Governor McDonnell’s Proposed Biennial Budget

Four areas that impact our funding:

•Retirement Funding•Re-Benchmarking•Federal Deduction •Remedial Summer School

Governor McDonnell’s proposal increases funding by 45 percent or $1.7 million dollars for Suffolk.

Increased Costs for Retirement = $3.9 million.

The locality must find $2.1 million additional dollars to pay to the state retirement on behalf of the employees.

Retirement System

This is a process used by the state to calculate the cost of providing public education.

Each new biennium the state takes the Annual Financial Reports for all schools systems and derives the cost for all positions and materials calling them “prevailing costs.”

Re-Benchmarking

7 Key components of the funding formula are:

1. Student enrollment2. Staffing standards for instructional positions3. Salaries of instructional positions4. Fringe benefit rates5. Inflation factors6. Federal revenues are deducted from support

costs7. Amount of sales tax revenue and division composite indices

Re-Benchmarking

Governor McDonnell’s proposal removes inflation from the formula. Even though the Consumer Price Index has shown that prices have risen 4% in the last four years.

Impact: The state is funding goods and materials at the price that we could purchase items for in 2009, not 2013.

Re-Benchmarking -Inflation

Governor McDonnell’s proposal includes in its DEDUCTION from our funding, 59.2% of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and State Fiscal Stabilization fund program.

Impact: The state is reducing their obligation to fund education by federal money that is NOT available to Suffolk Public Schools.

Federal Deduction

Governor McDonnell’s Proposal includes moving remedial summer school from Lottery Funds(not guaranteed) back to SOQ funding (guaranteed). This is where it belongs. However, he reduced the funding by 32%.

Impact: Remedial Summer School funds were decreased by $156,817.

Remedial Summer School

Reduction of $383,634 in SOQ Special Education funding because the Dec. 1st count is lower.

Elimination of $1 million in Supplemental Operating costs that the General Assembly legislated for FY2012.

Composite Index change – $1.5 million

Other Items