Expectations Shape Loudoun Schools

As Enrollment Rises, So Does Parental Pressure to Compete With Fairfax

Workers in June install ventilation at Loudoun school headquarters. (Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)

Loudoun County schools chief Edgar B. Hatrick III figures that next year, the nation's fastest-growing county will have more than 3,450 new students to educate. That means five new schools and 665 new employees, among them 348 teachers, 53 custodians and 73 bus drivers.

And in Loudoun, Hatrick says, you can't just send the students into a crowded trailer. The county's new residents expect a world-class education, he says. So with that, Hatrick, who has been in his job for 14 years, has proposed a 17 percent budget increase over the current budget -- $40 million of which is simply to cover the cost of increased enrollment.

As counties across the region struggle with record growth and the pressures of creating or maintaining top-notch school systems, Loudoun's reaction to Hatrick's proposed budget could serve as a primer. He is asking for new sports programs and top pay for teachers. And acknowledging that with growth comes diversity, he proposes expanding Spanish classes in the elementary schools.

Hatrick says it is not the school superintendent's place to get in the middle of a debate about growth. But, he says, he has a constituency to serve that wants the best school system in the region. Many of the new students have moved from the nationally acclaimed Fairfax district. Loudoun parents expect no less, he says.

"These are just the realities of living in the fastest-growing county in America -- unless we're going to stand still or go backward," he said.

Over the past decade, Loudoun school enrollment has more than doubled, passing 44,000. The number of new students arriving each year is the equivalent of entire school districts in many parts of Virginia. In the past five years, the yearly school budget has more than doubled. On Tuesday, he recommended spending $539 million on education next year.

But it goes beyond finding space for new students. Hatrick says he must include proposals geared to satisfying new parents who are demanding an increasingly competitive school system. He has proposed $11.3 million in employee raises, including an ambitious plan to boost the starting annual pay for teachers to $40,000. Unless other districts match the figure, that salary would be the highest in the region.

His recommendation was unveiled during an increasingly contentious debate about how many more homes should be built in the county, as members of the Republican-led Board of Supervisors look to overturn limits on development that were put in place by their predecessors.

At the same time, the supervisors have been calling for reining in spending increases. They have embarked on an early, intensive look at the rest of the county's budget in search of savings. At a joint meeting in October, supervisors put the School Board on notice that they would like to see the same effort to save.

After seeing Hatrick's presentation, Supervisor Bruce Tulloch (Potomac), leader of the Republican majority, said only that School Board members need "to do their part" and he will look at the document more seriously after it does.

Last year, supervisors issued the same call to limit spending, saying that increases went well beyond what could be explained by new students. Then they ran headlong into an energized parent opposition. More than 1,000 parents packed a school auditorium to protest any major curbs on school spending. Ultimately, because the district was boosted by new state funding, only minor cuts were made.

The funding debate this year promises to test again what the county's new residents want and how much they're willing to pay for it.

If Hatrick's plan is approved, the school system will expand a program to teach Spanish to elementary schoolchildren, add junior varsity lacrosse to the county's sports program and slightly reduce high school class sizes.

School Board Chairman John A. Andrews II (Potomac) says the passion of parents must be considered when crafting budgets. Excellent schools, he says, are a major reason so many people want to move to the county.

"We're a high-income, highly educated community here," he said. "We don't have low expectations."

For many new Loudoun parents, their point of comparison is neighboring Fairfax County. After years of growth, Fairfax's school population is starting to level off.

At Loudoun's Mill Run Elementary School in Ashburn, four new students started school Monday. Five more are expected to start next week. A Loudoun official says at least half those students had moved recently from Fairfax.

"I joke to my friends in Fairfax: I know where their kids are going. They're going to Loudoun," Hatrick said.