March 10, 2010

Albemarle County School Board Chair Ron Price asked the Board of Supervisors Wednesday if they want good, better or the best schools possible. School Board officials say they are staring down the barrel of a crisis, and are pushing for a tax increase to fund Albemarle County schools.

"I think we're starting to realize that if we want the best, it's going to be costly," said Price.

Leaders are getting a better idea of how much money the state will be giving schools for the 2010-2011 school year. The worst case scenario? A $9 million cut. However, supervisors say cuts could be less, as the General Assembly is still hammering out a final budget.

"They could be restoring as much as $12 million depending on how things go with the state. We are in a very fluid state with the school budget and with our own budget," said Albemarle County Supervisor, Dennis Rooker.

School leaders are ever wary because they say funding proposals are only short-term. What the school board wants to see is a long-term fix, similar to the repaving being done on the Belmont Bridge. Price compared the budget deficits to a giant pothole that, so far, the state has shoddily patched up.

"We can either patch the pothole or do what we need to do to resurface and repave. I think it's important to at least look at the possibility of tax increases," said Price.

Some officials agree that raising the real estate tax would be ideal. However, many county supervisors, including Duane Snow, are not convinced that it's necessary.

"It's a moving target. We don't know what they need at this point, but I think, at the end of the day, the bottom line is that we will fund tier one budgets. We will definitely not go into tier two or tier three," said Supervisor Snow.

Supervisors Wednesday were hesitant to say how much funding they will be able to give, as they are still waiting on the final numbers from the state. Although, we do know that the Albemarle County School Board will have a $145 million budget for 2011.