Budget Deal Nets Raise for Teachers

Projects Trimmed to Provide Funds

Maybe all the budget wrangling finally sapped the gravitas out of Lucy S. Beauchamp, the longtime Prince William County School Board chairman. Or maybe she was just steamed and needed to vent. "This budget stinks," Beauchamp said at the School Board's Wednesday night meeting. "This budget stinks. . . . It truly does."

On Wednesday, the board completed its most contentious budget negotiations in more than a decade, approving a $762.1 million operating budget for fiscal 2008 that extends all-day kindergarten to all elementary schools but delays construction projects, increases class size and offers raises to teachers who will remain among the lowest paid in Northern Virginia.

The school budget was severely limited by the tax policy adopted by the Board of County Supervisors, whose members decided to hold the line on taxes to give homeowners a break from years of rising assessments. Prince William teachers -- already the worst paid among major Northern Virginia districts -- are slated next year to get a 5 percent raise, which is based on about a 3 percent "step" or experience raise and a 2 percent cost-of-living raise.

School officials are proposing a 7 percent raise in Arlington, 6 percent in Loudoun and 5 percent in Fairfax, where the average teacher salary is $62,638 compared with $53,413 in Prince William.

The approval of the school budget ended months of strained negotiations between the School Board and the Board of County Supervisors, which sets tax rates and determines how much revenue is available to all county agencies.

The school system receives 56.75 percent of all county revenue every year, so the larger the tax bills, the more money the schools get.

At first, Prince William teachers were going to get only a 3 percent step increase, without a cost-of-living raise. School Superintendent Steven L. Walts proposed an initial budget in February without the extra boost because the supervisors had indicated that they were keeping the tax rate flat and reducing available county revenue.

But two weeks ago, the School Board voted to defy the supervisors' guidelines, adding $11.5 million to Walts's budget so that teachers could receive both the cost-of-living and step increases.

Then, at the Board of County Supervisors meeting Tuesday, School Board members pressed supervisors to adopt a higher tax rate that would give them the extra $11.5 million. But supervisors were skeptical about whether the School Board had scrutinized its budget enough and pummeled School Board members with questions about their initiatives.

W.S. Covington III (R-Brentsville) even told Beauchamp that Walts had not been as "responsive" to his questions as the previous superintendent, the late Edward L. Kelly.

"I'm getting a little tired of it," Covington told Beauchamp.

Then John T. Stirrup Jr. (R-Gainesville) questioned Beauchamp and her vice chairman, Michael T. Otaigbe (Coles), about the merits of all-day kindergarten, an initiative that next year will cost the school system more than $5 million. He said he had studied research indicating that the program does not boost achievement. Stirrup asked: "Is there any connection between all-day kindergarten and SAT scores?"

School Board member Betty Covington told supervisors that when she was a principal, she lost several teachers to Fairfax County, which was especially frustrating because she had just sent those teachers for expensive professional development training.

"I wanted to send Fairfax the bill," she said.

The supervisors were ultimately not swayed. In a 5 to 3 vote, they advertised a real estate tax rate of 78.7 cents per $100 of assessed value, giving the schools about $9.5 million more, just shy of what school officials requested. The supervisors will adopt a tax rate next month, but by law, they cannot adopt anything higher than what they advertise.

What will the residents of Prince William reap should supervisors adopt the advertised tax rate? The average tax bill will go down $20, said Corey A. Stewart (R-Occoquan), chairman of the supervisors.

Determined to give teachers a 5 percent raise, the school system cut even more.

On Wednesday, Walts announced that he is delaying the completion of an extensive fiber-optic network connecting all the schools, not purchasing numerous buses, cutting out an awards program for teachers and students for one year, and postponing a program that steers students into teaching.

"Finally, at the end of a few difficult days, I would end by saying this," Walts said, verging on tears. "You can have a Peace Corps worker in a Third World country teaching a group of children who don't have any paper or textbooks, so the value of teachers is top drawer and I think we have to do this. We need to make sure they're here."