Following the adoption of the county budget by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, the Prince William school board will meet to revise and adopt their own budget.
The Prince William County School Board has an operating budget of around $1.3 billion.
According to school board Chairman Milt Johns, the budget will be revised and adopted at the May 6 and May 20 meetings.
Their initial budget draft was passed unanimously 8 to 0.
The school funds their budget each year using the 57.1% revenue sharing agreement in place with the county, along with any additional grant funding.
“[Our] budget included a step increase for all employees – which on average is a 2.85% increase. It also included another round of class size reductions,” Johns said.
Johns stated that because the board of supervisors passed the same rate that was advertised back in March., there will be very few changes needed in the school board’s budget draft.
One change that the school board will need to account for is the class size reduction program, introduced by Supervisors Candland and Lawson.
The program was tweaked during board of supervisors budget hearings to incorporate a $1 million matching component from the school board, which will now have to be accounted for in their revised budget, said Johns.
“We are setting up the $1 million dollar matching grant…as long as the supervisors [are] willing to [match funds] and realize that you have to continue to fund class size reduction – I think that’s a step in the right direction,” Johns said.
