Henrico Schools’ proposed budget would fund staff positions added by pandemic relief grant for another 2 years

Henrico Schools officials presented an $852 million recommended budget for Fiscal Year 2025, an increase of $34.3 million or 4.2% from the current fiscal year’s budget, to the Henrico School Board Jan. 25.

The proposed budget would fund the 62 staff positions added through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), a federal grant for COVID relief, during the next two years by tapping into $10 million of savings. All positions would switch onto the HCPS payroll once the ESSER III grant expires in Sept. 2024.

The budget would allow HCPS to permanently add 31 school counselors, two social workers, 13 library assistants, and a total of 51 reading specialists, one for each elementary school, to the general fund. These counselor, social worker and library assistant positions – and a number of the reading specialist positions – were previously funded by the one-time ESSER grant.

“This is the year we hit that financial ledge with ESSER that we were very careful to save for and plan for, because we did decide to spend some of those funds on very important recurring costs as opposed to one-time costs,” school board vice-chair and Tuckahoe District representative Marcie Shea said. “The amount of foresight that had to go in that over the last three years is significant.”

Henrico Schools also would be able to make permanent the 75 school security officers, 12 maintenance assistants, 20 English language learner teachers, and 10 attendance officers added this past school year. In 2023, the school division added more SSO positions to operate the new weapons scanners placed at middle and high schools – which also will be placed at elementary schools later this year – and the new attendance officer position to address chronic absenteeism through ALL In VA funding.

The budget also would fund several new positions, including eight teachers and two custodians for the new expanded Advanced Career Education Centers and four staff positions at the new Center for Innovation at John Rolfe Middle.

Last year’s $817.8 million adopted budget for FY 2024 included an 8.2% pay raise for HCPS employees and added more instructional assistant and family engagement positions. While the FY2025 proposed budget does not yet include funding for employee pay raises, those increases will be considered later in the budget process, which school board members emphasized as a big priority.

“I would like for us to continue together to consider financial and non-financial gives that would decrease the workload and burnout for our employees so that they continue to feel heard, valued, and appreciated,” Brookland District representative Kristi Kinsella said.

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This year’s budget would increase HCPS’ general fund by 4.2%, increase debt service for capital project debt by 12.9%, and increase the school nutrition fund by 18.5%. Due to ESSER funds expiring, HCPS will lose about 4.8% in state and federal grant funds this year, and will have to shift more than $5 million in personnel costs from grant funding over to the general fund.

While the budget would increase the division’s general fund by about $27 million through local and state aid, the breakdown of what this fund is spent on will largely remain the same as last year: 75% will be spent on instructional costs, 8% on operation and maintenance, 6% on transportation, 5% on technology, and 5.5% on administration, attendance and health.

But general fund revenue also depends on the state’s final education budget, HCPS Chief Financial Officer John Wack said.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s current budget proposal, which is now being considered by the General Assembly, is somewhat of a mixed bag for Henrico Schools, according to Wack; it would provide an additional $33.9 million in general fund revenue for HCPS and place an additional 33 staff positions under the Standards of Quality for “cost-sharing purposes,” but would not provide any state funding for pay raises or any additional funding to implement recommendations from the July 2023 JLARC report on school underfunding.

“There remains some uncertainty regarding state aid next year,” Wack said. “We are hopeful that the General Assembly will be able to incorporate more statewide revenues as they consider amendments during the upcoming months to provide more state aid for education.”

If HCPS were able to secure more general fund revenue, Wack said that more funding could be added to the budget to include additional staff positions at the Academy at Virginia Randolph, cover increases in electricity costs, add more pre-kindergarten and gifted resource teachers, and establish more maintenance and facilities positions.

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For Kinsella, two big wins with this year’s proposed budget was establishing a replacement cycle fund for high school band uniforms – which many students and parents had advocated for – and continuing to cover the cost increases for employee health benefits. For calendar year 2024, HCPS will pay between 70% and 94.8% of employee healthcare costs depending upon the plan.

“For all the folks who don’t really understand that line item each year, and there are quite a few that ask me or just make off-the-cuff comments about, ‘Oh, well you covered healthcare increases, big deal’ – it is a very big deal,” Kinsella said. “That’s a huge cost in our budget, and it’s worth it for our employees.”

But Kinsella and other school board members raised concerns about transportation costs. Board chair and Varina representative Alicia Atkins said she wanted funding for more vehicles to ensure that all students had access to afterschool programs and Kinsella emphasized that the division still has bus driver vacancies to fill to eliminate scheduled late buses.

“Whether it’s filling the spots or finding efficiencies in the routes – especially for secondary students in the Brookland District – if we can’t fill the vacancies, I’d like for the team to consider staggered school start times,” Kinsella said. “Because I just know students in my district can’t continue to have scheduled late arrivals everyday.”

Another initiative that could be considered would be adding a career and transition coach position, Kinsella said, which was suggested by high schoolers from the board’s student advisory committee and at the ACE Centers.

Board members also emphasized the need for conversations on reducing class sizes.

“I know that was a priority for the prior board even four years ago and we hit some roadblocks with COVID and all sorts of other things since that time,” Shea said. “But I would like to really revisit that.”

Henrico Schools families and community members will have a chance to give input on the proposed budget during a school board public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 8. The school board is scheduled to approve the budget with any amendments on Feb. 22 and then adopt the finalized version of the budget on April 18 after it is approved by the Board of Supervisors.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.