Special APS Budget Issue

Career Center Project Has Serious Shortcomings, Lacks Long-Term Focus

APS continues to move forward with the Arlington Career Center (ACC) Project. The ACC Project was included in the FY 2023-32 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Direction at the Oct. 28, 2021, School Board Meeting. The direction is to:

(1) Move forward with a new $170 million building, and
(2) develop a plan for the building’s long-term use.

APS is currently seeking approval to proceed with spending $170 million on a new building, but does not have a plan for the entire 12-acre campus.

A full site plan is essential for both economic and planning reasons. The current proposal would spend $170 million on the new building alone. However, the existing Arlington Career Center building will likely be renovated in the future, at an additional cost of $40-50 million (e.g., if APS moves MPSA to this building). This would likely involve tearing down the current MPSA building (at an additional cost), and demolishing the new playground built during this project. Uncertainty about the long-term plan also makes it difficult to evaluate some of the decisions being made now, including placement of the parking garage and bus loop.

The $170 million plan also has shortcomings:

It does not provide a full-sized field, despite APS’ proposal that the whole campus eventually house over 2,500 students.
Amenities included for both student and community use have been significantly reduced compared to APS’ previous plan (e.g., a black box theater vs. a full auditorium).
There will be very limited open space on the completed site:
- MPSA will have only a condensed playground, with no access to any field space.
- High school students at the new Career Center building will only have access to a small field which APS is designing to fulfill physical education requirements, but is not large enough for school or community sports.

APS has received feedback from the community expressing significant concern about moving forward absent long-term planning. During a recent March 30 meeting, many community stakeholders—including representatives from all the surrounding civic associations (Arlington Heights, Ashton Heights, Columbia Heights, Douglas Park, and Penrose) as well as the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization—also cited concerns about the lack of long-term planning for the site. These community stakeholders asked APS to delay implementation until a full site plan can be made. Some noted that while students at the Career Center need and deserve proper facilities, which have been delayed for several years, previous delays do not justify rushing a $170 million commitment that will control the future of this site for decades, and/or potentially commit APS to additional large capital expenditures.

However, APS’ stated intention is to move forward without a long-term plan, with a promise to create one later.

This lack of planning should be a significant concern to the APS community and to the county at large.

Tell the School Board you want a full site plan before moving forward with this project.
Tell the County Board you want a full site plan before moving forward with this project.
Forward to a friend or neighbor.

APE submitted the following comments in connection with the budget public hearing on March 31:

Over the past several Board meetings, members of this community have consistently called for two things: more attention to our students’ mental health and more resources to address learning loss.

On mental health, there are concerning reports of bullying incidents at schools and teachers confronting behavioral issues, as described last week by both student and parent speakers. APS suicide risk assessments are increasing, as noted by a community advocate.

On learning loss, the new Student Progress Dashboard is an excellent resource, but it shows that not all of our students are catching up. The percentage of upper elementary students, grades 3-5, who are at risk and need intensive reading support has increased since the beginning of the school year. Almost 30% of middle school math students are in the “below basic” category as of the winter assessments, higher than prior years at this point in the school year. Please find further, updated analysis here.

Mental health and academic success are mutually reinforcing. Kids can’t learn as effectively if they are struggling emotionally, and they also benefit emotionally from the confidence and industry that comes with gaining new knowledge and succeeding in school. Mental health and learning loss should be budget priorities in this year’s budget, and we should make a commitment to continue this focus for the next several years. At the joint work session with the County, we urge you to ask for the County to commit to helping fund these areas as well.

Specifically, school psychologist and social worker positions should be increased, not decreased. And resources should be devoted to tutoring and increased instructional time, especially for the students whom the dashboard shows need the most support. Please do not rely only on iPad applications to catch our students up, when research shows these have minimal efficacy compared to direct instruction.

Budgets always present difficult choices. If there are tradeoffs to be made in this year’s budget, please make the choice to prioritize student mental health and academic recovery.

Email Engage to ask APS to use the data to address learning loss.
Ask the School Board to address learning loss.
Read APE's Think Tank Report on budget and need for more student-facing positions.

APE Budget Priorities: A Review

APE has advocated at School Board meetings and in this space for the following budget priorities:

In alignment with these efforts, APE believes this year’s budget should be approached using the following framework:

More should be spent on learning loss, which is not specifically addressed in the budget at all. The Student Progress dashboard is an important resource that must be used to identify where students continue to struggle, but identification must be accompanied by additional spending to catch students up, including through tutoring and effective summer school.
Teacher compensation must be increased yet more to make APS competitive regionally. The current planned-for raises will still leave us in the middle of the pack.
Our class sizes should be smaller. Reversing the planning factor increases of the past few years will still leave us with the largest class sizes regionally.

To offset these needed investments, APS should take a harder look at its central administration spending and facilities plans. Last year, APS increased central office spending by 22%, with in-school spending growing at a much lower rate. This year, one department engaged in a zero-based budgeting exercise, but the exercise was done by those within the same department and appears to have lacked clear guidance on priorities or an emphasis on identifying cost savings. The resulting document provided insufficient information about what each position does and why it is needed. It also included a request for increased funds, which is not what such efforts are typically designed to achieve.

With respect to facilities, APS is poised to move forward with committing to a $170 million Career Center expenditure without a full site plan. APS already leads the region in non-operating costs per student. This project, with its attendant increases to our debt service obligations, is poorly timed.

Finally, now is the time for an enhanced partnership between APS and the County. We urge the School Board to ask the County to commit to a two-to-three-year joint investment in learning loss and mental health recovery for our students. We also urge the Board to ask the County for a partnership between APS and Arlington Parks & Rec to help improve and expand its summer school offerings.

Ask APS to devote more student-facing resources for student mental health and learning loss.
Ask the School Board to prioritize student mental health in the 2023 budget.
Forward to a friend or neighbor.

April 6, 2022 at 7PM Arlington Democrats Monthly Meeting at Lubber Run Community Center and streaming online. School Board Caucus rules expected to be presented.

Thursday April 7, 7 PM School Board Meeting on Superintendent's Proposed FY 2023 Budget. Sign up to speak here (sign up is open till 4:00 PM today).

Friday April 8, 3 PM School Board & County Board Joint Budget Work Session. County Board Meeting Room, Bozman Government Center: 2100 Clarendon Blvd., Ste #307, Arlington, VA 22201. More details here.

Tuesday April 12, 7 PM Arlington County Civic Federation Meeting Task Force in Governance and Election Reform (TiGER) will present their recommendations on changes to the County’s government and voting process. Register in advance for this meeting.

Tuesday, April 19, 5:30-7:30 PM Open Office Hours with David Priddy. Sign up to speak here.

Forward this newsletter to a friend or neighbor. Thank you for reading!