Consultants tell Lake Ridge board it faces ~$4 million gap; propose $3.5 million in cuts and revenue moves

Consultants from Administrator Assistance told the Lake Ridge New Tech Schools board at a Nov. 20 special meeting that the district faces an estimated $4 million budget gap and outlined a package of staffing and contract changes they say could save roughly $3.5 million.

"That $4 million budget gap is what the district is facing," consultant Randy McCracken said during his presentation. He and his partner, Javier Botana, described a multi‑part approach: consolidating central‑office positions, reducing some school‑based noninstructional roles (coaches, counselors, secretaries), renegotiating service contracts for custodial and transportation services, and moving some employees to different contract schedules to reduce costs.

The consultants said classroom teacher staffing was broadly comparable with peer districts but identified higher-than‑peer levels of noninstructional staff in schools and redundancies in central‑office roles such as business, IT and curriculum support. They presented a set of estimated savings that include an estimated $1.6 million in education‑fund staffing reductions, $763,000 in insurance and benefit savings already in progress, and roughly $750,000 in potential vendor‑contract savings, together yielding the roughly $3.5 million figure.

Specific line items discussed included consolidating the business manager role (estimated savings about $165,000), folding the communications manager duties into existing staff (about $107,000), and combining the Title I/EL director role with the assistant superintendent (about $158,000). The consultants flagged transportation costs that rose significantly — they reported transportation spending rising from about $1.3 million to $2.5 million between 2024 and 2025 — and recommended targeted vendor review and possible rebidding.

Consultants and board members repeatedly cautioned that the figures are estimates and that implementation would be phased. "These are not things that... you have to take and do," McCracken said; the board and new administration will decide which recommendations to adopt. Consultant Botana urged the board to pair cost reductions with revenue strategies such as a future referendum, corporate partnerships and monetizing new facilities (for example, naming rights or rentals) to make reductions sustainable.

Board members thanked the consultants but noted the difficulty ahead. "We have to put our fiscal house in order," Mr. Wilson said. Dr. Kerman and other trustees stressed humane, phased implementation that preserves instructional quality. The consultants offered follow‑up support and made printed copies of the report available to the public at the meeting. Next steps include board and administrative review of the recommendations and community engagement before final actions are taken.