My name is Brian Wheeler.  I am the parent of two children at Murray Elementary.  Yesterday, I announced I am a candidate in this November's elections for the At-Large Seat on the Albemarle County School Board.  Tonight I am speaking on behalf of the Murray community as President of our PTO.

I have spoken to this board on many occasions about Murray's needs.  Tonight I want to recap several issues that relate to the work in front of you reviewing this budget.

Murray is an excellent school.  The top performer on SOL tests in the entire County.  We have Dave Rogers, a great principal and administrator that is highly respected by parents and staff alike.  We have outstanding staff and a highly trained faculty.  We have a great community of parents in Ivy that is heavily involved in the school. 

In fact, I stood at this podium two nights ago as one of over 200 people that came to a planning commission hearing related to the Faulconer Construction project proposed for a site next door to our school.  Many of those who testified were Murray parents and 5 of them were students in a civics club who got to see first hand the power their own thoughts and their own spoken words could convey.

Dr. Castner's theme for this budget is "good to great."  As you know, there are already a lot of great things at Murray, and all our other schools, that we should celebrate.  I see you highlight these accomplishments at board meetings and in budget videos, but much of the public does not.  Many of the 70% of the residents in Albemarle without children either assume the best, assume the worst, or they just aren't paying attention.  They need to hear from this Board, because to take the entire system from "good to great" is no small challenge and you are going to need their support.

However, I am concerned that the foundation for Murray's future success is not being addressed in this budget.  I applaud the School Board for asking Dr. Castner to come to you with a needs-based budget and no recommendations for cuts.  But I don't think this budget adequately addresses our current needs.  Specifically it is lacking in the areas of compensation, professional development, staffing, and operational funds.

First let me address compensation.  In November, this Board was given a report by the County's HR department that informed you the compensation data you used in last year's budget was flawed and that those teachers with the most experience in Albemarle were on the loosing end of that mistake.  For example, the 30 year average salary was corrected upwards from almost $46,000 to almost $48,000, that is over a 4% adjustment, or about $2,000 dollars.  In the 2002-2003 data you received that number went to over $49,000. That is a huge difference on the benchmark for our experienced teachers, employees who should not be taken for granted. 

You were encouraged to revaluate the methodology of your compensation plans, to look at the average of the competitive market instead of the median.  You were told we were falling behind even the median in four of seven steps assessed on the report, a number brought down by many low ability to pay Counties in the competitive market you agreed to use.

Did you direct Dr. Castner to take action and make adjustments in the preparation of this budget?  No.  At the last budget work session, Dr. Castner said he did not get direction on this issue.  What that means for Murray's teachers is that the proposed 4.08% salary increase is still based on the median of a flawed market. 

A needs-based budget should reflect the true needs we have for establishing competitive compensation.  If we want to attract and retain the best teachers, we have to be willing to pay for them.  If we want our teachers to be able to afford to live in the community in which they teach, we have to have a market that reflects the cost of living in Albemarle.  Otherwise, they are going to move elsewhere.  I know a teacher with almost 30 years experience in Albemarle that is looking at Loudon County for employment.  This teacher can only transfer 20 years of experience, but they can still pocket a $22,000 raise.

But you don't have to take Dr. Castner's recommendation.  You can ask for a recommendation based on a different methodology TODAY.  Do the right thing for our teachers and classified staff and you will get us from a good school system to a great school system.

Next let me talk briefly about professional development.  I want to thank Gordon Walker for challenging this board at the last work session to consider the professional development dollars a system of our caliber should be making available to our teachers.  I share Carrie Taylor's [another speaker] concerns about the $100 stipend, that totals less than 1% of our budget.  Where I work I hand out $100 food and mileage reimbursements all the time for an employee to go to a seminar in Washington or Richmond, and then I also pay for their class if needed.  This school system's stipend has not changed since 1986-87! 

Just to keep up with inflation our stipends should be much closer to $200.  According to Dr. Castner, most school systems our size allocate 3-5% of their budget for staff development, that would be a stipend in the $300-500 range.

With greater staff development resources, our teachers would have enhanced opportunities for training and expanded knowledge they can bring to our children. THAT helps get us from a good school system to a great school system.

Next let's talk about staffing a great school system.  In 2000, I proposed that this board create a budget line item for Class Size Emergency Relief.  That was approved and for three years Murray was able to receive additional FTEs to assist our large class that is currently in the fifth grade.  We are quite thankful for that assistance.  However, I was quite disappointed to learn that the classroom staffing fund I lobbied so hard to create was used last year primarily to fund ART classes. 

I certainly support funding the arts, but Class Size Emergency Relief fund needs to be kept in the budget and used solely to fund classroom teachers and teaching assistants.  At schools like Murray, these funds help a little to smooth out the irregularities of inevitable class size bubbles and the drawbacks of differentiated funding.  I support differentiated funding, but I think it should be applied after an adequate baseline class size is established for ALL schools.  Yes, we need to fund art programs, and music programs, and foreign languages, but those too need to be budgeted separately.

This past December, the Murray PTO sent you a check for almost $10,000 to pay for TA salaries.  This is a great example of how slight adjustments in resources can have a tremendous impact on educational programs.  This year we wanted to support our separate K-1 classrooms (2 for each grade) along with our literacy program, and we found ourselves short of TA funds.  Murray set a goal of having four TAs (3 hours/day each) to cover our kindergarten and 1st grade's general needs AND to support the literacy program.  Since this is staffing in excess of what Murray is eligible for from the County, yet critical in our view to our school's success, the PTO voted to send you a very large contribution.  PTOs shouldn't have to hire teachers to maintain innovative and successful literacy programs. 

We also shouldn't have to trade compensation improvements for adequate classroom staffing, not if we want to go from a good school system to a great school system.

Finally, let's talk about the funds needed to operate our schools.  You think the professional development stipend freeze is bad, the formulas for our entire operational budget have been frozen for years, and this year we are confronted with a 15% holdback on all operational funds.  Have you looked recently at the list of cuts expected to be made at our schools?  It is on the front page of your website.  Field trips are being cancelled, computer and software purchases are being postponed, educational materials are not being bought, what little there is for staff development is being cut.  Then look at Yancey elementary, the only school not accredited, where they are having to cut funds for books, evening workshops with parents, and placing limits on after-school tutoring.  Do you think this is going to address the achievement priorities you have set for this system?  No way.  If this just happened once in a while in tough economic times, we could live with it and it would be prudent.  If it happens year after year and the operational budgets are NEVER adjusted for inflation, it is a slow death by a thousand cuts.

It is your responsibility to ask the County to pay for these needs with this funding request.  Your leadership and cooperation with the Board of Supervisors is required to empower Albemarle to set its own agenda for quality education.   We need you to add up these needs, big and small, and put excellence in education on Murray's list for this budget.  Please address the critical areas of compensation, professional development, staffing, and operational funds.

I also want to echo Chip Deale's [another speaker] suggestion that we pursue revenue alternatives in the form of the establishment of a private foundation.  This deserves your immediate evaluation.

Thank you.