Salaries of Teachers Lag Behind Nearby Counties

Prince William County school officials confirmed this week that their teachers have some of the lowest salaries in the Washington area, leaving Virginia's second-largest school system vulnerable to losing top talent. But there may be little money available in the coming year to make salaries more competitive.

First-year teachers earn $41,604 a year in Prince William, and the county's average teacher salary is $55,788, a staff survey found. That puts the county schools ahead of only Manassas Park among several suburban systems surveyed in the Washington region. Fairfax County, with the region's largest school system, had the highest salaries in the survey: $43,911 for first-year teachers and $64,219 on average.

School officials, who reviewed the survey during a Prince William County School Board meeting Wednesday, said the salary rankings came at a sensitive moment as they prepared for budget negotiations with the county government. The Board of County Supervisors sets property tax rates and controls how much money schools receive. As property assessments fall, Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large) and other supervisors have indicated they oppose significantly raising taxes to make up for revenue shortfalls.

Some School Board members, including Milton C. Johns (Brentsville), the incoming chairman, say that the biggest priority in the 73,000-student system is not raising teacher salaries but ensuring that an 11th high school gets built by 2011. However, the outgoing School Board chairman, Lucy S. Beauchamp (At Large), has argued that the school system cannot recruit the best teachers when Fairfax and Loudoun counties pay more. The new survey found that an increasing number of teachers cite low salaries as their primary reason for leaving Prince William and that the county's turnover rate, about 12 percent, costs the system $875,000 a year.

After hearing the salary report, School Board member Grant Lattin (Occoquan) suggested it be forwarded to the supervisors.

"Would you like me to do that tomorrow -- or tonight?" Beauchamp asked.

She added: "We're in a very serious situation. This has to be looked at very closely and professionally because we want what's best for Prince William County schools."

Johns, who begins a four-year term as board chairman in January, said in an interview that he wants the county to be "pretty close to the average" for teacher salaries across the region. "I don't know that our goal is to be the same as Fairfax and pay dollar for dollar with them," he said. "We want to be competitive with Fairfax, and we want to be competitive with Loudoun."

The School Board also discussed whether a pilot abstinence-only sex education program at five middle schools should be expanded. Johns and board member Julie C. Lucas (Neabsco) said they want the program in every middle school.

But Kathy Keesee, supervisor of science and family life education, said it was unclear when an expansion would occur. "That will depend on what our data says about how effective the program is at those five schools," she said.