LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 2, No. 34 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ June 29 – July 5, 2017 ]
A Red, White and Blue to Do
28 Supervisors Back Off Dramatic Nonprofit Funding Changes BY RENSS GREENE
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
Kindergartners at Madison’s Trust Elementary School line up ahead of morning classes.
Universal Full-Day Kindergarten ‘Within Striking Distance’ BY DANIELLE NADLER
L
oudoun, hold on to your crayons. The school system is one step—one giant leap, really— closer to providing every kindergartner with a full academic
day. The School Board on Tuesday adopted its long-promised road map to universal full-day kindergarten. Loudoun is among the last districts in Virginia to not offer a district-wide full-day program to its youngest students. “We’re one of the last hold outs, and I don’t say that proudly,” Director of Elementary Education W. Michael Martin said. “This provides a clear path to the end of this destination.” The plan outlines the specifics about what hurdles stand in the way to expand
the full-day kindergarten program and includes options to get over them—including school building additions, classroom trailers, and attendance boundary changes. Superintendent Eric Williams, Martin, and board members have been working for years to draft a step-by-step plan to get to universal full-day kindergarten, weighing enrollment projections and funding constraints with a communitywide push to expand the program. They have made big strides in recent years. Since Williams was hired as superintendent in 2014, the district has increased its full-day kindergarten offerings from 11 percent to 82 percent, or about 4,600 students, as of this fall. The adopted “Pathway to Universal FDK” plan addresses the biggest obstacle standing in the way to bring that up to
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100 percent: a lack of classroom space in fast-growing parts of the county where school buildings are already cramped. One of the potential solutions is to place any of the four available classroom trailers at elementary schools. Williams’ staff is also looking at which schools should receive three-classroom additions, at about $2.7 million each. The board’s Capital Improvement Program calls for five additions to be funded in fiscal year 2021 and open in 2023. Williams wants to see funding for those additions accelerated, so they can be ready for students earlier. Earlier this month, Williams told the School Board he’d like to see 83 percent of kindergartners receive a full school day by the 2018-2019 school year. But
County supervisors have put off making major changes to the way they dole out charitable grant funding after a finance committee proposal drew sharp concern from the nonprofit community. The new model would have created a more mathematical approach for deciding which nonprofits receive county funds and in what amount, but the idea sent shockwaves through Loudoun’s nonprofit community with some of the dramatic changes it would entail. It would have nixed county funding to six nonprofits that in the past have reliably expected county money, while multiplying the funding to some other nonprofits—all with only a few days until the new fiscal year begins in July. Among the organizations that worried about the changes: The Arc of Loudoun at Paxton Campus, which stood to get 11 times the funding it would get under the old model, up to $60,000. The organization’s executive director, Melissa Heifetz, was one of 25 nonprofit executives who signed onto a letter against the new model from the Loudoun Human Services Network, an organization of Loudoun nonprofits. Jennifer Alves, who works at Paxton Campus, said the organization was “grateful to be recommended for these funds,” and pointed out the work the organization does with law enforcement and people with disabilities. “We also stand with our fellow nonprofit community members to respectfully request that the grant process be reevaluated,” Alves said. “It appears that organizations that provide life-sustaining work were unfunded. With thousands of people relying on services provided by those nonprofits now and in the future, it is necessary that they continue to receive funding.” “The provision of services requires resources,” said HealthWorks for Northern Virginia CEO Carol Jameson. “Taking an organization from partnership with the county through county funding, to zero funding, especially with just one week
KINDERGARTEN >> 37
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NONPROFIT FUNDING >> 37
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