VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Now that the Virginia Beach School Board has agreed not to charge students to play in sports. The superintendent discussed cuts or reductions that the district will make.
"We’re going to reduce assistant principals, instruction technology specialists, library media assistants," Dr. Donald Robertson, Virginia Beach school superintendent said.
Robertson says generally high schools have three assistant principals, middle schools have two and elementary schools have one.
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach school board decides to get rid of pay to play for sports
"Hopefully every year we have people who retire," Robertson said. "For the first few that retire, we’re not going to replace."
There are other cuts being made to the budget.
"We had to look at more cuts like the fact that we’re not going to replace any school buses this year," Robertson said.
Recently, the school board considered a pay to play system to participate in sports—a $50 to $100 fee for students—but the school board quickly shut it down in Tuesday's meeting.
Watch previous coverage: Virginia Beach school board decides to get rid of pay to play for sports
So why is the district having to cut major things in the $950 million proposed budget?
"City council is considering a two-cent tax reduction based on rising real estate assessments," Robertson said. "They’ve asked us to build in our budget to accommodate that tax reduction."
Parents and grandparents not sure what to make of the budget cuts.
"We love our assistant principals, and they are so very helpful," Deb Flanangen, a Virginia Beach grandparent, said. "It’s like, should we cut the Vice President of the U.S.?"
The school board will vote on the budget in next Tuesday’s school board meeting.
