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Chesterfield schools seek public’s help dealing with budget woes

By Staff Reports

Published: January 12, 2009

Chesterfield County school officials have invited about 700 members of the community to hear a pitch for financial and volunteer help in light of looming budget cuts.

The county sent letters to people identified as "respected, influential leaders," according to the letter, though the meetings are open to anyone. The next is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Midlothian High School.

In the first meeting last Thursday, Tim Bullis, school communications director, told about 50 attendees to become advocates for the school system.

School officials are following up on recommendations from a communications audit last year by the National School Public Relations Association. The goal is to form a network of people who would meet quarterly with Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome to hear about what's going on in schools and provide feedback.

-- Juan Antonio Lizama

Reader Reactions

Posted by ( C'field Schools ) on January 13, 2009 at 10:30 pm

With all due respect, the expectations and mandates facing public education have dramatically changed since Thomas Dale High was located at the current Chester Middle site. Were the school division not to adapt, Chesterfield students would be left behind in the race to succeed in today’s global 21st century society and the vitality of our community would be at risk.
Again, sharing facts presented earlier: CCPS administrative costs account for just 2.4 percent of the total operating budget. In addition, some of those employees referenced within the $14 million discussed below are mandated by state law, state Standards of Quality or federal guidelines. We cannot choose to not fill those positions and must remain competitive in terms of compensation with surrounding localities to keep high-quality professionals.

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Posted by ( hjackson ) on January 13, 2009 at 9:18 pm

Henrico has 27 employees in their school system making over $100,000. Chesterfield has 42.

If the 14 million in salaries were eliminated from the administrative department which does nothing to educate our kids and redirect it to teachers in the classroom education of kids would be increased and tax increases of “pennies” would not be needed. The teachers who actually are doing 90 percent of the work would then benefit from their efforts not some administrator. If a bomb fell and wiped out the administration building after the smoke and dust cleared few would notice it was no longer there.

In today’s economic times a penny here and a penny there adds up.

Incompetence gets promoted from the classroom to an administrative job. That is as true with taxpayer funded jobs as in the private sector. The difference is in the private sector the company has to eat their cost but in taxpayer funded positions we take the hits.

The school system in Chesterfield is not the only department that needs a trimming. Police, Fire & EMS are two more that it’s everyones dream to get hired on to. Overstaffed, underworked because workloads do not require the number of staff so the work output just ratchets down to match the work needed to be performed.

I graduated from Thomas Dale (now Chester Middle) some years ago. We had a principal, assist principal, two secretaries, a nurse, two guidance counselors, one Liberian, cleaning staff and cafeteria staff. The administrative office was a cracker box with no more employees than one could count on their fingers. How did we ever receive an education without the bloated administrative staff? Of course one worker then did the equivalent work of about 5 now and they didn’t have computers either. Their pay was no where near the level of pay now even adjusted for inflation. We pay more for less is the bottom line. No new taxes are needed. What is needed is reduction in personnel and reduction in salaries for those that remain. No employee even the superintendent should make over $100,000 and few over $75,000. When salaries are brought in line then maybe we can talk taxes.

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Posted by ( Kayce ) on January 13, 2009 at 8:07 pm

HJackson,
Although you have a few good points in theory, it doesn’t carry over in practice. If you gut your top administrators, especially principals, you are left with little to no experience…it would be like firing your veteran teachers and hiring new teachers who cost less. Although that may work in a factory, it doesn’t translate in education where experience lends itself to better practices [usually]. And to claim that the administrators can’t make it in the private sector and/or can’t cut it as teachers is not true. Most administrators were in the classroom and were for the most part quite exceptional. As for raising taxes, I am talking pennies…not hundreds of dollars. Chesterfield spends less per pupil than our neighbors, and it is something that the county is proud of. Have you noticed that this “crisis” is not hitting the surrounding counties? Those counties have top administrators earning salaries that are similiar to those of CCPS admin, yet they are not experiencing such huge short fall. Chesterfield puts less in and expects more from the state…so when the state is screwed, we get a raw deal too.

