School Board Approves Budget Plan That Freezes Teacher Pay

The School Board in Loudoun County, where the recession might be having a greater effect on teachers' wallets than in any other Washington area jurisdiction, late last night approved a budget of $747 million that would freeze teacher salaries.

The spending plan, which passed by an 8 to 1 vote, would omit cost-of-living and seniority raises to save $31 million. It would be the second straight year that Loudoun teachers have gone without a cost-of-living increase. The other type of raise, for rising seniority, is also known as a step increase. The no vote came from John Stevens (Potomac).

Last week, Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III proposed forgoing the step increase, a move he said would align Loudoun schools with others in the state. Some of the savings would preserve jobs that had been in jeopardy.

"We've been weighing this against the positions that were disappearing in order to keep the step alive," Hatrick said before the board meeting in Ashburn. "We're cognizant that there's a lot of economic strife out there."

Initially, Hatrick proposed cutting more than 80 positions and increasing average class sizes by half a student. Under Hatrick's proposal for the coming fiscal year, jobs would be eliminated and average class size raised only if the county cut 10 percent or more of its school funding.

Other regional systems are cutting teaching positions and salaries, but none as deeply as Loudoun, which routinely ranks as one of the wealthiest counties in the United States. The proposed Fairfax County schools budget would freeze salaries in the next fiscal year, but Fairfax teachers did receive a cost-of-living increase this school year. Montgomery County teachers will receive step increases under current plans, but no cost-of-living raise. The same is true in Prince George's County, but 900 jobs there would be targeted for elimination. In Alexandria, teachers would not receive a cost-of-living raise, and a step increase would be delayed until the middle of the school year.

Prince William and Arlington counties have not made public their school budget proposals.

Loudoun teacher salaries range from $43,065 to $96,195. Teachers had expected salary increases of 1.2 to 3.6 percent, depending on experience. Unlike Maryland and the District, Virginia is a right-to-work state, and teachers in Loudoun do not have a union contract. The proposed budget would also require teachers to pay more out of pocket for health care.

Teacher advocates criticized the salary freeze

"Loudoun has lost ground in terms of salaries over the last several years," said Sandy Sullivan, president of the Loudoun Education Association. She said that the move to freeze pay was "too early."

Also approved in the budget were fees for students to play sports and use school parking lots and the elimination of Loudoun's practice of paying for Advanced Placement exams.

The School Board backed away from earlier proposals to enumerate a binding list of programs that would be cut if the county does not fully fund the budget proposal. Hatrick had prepared additional lists of programs to be cut if the county Board of Supervisors reduces school funding by 5 percent, 10 percent or 15 percent. Some of the proposals, including one to close four elementary schools in the rural part of the county, have drawn loud community opposition.

"The School Board believes that they reflect reasonably reliable indicators" of what might happen if cuts are instituted, said School Board Chairman Robert F. DuPree Jr. (Dulles).