April 30, the teachers and parents of Charlottesville celebrated — Charlottesville City Schools had been awarded the 14 acre FEI campus. The acquisition was a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It would have saved CCS tens of millions of dollars on capital projects, created a unified and expanded pre-k center and opened opportunities for additional student services.
Then, May 9, the hopeful feelings were crushed. The Department of Education rescinded its award to CCS and gave the FEI property to the University instead. The University will use the FEI campus for ROTC and continuing education programs, which provide no direct benefits for CCS students. In short, the University’s acquisition of the Federal Executive Institute will have an immense negative impact on the students in Charlottesville’s public schools and the town writ large.
The University’s pursuit of the FEI property did not come out of nowhere. April 18, Charlottesville formally requested the University not pursue an application with the federal government to acquire FEI in order to best ensure use by CCS was the outcome. The University declined to do so, and took a resolution about acquiring the FEI to the University’s Board of Visitors for a formal vote. The University claimed it only pursued acquisition to help the Charlottesville community in case CCS weren’t awarded the property. But from the perspective of Charlottesville, the University’s acquisition was the worst possible outcome because it will produce zero tax revenue for the City on a centrally-located, 14 acre property. Charlottesville is only 10.2 square miles, cannot add new land and relies on property taxes to fund basic services — every acre of tax revenue is vital for funding our local budget.
For decades, City schools have been underfunded. Every single public school building in Charlottesville has years of significant deferred maintenance. In addition, there are currently numerous unfunded staff positions that City schools identified as important for serving students. This means Charlottesville’s public school students must learn in outdated, substandard buildings without the full staff resources necessary to help students who are struggling and below grade level in literacy and numeracy.
Most of CCS’ funding comes from local property tax revenues. Because the University is tax exempt, the largest landowner in Charlottesville and continues to aggressively acquire new land, Charlottesville misses out on over $20 million in annual revenue as a consequence of the University refusing to join Charlottesville in the creation of a Payment In-Lieu of Taxes program. That makes it much more difficult for the City of Charlottesville to fund basic needs like public education. The University paying just a fraction of their property taxes would be enough funding for CCS to modernize every single City school building over the next 10 years.
The FEI property was going to save CCS tens of millions of dollars because existing buildings could be used for a unified pre-k center and administrative offices instead of needing to construct entirely new buildings. Those savings could have been used to invest in modernizing other school buildings throughout Charlottesville.
Now those opportunities are gone. And because the University — Charlottesville’s largest landowner with an annual budget of over two billion dollars and an endowment of over $10 billion –– acquired the FEI campus, the City will see zero tax revenue from the property.
The University’s intentional actions have directly harmed students in Charlottesville’s public schools. It is time for the University to enter into substantive conversations with City Hall and CCS to mitigate the damage done by the University.
Michael Payne is a member of the Charlottesville City Council. They can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.
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