Pupils at Grafton Village Elementary walk to their buses. The current Stafford County budget means schools face overcrowding and may not afford more than the basics.
RHONDA VANOVER/THE FREE LANCE-STAR
Stafford County budget/wasteful spending
S TAFFORD County has
the 11th highest per
capita income in the nation and is one of Forbes “best places to get ahead.” Yet somehow county officials can’t figure out how to perform budgetary liposuction to trim wasteful spending without cutting public safety (fire, EMS, 911, and the sheriff), schools, and roads to the bare bones.
Despite being the seventh richest state, Virginia ranks 32nd in per-pupil expenditure for education. According to the Virginia Department of Education, Stafford’s 2007 local contribution to education was 28 percent below state average. Over the last three years the share of the county budget committed to schools has fallen 15 percent below the somewhat predictable and respectable levels of the previous eight years. Fiscal conservative David Beiler,
a former Falmouth district supervisor, noted that from 2001 to the present, in per capita “real” dollars (adjusted for growth and inflation), support for the schools has fallen 10.8 percent, while support for other county programs has risen 32.5
The school budget is fixed at 85 percent salaries and benefits, and reductions ultimately affect the quality
of our children’s education. The cumulative impact is that teachers face more than 1,100 overcrowded classrooms each day. The number of schools meeting Adequate Yearly Progress has fallen from 92 percent (23/25) in 2005 to less than 50 percent (14/29) in 2007.
The anemic budget increase will barely cover
the increased costs for the 535,000 gallons of diesel fuel for the buses. Delaying cyclical replacement of 5-year-old computers or 12-year-old buses increases this year’s maintenance costs and next year’s replacement budget.

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