James DeVita  I review the budget to determine where improvement is needed.

Julie Farnam Like [my  response to the previous question], I believe the County should be providing better oversight to  APS and how APS is spending the money given to it by the County (i.e., taxpayers).  The County Board should be asking more questions such as: 

• How the money is being spent?  

• What is the long-term vision for APS?  

• What milestones are there along the way towards achieving that vision? • Are there programming gaps within APS and how will they be addressed? • Is APS meeting its objectives and how do we measure those objectives?  

The County Board provides money to the School Board and APS but does little to  ensure the money is being spent appropriately. This is poor management and given our  significant budget shortfalls this year and the increased tax burden on families, we owe it  to the people of Arlington—and to our children most importantly—to provide appropriate  oversight. I have managed multi-million-dollar budgets and I’ve had to answer to  oversight authorities when there were questions about how and why money was spent.  I firmly believe all government employees, especially our governing bodies, must always  be good stewards of government resources. 

Tenley Peterson As a former Chair of the Fiscal Affairs Advisory Commission, I worked with the leadership of the APS Budget Advisory Committee to improve coordination between the County and APS on budget issues. We established a routine meeting between the BAC and FAAC to address issues of common concern. As a County Board member, I would continue to honor the revenue sharing agreement established by previous County Boards, and I would work with the School Board and the County Manager to find efficiencies between our budgets in our departments like IT and Transportation. 

Natalie U. Roy It is critically important that the County Board, School Board and APS collaborate closely together to ensure that our schools are safe and that our youth have the requisite resources  to deal with mental health needs and substance use and addiction. Close collaboration and  oversight are also vital to ensure that APS is spending taxpayer money wisely and  efficiently.  

The County Board and the School Board should work together to evaluate all financial decisions holistically and establish new mechanisms which transparently and publicly  consider tradeoffs, opportunity costs, and long-term implications in both school and county  budgets. 

We need to be creative and look for new cost-savings opportunities. For example, why are  we not exploring combining the County and the School’s health care systems?  Are there  potential costs-savings? Could there be better health care services provided for County and  APS employees? 

APS with oversight by the CB, must identify opportunities to find on-going structural  efficiencies in every decision it makes. And APS should examine most critically things that  are costing us money but not adding meaningfully to student outcomes. 

Julius D. “JD” Spain,  Sr. I strongly believe that a community's strength lies in its school system. It is  imperative that we prioritize collaboration between elected and independent  bodies to ensure that we can work together to meet the operational and  educational needs of our children. To this end, I have met with each current  member of the school board and pledged to meet with members-elect as well. I  am pleased to note that recently the school board and county board have begun  briefings to discuss budget and CIP projections, and I fully support this continued  dialogue. It is only through such discussions that we can make the best decisions  about some of our most important priorities with the best information available.