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Posted by ( hjackson ) on January 13, 2009 at 11:18 am

The 14 million in salaries paid to top administrators do nothing for educating the kids. Get rid of the administrative excess and put that 14 million into teachers salaries then we won’t have larger classes.

Administrative workers are those who cannot make it in the private sector, can’t make it as teachers so they all gather at a high dollar administrative building to socialize.

There is no reason to raise taxes on citizens already taxed to death by Chesterfield. Get rid of the excess baggage instead. Chesterfield has plenty of that.

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Posted by ( Kayce ) on January 12, 2009 at 11:25 pm

We can complain about the salaries of the top administrators, but the real deal is that Chesterfield County does not want to put their money where their mouth is. For starters, Chesterfield has very little industry, that leaves property taxes, and the residents of the county have a stroke whenever a slight increase is ever mentioned. So you can’t compare Chesterfield with Henrico or Richmond or Hanover because Henrico & Hanover spend more and depend less on the state. We in Chesterfield don’t, therefore when the state’s purse strings get pulled tight, we get shut out. If you want to blame anyone, blame the county board of supervisors! We’ll see if we still stomp our feet about a few dollars added to our property taxes when 35-40 kids are stuffed into a class, and don’t think that it won’t happen! Chesterfield is on the road to getting left behind.

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Posted by ( hjackson ) on January 12, 2009 at 10:54 pm

What does all those stats have to do with the budget shortfall and the excessive salaries and waste in the school system?

The school system is an empire in itself feeding off hard working taxpayers. There is no one employed in the top 150 there that deserves or merits the salaries paid them.

The credit is the underpaid teachers in the classrooms that actually teach our kids enabling Chesterfield to rank high. The top 150 have no part in that. They just suck and pigout at the taxpayer trough. In short there are 150 employees in the system that have wormed their way into a lifetime golden goose. It’s time for citizens to clean out most of those offices and redirect those funds to the classroom teachers and teaching materials. I’m sure the displaced hogs will trim down and apply their superior knowledge and abilities in the public sector where performance still is trump.

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Posted by ( C'field Schools ) on January 12, 2009 at 10:29 pm

Did you know?
* CCPS’ per-pupil expenditures are the 15th lowest in the state, according to the most analysis of Virginia Department of Education data.
* Standard & Poor’s compared reading and math proficiency with money spent and determined that Chesterfield schools are extremely effective. The school division’s performance ranks third among 15 of Virginia’s largest localities.
* Administrative costs are 2.4% of
the total CCPS operating budget. That percentage is lower than the state average of approximately 4%.
* CCPS is the largest school division in Virginia to have all of its schools fully accredited.

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Posted by ( hjackson ) on January 12, 2009 at 9:40 pm

In the Chesterfield school system count them. 150 make more than $75,000 per year costing taxpayers a little more than 14 million for their salaries and some receive car allowances that total $75,000/year. That’s where our tax money is going. The shame is they will penalize our kids to maintain their jobs and pay. Something is very wrong with what is going on.

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Posted by ( blackbeered ) on January 12, 2009 at 9:38 pm

I’d like to clarify my original post ... teachers, police, and fire personnel should be EXCLUDED from the first round of austerity measures.

The bottom line is ... it’s a buyers’ market and it’s time for Chesterfield supervisors to force the Administrator to “reprice” the entire workforce to the prices prevailing in today’s marketplace.

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Posted by ( blackbeered ) on January 12, 2009 at 9:32 pm

What posters are missing in citing Chesterfield Observer figures, is that, in addition to the outlandish give-aways to non-performers, like the Dir of Econ Development [a job my son could do better for $60K a year], there’s another 30% in fringes ON TOP.

The Dir of Econ Dev, who was hired at a ridiculous salary three years ago ... has done nothing but has been given hefty raises. They should repost that job and, with all the hi-caliber people on the street, be able to fill that job with a performer at 60% the cost.

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