Schools Seek More Funds for Teacher Raises

Prince William County school officials are defying directives set by the Board of County Supervisors, adding $11.5 million more to their proposed fiscal 2008 budget to improve teacher compensation, an initiative that exceeds their preliminary share of total county revenue.

At a meeting Wednesday night, the School Board authorized that an additional $11.5 million be spent exclusively on financing a 2 percent cost-of-living raise for the school system's employees. Before the decision, the school system's teachers stood to gain only an average 3 percent merit or "step" increase, which would leave their salaries among the lowest in the Washington area.

The showdown between the two bodies comes at a significant time. On Tuesday, the supervisors, who set tax rates and spending levels, will advertise their tax rate for next year before they approve the entire budget later this spring. Whatever tax rate that they advertise this week, they cannot propose anything higher should they change their minds later.

So, School Board members are scrambling to try to change the minds of supervisors, who have indicated that they would keep the tax rate the same as last year's, which would drastically lower the amount of revenue available to all county agencies, because of a recent drop in property values. Supervisors have said that homeowners deserve a break from continuous years of increased assessments and tax bills.

School officials said that it has been more than a decade since both elected bodies disagreed so sharply and came to such an impasse. They are chafing at the burdens imposed on them, arguing that their school system remains one of the fastest-growing in the region and that, under the supervisors' proposals, it will be able to cover the cost of only six of the estimated 1,760 new students next year.

The increased compensation proposal would still leave salaries lower than others in the area, but it nonetheless would keep Prince William competitive, school officials said. "Teachers are very excited and hopeful because this is an area where there's such competition for employees," said School Superintendent Steven L. Walts. "It's the right thing to do."

On Thursday, the Prince William School Board chairman and vice chairman, Lucy S. Beauchamp (At-Large) and Michael Otaigbe (Coles), hand-delivered a letter to Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-Occoquan), indicating the school system's plans. School Board members are also trying to arrange their schedules so they can show up en masse at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

Stewart, who has criticized the school system for its proposed continuation of an all-day kindergarten program, said that he is open to the school system's request. But then he sharply criticized Walts for adding expensive administrators when he arrived.

"When Dr. Walts came to Prince William, he brought a bunch of new administrators with him, and there's certainly a sense that the school system has not attacked this administrative bloat going on," Stewart said. "What they really need to do is put more teachers in the classroom. I've been told that these new administrators have caused some division."

Pressed to elaborate, Stewart declined.

Walts rejected that notion and said that a study showed that Prince William has fewer central office administrators than the typical school system has. "Having worked in four school divisions in four states, this is the leanest central office staff I've seen. We are understaffed," said Walts, who was an administrator in Baltimore County's school system several years ago.