A Different Kind of Budget Year: My ACPS FY27 Budget Questions to Staff
- Kelly Carmichael Booz
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
In my eight years on the Alexandria School Board, spanning 2013–2015 and 2022 to now, I've never experienced a shortfall from Council of this scale that the Board has had to balance. On May 14, 2026, my colleagues and I wrote about the budget process and where things currently stand heading into final adoption. On May 15, 2026, staff responded to 97 Board budget questions.
In all previous years that I served, the differences between the Board-approved budget and the final adjustment were relatively minor, to the point that the second work session was typically canceled. That is not the case this year.
Below is what I submitted for this year's questions.
KCB ACPS FY27 Budget Questions. Submitted Monday, May 11, 2026
This is a tough budget year. The City Council's appropriation came in $5.65 million short of what the Board approved in February, and the Superintendent's adjusted proposal closes that gap in a way that falls disproportionately on positions that work directly with students. Of the 45.6 FTE reductions in the proposal, roughly 36 are in student-facing roles, including classroom teachers, instructional assistants, social workers, psychologists, an EL teacher, the Afghan Family Liaison, and others.
I realize the questions below are longer than those I've submitted in past budget cycles. Given the scale of the student-facing reductions and the staff compensation reductions on the table, I believe the Board needs a fuller picture of the trade-offs across every other category of spending before we finalize this budget.
The first five questions apply uniformly to every central office department to ensure fair comparisons. The remaining sections ask for additional detail on specific recommended adjustments, on contracts and vacancies across the division, and on a few targeted operational questions.
Questions for each department in central office:
The following five questions are submitted to each central office department so the Board can compare staffing, contracts, and reduction options on the same basis:
School Board Office
Office of the Superintendent
School and Community Relations
Accountability & Research
Teaching, Learning & Leadership
Technology Services
Student Services and Equity
Human Resources
Facilities and Operations
Financial Services
Position structure and growth. Please share the department's current FY27 proposed organizational chart, including all positions, reporting relationships, and whether each position is currently filled or vacant. Can you also please provide the FY20, FY23, and FY27 proposed FTE counts broken out by tier: (a) Chief and Executive Director level, (b) Director and Assistant Director level, (c) Coordinator, Manager, and Specialist level, (d) Analysts, Generalists, Technicians, Administrative Assistants, and other staff without supervisory responsibilities.
Non-personnel and contracted services. What does the FY27 proposed non-personnel budget look like, broken out by purchased services (with vendor names and contract values for any contract over $50,000), travel and conferences, and subscriptions, dues, and fees? Which functions are performed in-house versus contracted, and are there any places where contracted services overlap with internal staff capacity?
Vacancy and turnover. How many positions in the department are currently vacant, and how long have each been open? For any position vacant six months or longer that is still being budgeted in FY27, is it in active recruitment, paused, or has the function been absorbed by other staff?
Reduction scenarios. If this department were required to reduce its FY27 budget by 5%, where would the Department Chief recommend the reduction come from? Same question at 10%. Please be specific about which positions, functions, or non-personnel categories would be affected, and what the operational impact would be.
Student-facing analysis. Of the positions in your department, which are student-facing on a day-to-day basis, and which are not? For positions that are not student-facing, please describe how the work supports student academic outcomes or student/family services. Please also provide the total dollar cost of department positions that are not student-facing on a day-to-day basis.
Questions for Communications and Community Relations Department:
Communications management structure. Please share the position descriptions and FY26 major work areas for the Executive Director - Communications, and Assistant Director - Communications, along with the reporting structure between these three positions and the Chief of School and Community Relations.
In-house versus contracted capacity in Communications. For the FY27 Communications budget, which functions are performed in-house and which are contracted out? For example, video production, graphic design, translation, web maintenance, and media monitoring, or other categories.
