Haycock News
Get ready for a World of Fun at the Haycock Fun Fair, Saturday March 20th, 10:00am to 2:00pm
• Deadline for submissions to the Poster Contest is Friday, March 5th
• Ticket sales begin this week! For pre-sale discounts, download your order formnow! Pre-sale order must be received by March 17th
• Food, carnival games, prizes and FUN for the whole family! Click here for more details.
• Please volunteer when your room parent contacts you regarding your classroom’s game assignment – this is a parent-run event!
• The teachers have selected the themes for their class baskets for the Basket Bazaar. Don’t forget to send in your donations!
• Keep watching the Hotsheet, PTA website and the Tuesday Folder’s for information on the Poster Contest, the Basket Bazaar basket raffle, The Harvest Bake Sale, The 6th Grade Village Cake Walk and more!
• Questions? Please contact Lisa Haas at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Alison Senold at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 02/16.
Current Budget Information
Please Scroll Down to See Current Budget Information
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 02/16.
MIX IT UP
Mix it up this weekend! Skip going out in the cold for an expensive dinner and night out! Instead - cook a healthy and delicious dinner with your children, relax in the comfort of your warm home & make it family game night! We suggest the Baked Pasta with Tomato & Ricotta recipe followed by a game of “99” Recipe and Game Rules. Then support the PTA by contributing what you would have spent going out to the PTA Arm Chair Fundraiser! Make an investment in fun family time and the Haycock PTA! Read Armchair Fundraiser 2010 for details.
If you would like to make your donation using PayPal, please click on the Donate button below
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 02/17.
HAYCOCK’S TREK FOR TECHNOLOGY
WHO: All Haycock students and their siblings are invited to participate.
WHEN: Saturday, May 22nd. Check-in begins at 7:00 am. Warm-up/Stretch at 7:30 am. The 5k walk/run begins promptly at 8:00 am. Most participants will be done in an hour or less. Refreshments provided on the Haycock Playground following the race.
WHERE: Meet at Haycock Elementary School Front Lobby for check-in.
WHY: To promote student health and raise money for technology. Our goal is to purchase eight new SMART Boards with the monies raised. Each SMART Board costs $1,000.
HOW: All children participating will get sponsors who will offer to pay them either by the number of kilometers they walk/run or offer to pay a flat rate regardless of how far the child walks/runs.
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 01/12.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BoS) Advertise the Real Estate Tax Rate on Tuesday, March 9
Anthony Griffin, Fairfax County Executive, presented the FY 2011 Fairfax County Advertised Budget Plan presented to the BoS on Feb 23. He suggests that 53.8% ($1.61 billion) of the county budget should go to FCPS. This is a decrease of 1.0% ($16 million) from the FY 2010 level and $100 million less than the FY 2011 FCPS School Board Transfer request of $1.71 billion. David Edelman, the NoVA District PTA Legislative Chairperson and a Kent Gardens ES and Longfellow MS parent, offers this analysis: Today, Feb 23, County Executive Anthony Griffin presented his proposed budget for FY2011. He proposed a 1% cut in the Board of Supervisors transfer to FCPS over the FY2010 rate (which was already flat funded from the FY2009 rate, despite 9000 more students in last few years). Based on a $176 million shortfall, the School Board had already found cuts of almost $100 million, but still needed an increase of $81 million over FY2010 in their FY2011 Advertised Budget. According to Griffin, a 1% decrease would mean a CUT of $16.3 million from last year’s schools budget, instead of $81 million MORE than last year’s budget.
The difference between Griffin’s proposed and the School Board’s request is $98.2 million. Without the additional $98 million, all the potential programs on the chopping block will be eliminated - full-day kindergarten, elementary band & strings, all foreign language in elementary programs (FLES and immersion) - EVERYTHING!!! And FCPS will need to expand class size AGAIN by 1-2 students per classroom - on average.
Doesn’t take into account state uncertainties to education funds. Concurrently, in Richmond, the Local Composite Index (LCI) hasn’t been officially unfrozen yet (still moving through the VA Assembly), and the State House and Senate committees have reported out funding measures that potentially cut funding to Fairfax by as much as $30-$50 million. Griffin proposes tax decrease. The reason for these cuts to FCPS, according to Griffin, is a need to decrease local property taxes further. Griffin recommended a $.05 tax rate increase - or maybe even a $.06 tax rate increase, and he suggested that the County’s March 9th “advertised tax rate” - the one that they can’t go surpass, despite uncertain state action - be only 8 cents. Because housing prices have declined, even an 8 cent increase gives the County less revenue than in FY2010. Significantly lower housing prices multiplied by a slightly higher tax rate means that the County, in effect, will be enacting a tax decrease (again, on average, affecting neighborhoods differently). An increase of 8 cents doesn’t even mean “equalization” - we’d need 11 cents increase for equalization (where the average household has the same average tax bill).
