VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A proposed tax cut from the city could potentially cause the Virginia Beach school district to lose millions of dollars.

This stacks on top of a revenue loss they are already coming to terms with. It happens as many parents and teachers are raising questions about potential cuts to music courses.

“The conversation out there is that we’re trying to get rid of music, and we’re not,” explained school board member Carolyn Weems. “I think I can speak on behalf of all of us, we know the importance, I certainly know the importance of art, and music, and sports.”

Board members took a moment during the Tuesday meeting to make it clear — they themselves are not cutting fine arts classes. Many spoke out in favor of keeping them. Though principals at schools are faced with cutting down on some courses because not enough students are signing up.

Superintendent Dr. Don Robertson attributes ongoing course cuts to enrollment issues, not the budget.

Though a loss of revenue is causing them to raise the staffing ratio. At the meeting, they said this means 71 fewer staff members across middle and high schools.

Some teachers are being asked to teach multiple subjects, sometimes across multiple schools. Administrators spoke about holding a career connection event where teachers can meet other principals to seek out schools they want to transfer to. They are also insisting that all employees will maintain their current contracts, and they are not laying off any staff.

This comes as Virginia Beach City Council considers a two-cent real estate tax cut. VBCPS Admin. told board members this tax cut alone would cause the district to lose $5.7 million.

Combined with additional costs the district’s already dealing with just to maintain the same operations as last year, that would put VBPCS in the red by about $11.8 million.

When asked by board member Beverly Anderson if he explained all this to the city manager, Dr. Robertson responded with, “Yes, the manager is aware, and he’s tired up with challenges because their reduction in revenue would be greater than ours.”

Anderson followed up by saying the decision to make this tax cut does not make sense to her.

One of the proposed solutions was pay-to-play sports, which some board members sharply disagreed with.

“It turns our sports into something that it’s not meant to be turned into,” Weems said. “Sports should be for everybody. It’s privatizing sports and only allowing those who already can afford travel teams to also play on their school teams, which it should be the other way around.”

They are also looking at cutting positions for assistant principals and library assistants.