Dear Lafayette Families –
As you may have read in a note from Chancellor Ferebee, the DCPS budgets for the 2024-2025 school year have been released. The Lafayette LSAT and I have been working this week to start the process of reviewing the initial allocation and make some very hard decisions about how to best support our school community with an incredibly reduced budget – in both actual dollars and in buying power. Here is what we know so far:
- Initial allocation = $10, 973, 647
- This is $241,109 less than the previous fiscal year (2% decrease)
- Position costs are up about 22%.
- This is a result of negotiated contracts for both teacher and administrator unions in the past year and a half.
- Position costs are a district average of both salaries and benefits
- The overall impact is a reduced buying power of about 24%. That’s a gap of around $2 million dollar in cuts to be made.
As a result of these dramatics reductions in our budget, the LSAT and I are working through different scenarios that include possible cuts to the following areas:
- Increased class size
- Reductions in math and ELA interventionists
- Reductions in Instructional Coaches
- Reductions in administrative support (assistant principals, DSL positions, and office staff)
- Reductions in World Language
- Reductions in social emotional supports for students (counselors, psychologists, etc)
We need your feedback as to the community priorities on how to prioritize our very limited funds. Please complete the Lafayette LSAT and HSA Budget Survey to share your priorities by February 19, 2024.
The next LSAT meeting is Wednesday, 2/21 at 7:30 am. We will be discussing our current status with our requests for budget assistance, as well as any other updates.
Here is the link: Join on your computer, mobile app or room device
Click here to join the meeting
Here’s also the slide deck that was shared with the LSAT that explains more about the funding model and the costs of different positions: Initial Budget Allocation SY25
Finally, here’s the public DCPS Budget website that shares all initial budgets for all schools within DCPS: https://dcpsbudget.com/
Thank you in advance for your feedback patience and flexibility as we navigate this incredibly challenging and stressful budget season as a community.
Dr. B