeting to discuss the Superintendent’s proposed budget for the FY 2013 – 2014 school year.  The meeting began with a presentation from Dave Cline about what revenues the school division can expect to receive next year.  His starting point was the Superintendent’s original proposed budget, which assumed a 4% local increase in property taxes and an increase in state allocations to PWCS.  As neither of those scenarios is going to happen, the school division’s revenue and expenditures projections will have to be revised.

Here’s is Mr. Cline’s chart:

	Senate	House
Budgeted Revenue	893,566,333	893,566,333
State Changes	(2,576,089)	(5,985,042)
County Changes	(1,295,602)	(1,295,602)
Total	889,694,642	886,285,689

Perhaps it’s just how government’s  prepare budgets, but the money the school division receives will increase between $23.714 million and $20.305 million next year.  That increase will be between $3.871 and $7.281 less than the school division had expected, but it will still be an increase.

After presenting this information, the school division lead the group in a discussion of the detailed expense budgets for some of the division’s programs and / or departments.  Each budget was presented by the department’s Director or Supervisor, who explained what the department did and answered questions about the department’s budget.  Attached is a the file containing the questions prepared by the Gainesville and Brentsville District Budget committee and the responses to those questions that I noted (budget committee questions-update 1).

Mark-up of the budgets will occur at a later meeting.