Questions on Superintendent Recommended Adjustments:
The homeroom ratio reduction (24/26/28 Teachers, $2,973,800 / 27.00 FTE). Of the 27.00 FTE in this line, how many are currently filled, how many are currently vacant, and how many were never created or funded? Will this adjustment be uniform across all schools, particularly for schools that need more support and serve the highest concentrations of EL, economically disadvantaged, and Hispanic students?
The Kinder IA reduction (24/26/28 Kinder IAs, $321,400 / 6.00 FTE). Same questions as #7, applied to this line.
The Student Support Team reduction ($432,500 / 3.60 FTE Social Workers and Psychologists). What are the current FTE counts and caseloads for Social Workers and Psychologists, and what will the caseloads be after the reduction? Which schools lose dedicated Social Worker or Psychologist coverage?
The Communities in Schools contract elimination ($350,000). What services does CIS currently deliver, which schools and how many students are served, and what is the demographic profile of those students? Will any of these services be absorbed by ACPS staff or partners after the contract is eliminated, and at what cost?
The Afghan Family Liaison and IA elimination ($114,700 / 2.00 FTE). What is the current scope of work for these positions, and how many families do they serve? How will the work be absorbed, discontinued, or referred elsewhere after the positions are eliminated? What is the projected impact on Afghan student and family engagement, particularly during enrollment and school transition periods?
The compensation enhancement reduction. The Board-approved February budget included compensation enhancements consistent with the tentative collective bargaining agreements. The Superintendent's adjusted budget reduces these to an average 4.2% across all employee groups. What is the difference between the Board-approved and adjusted compensation enhancement, expressed both as a percentage and as a total dollar reduction per employee group? What is the specific dollar amount that would need to be identified elsewhere in the budget to fund the original Board-approved compensation enhancement? And could any portion of that gap be closed through reductions in central office staffing or contracted services rather than the student-facing reductions currently proposed?
Other Questions:
Vacancy capture across all departments. Across the division, please provide a list of all positions that have been vacant for 6 months or longer, including the FY27 budgeted cost for each and the current recruitment status. Before the Board further evaluates reductions to filled student-facing positions, we should understand the total dollar value of long-vacant positions across our central office.
Contract review. Please provide a list of all FY27 contracted services valued at $100,000 or more, including the vendor name, scope of service, contract term, and whether the service is delivered directly to schools and students or supports central office functions.
FY26 spending pace. Please provide an FY26 year-to-date budget-to-actual comparison by department as of today. Departments running significantly under budget may indicate areas where FY27 needs are similarly overstated.
Compensation costs for staff not covered by collective bargaining. Are staff not covered by collective bargaining receiving a step and/or COLA in the FY27 adjusted budget? If so, what is the exact dollar cost for each of these items?
Compensation cost breakdown for staff covered by collective bargaining. Of the staff covered by collective bargaining, what is the exact dollar cost or dollar range to provide them a step? What is the exact dollar cost of a COLA for those staff?
K-2 technology realignment. What would the cost savings be from realigning 1:1 technology (iPads, Chromebooks, etc.) in grades K-2 to align with the pre-pandemic classroom technology strategy? Please break this down by (a) cost savings on materials such as iPads and Chromebooks, (b) cost savings in Ed Tech-related contracts, and (c) cost savings in Technology Integration Specialist (TIS) or similar FTEs.
Financial Services data analysts. What is the role of the data analysts currently budgeted in the Financial Services Department? How are their roles different from one another, and how are they different from the specialists and assistants in that office?
Central Office facilities. When does the lease end on the ACPS Central Office building? What are the terms of that lease regarding renegotiation periods that would allow ACPS to downsize that space? Of the Central Office staff, how many FTEs are not deployed to school buildings on a day-to-day basis?
Accountability & Research purchased services detail. In the Office of Accountability & Research, what exactly is included in the printing and binding services and the professional temporary services line items as described in the budget book?
Travel budget detail. Across departments, what exactly is included in the travel budgets for trips outside Alexandria, not including mileage for staff traveling from school to school? What are the costs of conference travel by department?
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