LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 1, No. 15 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ February 18–24, 2016 ]
INSIDE: Bank scammer shot dead Dining Redskins style Downtown’s new arts anchor
6 20 24
GOING UP? Hemstreet Recommends Tax Hike n BY RENSS GREENE
Doublas Graham/Loudoun Now
Kindergartner Andrew Roos and his teacher Julie Roberts make chocolate-covered strawberries during class at Loudoun County Day School in Leesburg. The private school operates two full-day kindergarten classes.
THE BUSINESS OF KINDERGARTEN
Full-day kindergarten is a $20.6 million-a-year industry in Loudoun County n BY DANIELLE NADLER
T
here is a 12-letter word that Lyla Hafeez looks for in headlines these days: kindergarten. As county government and school leaders debate whether Loudoun should expand its fullday kindergarten offerings, and how to pay for it, she’s paid attention. Because whatever decision is ultimately made will impact her 4-year-old daughter’s education, and the Hafeezs’ pocketbook. If Loudoun County Public Schools’ plan to expand fullday kindergarten to all but 13 schools this fall is funded, Mari-
na will go to her neighborhood school, Sycolin Creek Elementary near Leesburg. If it’s not, she’ll go to a Fairfax County elementary school, where Hafeez teaches, and pay $10,000 in tuition. “This is on a lot of parents’ minds right now,” Hafeez said. She and her husband have already started making room in their budget for tuition, just in case. He returned a new car, in exchange for one with a less-expensive monthly payment, and they’re reining in other expenses too. “We even contemplated pulling from her college fund but we decided no, we’ll just make due with whatever we can for now,” she said. “It is frustrating to
spend all this money we thought we were going to save.” For many local families, footing the bill for private school is the only option for their kindergartner to receive a full, six-hour school day. Loudoun is one of only three school divisions in Virginia that do not offer universal full-day kindergarten. About one-quarter of Loudoun kindergartners are enrolled in private schools or neighboring jurisdictions, and paying anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 in tuition. That means, collectively, Loudoun families spend about $20.6 million in full-day kindergarten tuition, according to Lindsay Weissbratten, founder of the advocate group Loudoun
“We believe in Top Notch Service and Giving Back to our Local Community. Find out firsthand why Loudoun County named us the 2014 Small Business of the Year”.
for Full Day Kindergarten. “Families are already paying taxes,” she said, “and then they’re paying tuition to receive the same education provided for free in neighboring counties.”
Families in Limbo Loudoun County has made some progress toward universal full-day kindergarten. Two years ago, 11 percent of the county’s kindergartners attended school all day. This year, it’s up to 32 percent, or 1,536 students. The school system is requesting $9.7 million to expand the program to 75 percent of kin-
County Administrator Tim Hemstreet recommends Loudoun increase its taxes to keep up with the demand on Virginia’s fastest growing locality. On Feb. 10, Hemstreet presented a proposed $2.5 billion fiscal year 2017 budget that could be funded without raising the real estate tax rate, but warned it just doesn’t bring in enough revenue to provide needed county services. County supervisors had instructed Hemstreet to base his budget on the equalized tax rate in an effort to keep residents’ tax bills level. After projections varied wildly through the year, the equalized tax rate—the tax level that gives the average taxpayer the same dollar figure on her tax bill this year as last—has settled on exactly the same number as the current tax rate, $1.135. Hemstreet hastened to point out that the equalized tax rate to homeowners is in fact $1.14, because average home values across the county have dropped slightly. The county’s real property appreciated by only about 0.2 percent this year, as compared to 2 percent and 4 percent in the two previous years. Hemstreet warned that the equalized tax rate would not provide enough revenue to maintain Loudoun’s current level of service as the population continues to grow. His equalized tax rate budget protects pay
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