Kevin Hickerson has taught in Fairfax County Public Schools for a decade, but this year is the first he's realized he may need to change careers if he wants to continue to live here and make ends meet.
The special education teacher at Chantilly High School was one of 11 speakers at a school board budget hearing Tuesday, many of whom asked board members to better compensate teachers and other employees before the system loses its edge — and their educators — to other jurisdictions.
The issue is one Superintendent Jack Dale highlighted earlier this month in his $2.5 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2014, a spending plan $62.7 million larger than last year's budget but one that also hinges on a 5.5 percent increase ($92.4 million) in funding from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Tuesday's hearing came in advance of the board's advertised budget work session Thursday. The board will adopt the advertised budget Feb. 7, at which point it will advance to county supervisors.
Though compensation makes up about 88 percent of Dale's budget, the plan only calls for a 1 percent market scale adjustment for all teachers next year; it lacks step increases or other potential raises officials had considered in a fiscal forecast last fall.
The adjustment, which will cost about $18.9 million, isn’t enough to keep Fairfax from lagging behind neighboring jurisdictions in teacher salaries. Speakers like Hickerson said in reality, teachers face an even bleaker picture than those comparisons paint, because take-home pay — after accounting for benefits and increasing contributions to state and county retirement systems — is much lower.
"I always thought I could overcome it but this is the first year the fiscal burdens would outweigh what it is to be an employee here," Hickerson said.
To afford a two-bedroom apartment, a county resident's annual income needs to be about $60,000, Fairfax Education Association President Michael Hairston said — "well above the means of thousands of FCPS employees."
"Over and over the issues that surface most often are respect and workload. What do these have to do with the budget? Everything. If you respect the work that someone does, you compensate them fairly for their work," Hairston said. "For a high-performing system such as this... this is unacceptable."
Fairfax County Federation of Teachers President Steve Greenburg asked the $6.5 million earmarked by Dale for extra teacher time — which amounts to one additional day at the end of the year — instead be distributed across all employees' salaries.
He also suggested strategies like mid-year step increases, among others, as a way to help the issue.
Some speakers detailed the struggles faced by other system employees, like custodians, bus drivers and food service workers.
FEA's Angela Almond said 350 such employees are not making a living wage.
Cornelius Streeter, an FCPS building supervisor, said the board but those positions have yet to be filled.
And while support employees "might not teach the children, if not for us, teaching would be next to impossible," Almond added.
Other issues speakers addressed included eliminating Monday early dismissal for elementary school students, later start times and the role and function of the system's annual budget as a whole.
Advocate Michele Menapace said "the budget has become a policy-setting and decision-making document rather than a means to implement long-range, well-developed plans debated by this board and the public."
"Strategic governance is not strategic planning," she continued. "Monitoring reports provide an assessment of work accomplished during a monitoring period. They do not guide multi-year plans of program development or related budgetary impacts. Essentially, the public knows where you've been, but has no idea where FCPS is going."
To see video of speakers' testimonies, click the media player at right.
See also:
Enrollment Drives $2.5 B Schools Budget
Leaders Worry Fairfax Teacher Pay Won't Be Competitive
Fairfax Schools Face Nearly $150M Deficit in 2014
The America I grew up in recognized the best of so many different cultures. We admired the Polish kids and learned to pronounce lots of odd names; we admired the Jewish kids and learned that Hanukkah is *not* the be-all and end-all; we admired the Italian kids and learned to swear in Italian; we admired the Hispanic kids and learned that salt and pepper were not the only spices available; we admired the black kids and learned that many races have been oppressed have had troubles we can only imagine; we admired the Scottish kids and learned the music of the highlands. None of those first- and second-generation Americans in my neighborhoods made me any less American; we all recognized and celebrated the differences as we learned American ways. Your kids learn the values and culture you teach them, and I'm sorry yours will learn not to value others.
"Since 2009, the number of English for Speaker of Other Languages (ESOL) students has grown 42.3 percent; the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals has increased by nearly 36 percent." We are losing tax base and gaining costs. Could we have built a new science & technology school with the money we have to spend each year on new classroom space and ESOL teachers? Could we have used that money to work on closing the achievement gap for our black students? I believe the quality of life is declining in our area and I think my point of view is just as valid as yours. No need to be so condescending and start a pity party for me.
