RICHMOND -- During the 29 years Jay Walker has been teaching in Fairfax County classrooms, he has heard a lot of politicians promise to put more money in the state's budget to give teachers a raise.
So when he hears a proposal such as Gov. Mark R. Warner's to give public school employees a 3 percent raise, he doesn't start dreaming about how he will spend the money.
"It's a nice thing for a politician to say, but I'm not sure it always goes into our paychecks," said Walker, 50, who teaches marketing at Robinson Secondary School.
It turns out, he's right. If the Democratic governor's proposal is approved by the General Assembly, it would translate to about $3.5 million in additional money for Fairfax schools, according to state budget documents. Rather than funding a 3 percent increase, the money would provide for a raise of 0.36 percent.
Explaining that gap reveals certain realities about how Virginia funds school districts -- and why teacher salaries still lag behind the national average, despite years of talk from Richmond about improving the state's standing. It also helps demonstrate why school systems are still looking for more state revenue, even though legislators agreed last year to spend an additional $1.5 billion over two years on education.
First, the costs of education in Virginia are shared by the state and local governments. Wealthy areas are expected to shoulder more of the financial burden than poorer districts. Fairfax, for instance, is expected to pay about 75 cents of every dollar spent on providing the state's mandated "basic education."
Loudoun County, which the state has considered slightly less affluent, picks up 72 cents of every basic-education dollar. Taxpayers in Lee County, in southwest Virginia, put up 18 cents.
Furthermore, Virginia's Constitution requires the state to help pay for a quality education but leaves it to the Board of Education and General Assembly to determine how many teachers and books are needed. In practice, most school districts do far more than the state requires.
The state sends money to pay only its share of employing certain educators. Of Loudoun County's 3,719 teacher and principal positions, the state puts up money for fewer than 2,400.
In addition, the state provides raises based on an average teacher salary, which is far below that actually paid in all of competitive Northern Virginia.
Taxpayers in Northern Virginia wind up paying 80 percent or more of their school costs. Last year's extra money helped districts provide some new programs -- and keep local taxes down -- but has done little to budge that ratio.
In Loudoun, Warner's proposal would result in $1.11 million more in state aid -- enough to fund a 0.55 percent pay increase for teachers. Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III said he would never use the state's figure to determine how large a raise to recommend to his School Board.
"We would fall right out of the competitive market," Hatrick said.
Hatrick has in fact recommended spending $11.3 million on employee raises, which includes money for an ambitious plan to boost starting salaries for beginning teachers to $40,000, one of the best in the region.
The fate of Warner's proposal now rests with the General Assembly. The Senate has recommended spending slightly less on salaries -- offering a 3 percent raise that would start Jan. 1. Delegates have suggested funding the state's share of a 2.5 percent raise and improving benefits for retirees.
Many Northern Virginia schoolteachers regularly get more than a 3 percent raise, Arlington Superintendent Robert G. Smith said -- but it is funded by taxpayers rather than by the state. That's because school boards and supervisors often agree to boost pay to keep up with the cost of living. Many teachers also get more money each year based on their experience. Between the two factors, Arlington teachers this year averaged a 5 percent raise.
None of the new money appropriated last year was earmarked for teacher raises, which is why Warner has suggested applying $54.8 million in the upcoming fiscal year to teacher salaries statewide.
Ellen Qualls, Warner's spokeswoman, said the new money did, however, expand the number of positions funded by the state government as part of providing a basic education, including for the first time jobs such as music, art and physical education teachers in elementary schools.
"Through a very difficult budget time at the state level and a hard-fought effort to fix our budget problems, K-through-12 education is not only the big winner, but was the only thing that was never cut," she said, reflecting on Warner's term.
With so many years of experience behind him, Walker, of Robinson Secondary School, said his own salary -- close to $90,000 a year -- is far above what many of his colleagues receive. He also makes more than most because he has a master's degree and because he works 11 months a year, rather than a teacher's traditional nine. But for most, he said, teacher salaries are hard to raise a family on.
"You compare us to teachers in Montgomery County, you compare us to government workers with similar experience and education, and we're way behind," he said.
Hatrick said that even though Warner's proposal would not fully fund a 3 percent raise for his employees, the pledge -- and the state's recent new investment in education -- sends an important message.
"It is a signal from Richmond -- whether proposed by the governor or the legislature -- that at least they're aware of the problem," he said. "I want to clearly express this: Some pie is better than none."
