Proposed school budget ‘aggressively’ addresses teacher salaries | News

Some progress was made in the 2019-2020 budget, and the school board was ready to continue the effort with the 2020-2021 budget. But then the pandemic hit. Uncertain about incoming revenue from local taxes and the state government, county supervisors hit the brakes on any new spending, leaving the school division salary issue unresolved. County employees, including in the school division, didn’t get a raise in the 2020-2021 budget.

Eventually, the school division managed to give all employees a 5{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} raise in June 2021, but only after many teachers had already left the Fauquier school division, according to Jeck.

Now, though, he feels the time is ripe to address the issue. “I would like to make a very aggressive attempt for our employees. … This is the year to do it,” he said at the summit. “We have a real opportunity to once and for all fix the compression issue.”

Jeck even suggested a newspaper headline to capture the plan: “School board supports 13{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} raise for teachers.”

Jeck said the approach “sends a message: ‘We care about you and we’re serious about it.’”

Denise Sandlin, assistant superintendent for business and planning for the schools, provided details on where the funding could come from. Her estimates are based on former Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed budget, which current Gov. Glenn Youngkin could change during his first 10 days in office.

The superintendent’s proposed budget will be presented at the Jan. 20 school board meeting.

Jeck’s draft budget currently includes:

• 5{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} raise for all staff — $5,916,777.
• Teacher compression adjustment — $5,866,608. This will give teachers an average 8{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} raise — in addition to the 5{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} mentioned above — to bring them to 95{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} of market.
• Market adjustments — $2,011,275. Sandlin said, “We had started in the 2022 budget to do some market adjustments to bring various staff up to or close to 92{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} to 95{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} of the market. This would complete the list that the school board put together a couple of years ago.”
• Capital improvement budget – An increase of $600,000. Sandlin said, “We really need $1.8 million, but with all of the above we pared it down.”
• Other Post Employee Benefits — $650,000. Sandlin said, “The county currently gives this benefit to their staff. It helps to pay a portion of the health insurance after retirement, for those who had 15 years of service with FCPS.

Sandlin said, “If you total all of this, it equals $15,044,750. However, we are asking the county for $7,404,691. Through the state’s budget and our increased enrollment numbers, and our Local Composite Index going down, we are able to cover the difference.”

She added, “If the governor changes the budget, we will have to go back to the drawing board.”

Jeck reasoned during the Jan. 12 summit that the county did not see a decrease in revenue due to the pandemic and “is in a good place as far as revenues go.”

The county’s composite index, calculated by the state, is slightly lower for the 2022-2023 school year, so the county will be eligible to receive more money per pupil from the state as well.

The state budget proposed by outgoing Gov. Ralph Northam (D) already has a 5{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} raise built in for Standard of Quality school employees. That includes a certain number of teachers, instructional aides, guidance counselors, librarians and administrators. Most schools’ staff lower staff-to-student ratios than the SOQ demand, so a lot of employees are not included in the state’s calculations. Jeck said that it would cost $5.9 million to give a 5{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} raise to all employees; $1.5 million from the state would only cover SOQ employees.

School enrollment – which dipped during the height of the pandemic as some parents opted to homeschool their children or send them to private schools – has largely rebounded, according to Sandlin. She said that March 2019 enrollment was 10,987 for K though 12th grade. In 2020, it was 10,891, but in 2021, enrollment dropped to 10,185. December 2021 numbers were at 10,700.

Final state funding will depend on March 31 enrollment numbers, which should be nearly up to pre-pandemic levels, said Sandlin.

Jeck said that Northam’s proposed budget “is healthy for schools.”

Jeck said that the school division is already struggling with 70 vacancies; 40 of those vacancies are teachers. “Our teacher turnover rate is not acceptable. … Money isn’t everything, but money talks. Teachers can drive 15 or 20 minutes down the road and make significantly more.”

If the school division were to receive the funding it says it needs, it would put teacher salaries above similar-sized counties like Culpeper, Warren and Albemarle, but would not come close to Loudoun, Prince William or Fairfax.

Fauquier will never be able to compete with the much larger counties to the north, Jeck said, but the salary increases would put the school division at a competitive advantage with surrounding counties that have populations similar to Fauquier.

Sandlin said about the budget plan, “It’s somewhat aggressive, but good timing. … The stars have aligned.”