Stafford School Board Discusses Potential Revenue Sharing Agreement
The School Board received a report on the subject at Tuesday's work session; the Board of Supervisors will receive the same report later this month.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Stafford School Board and division staff are beginning to talk about what a potential revenue sharing agreement with the Board of Supervisors could look like.
The Joint Schools Working Committee—which includes three members each from the School Board and Board of Supervisors—received a report from county and school staff on potential revenue sharing in August. On Tuesday, school division staff gave the report to the full School Board at a work session, and county staff will give the same report to supervisors later this month.
A revenue sharing agreement is an agreement between local governments and public school systems stating that a specified portion of county revenue will be allocated to public education each year. The purpose of such an agreement, according to the presentation, is “to ensure consistent funding methodology for schools and simplify [the] budget process.”
The budget process in Stafford currently starts in January with the school division superintendent’s presentation of a needs-based budget. The School Board approves its budget in February, before the County Administrator has presented the total county budget.
The Board of Supervisors then adopts the county budget and sets tax rates in April, and the School Board meets again later in the month to adjust its budget based on whatever amount of local funding supervisors approved.
Revenue sharing agreements are permitted by Virginia Code and have been adopted in some form by a handful of localities across the state, including Prince William, Loudoun, Arlington, Chesterfield, and Albemarle counties.
Prince William’s agreement provides 57.23% of general county revenues to the school division. Albemarle’s agreement allocates 54% of general fund revenues to schools, and Arlington’s agreement provides 46.8% of local tax revenues to schools.
If Stafford were to develop a revenue sharing agreement, both boards and staff would need to decide what revenue would be included; what percentage of that revenue would go to the school division; whether the shared revenue would be for the school division’s operating budget or for both the operating and capital improvement budget; and how to account for additional funding needs, such as the operating cost of a new school.
Chris Fulmer, deputy superintendent and chief operating officer for Stafford County schools, said a revenue sharing agreement could make the budget process more predictable and transparent for both boards and the community. Potential drawbacks include the fact that it would not account for changes in state or federal funding for the school division, or for the fact that available revenues might not meet division needs.
School Board member Patricia Healy, Rock Hill district representative, said there would still be some unpredictability because projected revenues would depend on the tax rate, which isn’t set until April.
“That’s one of the cons, but assuming they have a five-year plan and we’re getting a percentage of that total revenue, then we can plan for multiple years,” Fulmer said. “But you’re correct, that’s contingent upon the final tax rate.”
Elizabeth Warner, School Board Chair and Griffis-Widewater representative, said she like the idea of “having a baseline.”
The Board could rely on “always get[ting] this pile of money from these revenue sources,” she said. “It would be a floor and then we could do some long-term planning.”
A revenue sharing agreement would be “worth putting together,” Warner said, but needs to be done carefully and cooperatively with supervisors.
Superintendent Dan Smith said any potential agreement wouldn’t be ready to go into effect until fiscal year 2029 “at the earliest.”
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