The students were hurt with increased class sizes, less technology integration, and a testing inundation that emphasized memorization and teaching to the test over teaching the students how to think for themselves. Teachers have been hurt by Jack Dale as they start at $45,000 per year hoping for a $1,400 step increase a year only to see a 1% $450 raise while having to see class sizes increase. Teachers have seen the county prioritize "instructional coach" positions, foreign language immersion programs, newer technology, eliminating AP test fees and eliminating athletic fees over paying teachers steps they look forward to in order to live more comfortable lifestyles. FCPS has a turnover rate of 16%, which Enables FCPS to hire new "cheap"starting teachers The taxpayers have been hurt by seeing the Fairfax Board of Supervisors subsidize "low income " housing and then act stunned that 16 percent of students don't speak English as their first language, and 27 percent of the students qualify for a free or reduced lunch. Coupling this with a weak "illegal alien" stance in schools, unlike PW county, has seen the FCPS enrollment increase and forced county employees like social workers, librarians , and taxpayers to hate "greedy" teachers
The real problem of being poor in America today is not so much a lack of food, but the inability to move away from other poor people. The powers that be seem to have determined that Mason District is the where the poor will be gathered.
There is no question that the economy and immigration are taking a toll on the budget of the school system. The problem at hand is how best for FPCS to spend its money. There are those who think raising taxes is the answer. I disagree--the economy is also affecting homeowners. Perhaps, I would be more willing to contribute more if I felt the money were being wisely spent--but it is not. Like it or not, we must educate the children who are here. No one benefits if we exclude these kids. Whether they stay here or not, they are here NOW and we must ensure that they are educated. Teachers do deserve more pay--but the fact is that beginning teachers are not being paid more poorly than many other new college graduates these days. Kids just out of college are waiting tables and working minimum wage in many cases--or not working at all. I was a teacher for many years and I know that there is a lot of stress and overtime--but many other jobs have that as well. The fact is that most teachers work a 194 day contract--that translates to less than 40 weeks per year. Twelve weeks off is generous. I know that teachers go to school, etc.-but so do many others. I still contend that if FCPS would cut some of the fluff at Gatehouse and cut back on teachers who don't teach, that it could better pay its teachers. It also needs to look at programs like FLES and special programs which require transportation,
I concur that the powers that be are the great manipulators of the poverty concentrations, but believe it is more widespread than just Mason District. Also that many silently agree with Jody, however, they don't all move to far out places. Walled and gated communities adjacent to many of the poor communities on the Richmond Highway Corridor makes one think of feudal Europe when wall surrounded towns, villages and estates to keep out the poor were the mode. The highway corridor has become a Mount Vernon & Lee Districts defacto poverty zone. This 7 mile strip between Alexandria and Fort Belvoir only minutes from National Airport & downtown D.C. is a prime revitalization corridor for bringing in new business and tax base to accommodate the BRAC at Fort Belvoir and the casinos coming across the river at National Harbor. The county built so much in the way of apartment style housing here in the 60's - 90's which is today "affordable housing". The developers of this kind of housing don't live here but elsewhere as you say. Developers today say that the demographics of the corridor do not fit the models for better redevelopment being demanded by local citizens of an aging corridor of strip shopping centers. Two WalMarts on the corridor, payday and car title loan businesses abound along with pawn shops and a litany of poverty based businesses are what defines the corridor today. Apparently there is much money to be made even in poverty designed development.
I remember being very happy in the multicultural schools in both states. Integrated schools seemed normal to me, having had no other experience. I don't remember anybody fuming that the schools had to be lily-white to be American. And now such statements strike me as quite un-American. I am also noticing in the past few years that white Americans in Fairfax county are suddenly having larger families. I imagine that has caught county school officials completely by surprise and has added to enrollments. Personally, I'd like to see teacher salaries increased. If the county is short of money for teachers, they should consider defunding the Lorton Workhouse Art Center. That would be about a million a year right there. I guess it's all a matter of priorities. Kathy Kaplan
To Kathy Keith: you are right that the topic is teachers salaries, and I shouldn't have gone off track.
Yes, it is more than just Mason District. I should have stated that Mason is *one* of the areas where the poor will be gathered. As for the pay day loans, pawns shops and other such businesses, I recently saw a study on the very lucrative "poverty industry" that thrives many poor communities across the nation. It is very real and very powerful
Just once, I'd like to see an entire BOS really work on cutting costs.
Just once, I would like to see the schools actually provide a line item budget review, or, I don't know, any kind of audit. Or perhaps the slightest shred of fiscal responsibility, and then really work on cutting costs. Until then, they don't get another dime from the county or taxpayers.