School Board Approves $700 Million FY 2022 Budget

Budget includes 2% COLA and Mid-Year STEP Increase for Staff
School Board Receives FY22-24 Capital Improvement Plan

The School Board approved the FY 2022 Budget totaling $700,933,893 at its May 6 meeting. The FY22 Budget includes an on-going County Transfer of $527,096,321, a one-time County Transfer of $2,817,940, a Beginning Balance or Carry Forward of $3,500,000, and funding from Reserves of $19,560,386.

The FY22 budget includes the following:

• Implements revised enrollment projections provided by staff that reduces enrollment by 525 students resulting in a savings of $3,447,739 and 36.90 FTEs. Savings of $500,000 are added to the staffing contingency, which results in $2,947,739 being added to reserves.
• Adds $4,953,748 to implement Compensation Option 4 instead of Compensation Option 1 and funds it by increasing the amount used from reserves by $4,953,748. Option 4 includes a 2% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) at the start of the year and a STEP increase midway through the year. It also includes an additional STEP at the top of the pay scale midway through the year for certain salary scales.
• Includes a class size increase of one student in grades K-5. With the resulting revised enrollment projections, the class size increase results in a savings of $755,215 and 10 FTEs at the Kindergarten level and a savings of $1,031,260 and 10.8 FTE in grades 1-5.

The School Board approved additional amendments to restore $85,000 for copiers and added $8,538 to implement a $10 per visual arts student planning factor at the middle school level. Both additions are funded from reserves.

The full presentation is available on BoardDocs and more details about the FY22 Budget process is available online.

Capital Improvement Plan
Staff presented the Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2022-24 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) at last night’s meeting. Due to the uncertain economic climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this will be a three-year CIP with plans to return to a ten-year planning process next year. This aligns with the County’s plan to submit a medium-term proposed FY 2022-24 CIP that will have a limited list of investments, including near-term needs for APS.

Following the School Board’s direction in January 2021, staff presented the following proposals:

• The new Arlington Career Center Project, which includes the Arlington Tech Program, to increase secondary seats and expand building capacity at the current Career Center site.
• Kitchen facility upgrades at eight schools to provide additional storage and the ability to efficiently prepare meals on-site.
• Main entry vestibule enhancements at 10 schools to ensure schools meet current safety and security standards.
• Air quality and HVAC improvements to increase ventilation to meet existing building code requirements and to achieve MERV-13 air quality filtration.
• A project to address the accessibility and parking needs at the Heights Building.
• Replacement of the turf fields at four schools.
• Major infrastructure projects that include HVAC, electrical, roofing, and window replacements.

The first School Board Work Session on the Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2022-24 CIP will be on Tuesday, May 11, at 6 p.m.  View the presentation from last night’s meeting or watch the video. For additional information on the CIP process, visit the Engage website.

Monitoring Items
The Superintendent presented his School Year 2020-21 Update. The report highlighted health metrics, information on pop-up vaccine clinics for students ages 16 and up and safety measures and planning for next year.

The Superintendent presented results of the Student and Family Selection Process that concluded on May 3. Nearly 95% elected in-person learning and 5% selecting the distance learning program. Seventy-seven percent, or nearly 20,000 students/families, actively participated in the process and selected in-person. The 95% also includes the 17 percent of families who did not respond and therefore default to hybrid.

Schools have done extensive outreach to connect with those families who did not respond both during the window and since, to ensure that all families are aware and had the support needed to reply.The full Selection Process report is online.

Watch the Superintendent’s presentation or read it online.

English/Language Arts and Literacy Update – Staff provided an update to the School Board that included highlights, data that provides insight, lessons learned and bright spots. The presentation is available online.

Appointment
The School Board appointed Wakefield High School Chemistry Teacher Verlese Gaither as the Administrator at the APS Distance Learning Program. A transition plan is being developed to allow Gaither’s students to finish their course of study while also allowing her to start working on the organization of the program.

Information Items
The School Board discussed the following:

• Revisions to School Board Policies I-1.35 Resources, I-7.2.5.31 Support, Resources and Extended Time and I-9.1 Selection of textbooks and Other Instructional Materials – Additional information can be found online.
• Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Legislative Position – The School Board is urging the VSBA to push for standards to prevent bullying, discrimination, racism, and all forms of violence during interscholastic activities.

RecognitionsThe School Board honored its 2021 Honored Citizens.

For More Information
Citizens who want to comment on any items discussed at the School Board meeting should email the Board at school.board@apsva.us or call 703-228-6015. Citizens may call 703-228-2400 on the Monday after the School Board meetings to listen to a meeting summary.

For more information on how to participate in School Board meetings in person, visit our website.

School Board meetings are also broadcast live on Comcast Cable Channel 70 and Verizon FiOS Channel 41; live-streamed on the APS website, and re-broadcast on Fridays at 9 p.m. and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. immediately following the meeting. All materials and minutes will be posted to the website at aps2016.apsva.us/schoolboard upon School Board approval at a subsequent meeting.