So despite increased student membership of 9000 students and significant state cuts to FCPS, the County has proposed a cut to FCPS. This cannot stand. To save families $48 per penny tax increase, he has proposed gutting FCPS schools. Griffin says that he cut the transfer to FCPS out of “fairness” - because other County programs were cut equally. That way, the schools still receive 53.8% of County funding. He did not make these cuts based on substantive needs of FCPS, or based on the education cuts already felt by State actions, but because it was “reasonable to share” the burden.
On the other hand, Griffin did announce that the County’s shortfall wasn’t over $300 million, but was only $257.2 million. To balance the FY2011 budget, he suggested cuts to the County portion of the budget of $103 million (mostly from reorganizations, but some layoffs), as well as other “enhancements,” reserve spending, and extra fees. Included in “enhancements,” he recommended bringing back to the car registration decal fee ($33 each), which would bring in $27 million.
If the County adopts Griffin’s proposed cuts, but increases the property tax rate by 11 cents - equalization - and brings back the car decal ($33 each), there is enough money for a BOS transfer to FCPS of the requested $81 million over FY2010. This would save all critical programs, instead of gutting FCPS. Please act now.
Once the BOS releases their “advertised tax rate” on March 9th, it cannot be raised! The time to let the BoS know that we are willing to see the rate go up is now. The highlighted section of David’s comments are quite significant. Because the school board included an $81 million dollar increase from the BoS in their budget, people are wrongly assuming that the programs that they want to see remain are safe. This is NOT TRUE. Most people agree that we need an increase of 11 cents just to reach equalization, and more to save the programs that we thought were safe. Honestly, between the decreases we are facing from the county and the uncertainity that we are seeing from Richmond, many programs are in danger. Please consider contacting our Representatives in the BoS at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/chairman and http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dranesville/ before March 9th before it is too late!
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 03/01.
FCPS Superintendent Recommends Option for Makeup Days Due to Inclement Weather
Due to overwhelming parent and employee feedback, FCPS Superintendent Jack Dale has revised his recommendation to the School Board to make up four instructional days that have been lost due to inclement weather.He is recommending that FCPS follow the original 2009-10 calendar, which includes Monday, April 12, and June 23, 24, and 25 to make up the four-day deficit, and use June 28, 29, and 30 as subsequent makeup days,if needed. Dale is also recommending that the School Board allow him toseek a waiver from the Virginia Board of Education for the last three days in June, plus any future days that may be lost due to inclement weather. The School Board will make a final decision on the makeup plan at its regular business meeting on March 4.
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 02/16.
A Call to Take Action from the Virginia PTA
Virginia is facing drastic budget cuts. Virginia PTA has been working closely with Governor McDonnell and members of the General Assembly to keep cuts to K-12 public education to a minimum. We have become more and more aware that the cuts will actually be even larger than expected, although Gov. McDonnell has not yet announced his budget decisions to the public. Please review a letter from Virginia PTA President Debi Abadie and important information from our Virginia Education Coalition partners listing the school districts that will be affected as well as a message regarding the budget cuts which you can use when you can Take Action.
These cuts have the potential to be devastating. Once budget decisions have been made at the General Assembly it will be too late to save the programs, teachers and support our children need. There is also a public web site http://www.supportvirginiaschools.com you can visit to learn the latest news on the budget.
To make a difference today, please click on Take Action which will take you to a link on the VA PTA web site to contact your legislators. All you need to do is to complete your contact information and submit the message in order for your voice to be heard on behalf of Virginia’s children.
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 02/16.
Bottom Line
A new issue of The Bottom Line has been posted at http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2011/bottomline022610.html This issue features a story on budget news from the state and the county, one rumor buster, and an announcement of Dr. Dale’s appearance on the Kojo Nnamdi show being rescheduled for March 4. The Bottom Line is an e-newsletter that will be sent to all FCPS parents and employees and interested citizens every two weeks while the budget for next school year (FY 2011) is proposed, discussed, and approved.
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 02/06.
FCCPTA Newsletter Link
The February 2010 issue of the FCCPTA newsletter has been posted at www.fccpta.org. Please download your copy today.
Posted by jfredriksen@msn.com on 01/13.
Budget Update
Superintendent Dale Presented His Recommendations for the FCPS FY 2011 Budget on January 7, 2010
To view the proposed budget, click here.
To Email Your School Board Member: http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/members.htm.
Posted by wendy on 01/13.
Haycock School Hours
For the 2009 - 2010 School Year:
Tuesday - Friday
9:15 a.m. - 3:55 p.m. (Dismissal starts at 3:55 p.m.)
AM K - 9:15 a.m. - 12:35 p.m.
PM K - 12:35 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.
Monday
9:15 a.m. - 1:25 p.m. (Dismissal will start at 1:25 p.m.)
AM K - 9:15 a.m. - 11:20 a.m.
PM K - 11:20 a.m. - 1:25 p.m.
Posted by wendy on 09/10.
