Prince William County’s schools enrollment boom has outpaced the growth of the district’s budget for years, a quandary exacerbated by the recession. Class sizes have ballooned. Bus service has been cut. Per-pupil spending has flattened.
Faced with the prospect of the county’s enacting a smaller than planned increase in the property tax rate, the school board has again begun weighing drastic cuts, this time to the district’s treasured universal full-day kindergarten program, which Superintendent Steven L. Walts once touted as his “greatest accomplishment.” After years of cutbacks, board members said there are few places left to look to save money.
“It’s more of an economic calculation than an educational calculation,” said school board Chairman Milton C. Johns (At Large), who has championed the expansion of the program. “We’re out of options.”
So this is what it comes down to? The BOCS needs to stop trying to “out-Republican” each other and do the right and responsible thing. Cutting new funding back to a $12 million increase is not the right and responsible thing to do when PWC gets approximately 2000 new students per year.
Do the math. 2000 divided by 25 (pushing class size ideally to its limits) equals 80. A million dollars buys you 10 new teachers. This years new allotment of money covers the new teacher salaries and benefits period. That leaves roughly $4 million to distribute over 85,000 kids for a year. Divide that $4 million by 85,000 students. That comes out to be about $47.05 per student increase. That amount of money doesn’t even buy one new text-book per child. It doesn’t cover new buses, repair to old buses or buy school supplies. That $47.05 is for an entire school year.
So let’s add all that up. We get teachers for all the new kids to the tune of $8 million. Then we divide up the remainder of the new money over a year for all the children and it comes out to be about $47 bucks which won’t even buy 1 new textbook. Slim pickings, kids. There is no extra.
Now let’s turn to those wonder math geniuses who proposed gouging away at the 5 year plan. (why have those rascally 5 year plans anyway…when you can just fly by the seat of your pants and play to your political base) Instead of counting on a 4% increase in revenue, they have proposed to just hold the spending to 1.3%. The problem is, someone forgot to tell the kids and the new families moving to our county about “da base.” Won’t they be surprised!
Let’s hear from the math wizards where they are going to get the money to run a school system that is supposed to attract new businesses to the county. I bet those Fortune 500 companies are just lining up at the Fairfax/Prince William County line to come to Prince William without an all day kindergarten. In most places in America, all day kindergarten is sort of basic. It’s that investment in our future some seem to disregard and place little value on.
Let’s see where Coach Candland and his new water girl, J. Lawson would start the cuts. Start with the athletic programs because academics should come first. How about doing away with middle school sports other than local school intramurals? Then we can be just like Fairfax County. Do away with all after school bus service also. No activities buses. Let the two throw themselves on that grenade and see how far they get.
If cuts are to be made, then let’s call it like it is. No cuts to academic programs or any of the support services to academics. Let’s just start cratering the sports programs. Hint to the new coaching team: You will not survive. Parents will chew you up and spit out the bones.
The School Board must start finger-pointing at the Board of Supervisors since they do not have the ability to raise the revenues the schools need. That job has been given to the governing boards of the jurisdictions by the Constitution of Virginia. By the same Document, the school boards have been given the job of allocating the funds they get, not the board of supervisors.
So, just for jollies and laughs, where would those who proposed the draconian cuts in revenue for the county start with the slicing and dicing as it relates to schools? Come on, Pete and Jeanine, where would you make those educational cuts? We don’t have to listen to you but we are curious.
Corey, if you didn’t like the 1.3%, you shouldn’t have voted for it. Maybe you better do a little arm twisting and start talking reality money. You don’t want to be caught floundering around on dry land like Pete and Jeanine are going to do.
This isn’t my first rodeo. I have seen cheap playing to the base before. It failed. However, it left PW County Schools always playing catch up. The very things parents are bitching about now (and in most cases, rightly so) were caused by this very same behavior…trying to go on the cheap all the time. Money talks and bullsh!t walks. I see a lot of it walking now.
When new people are evaluating neighborhoods to determine if they are going to move there – one of the first things they look at is the quality of the schools. Studies have shown that full day kindergarten does contribute to improvement in a child’s education – something that is needed more and more in our economic direction (knowledge and information workers). Why do some think dismantling things are an investment into our future.
Reminds me of an acquaintance (tea party crowd) that lived in Montgomery County – he still complains about the high taxes he had to pay. When asked why he decided to buy a home there, he said that he needed the services offered for his special needs daughter and that Montgomery County had the best services in the nation for her needs. I laugh at that because he wants the services but does not want to pay. For someone like him, in his situation, he probably was a net loss to Montgomery county.
They are flailing badly. They want to protect first responders (but they’re not exactly sure who that is) and the libraries (purely out of spite – in every other budget cutting process neighborhood libraries and the New Horizon Program are the first items on the list) but there is no thought to how those functions will be supported. There won’t be many first responders responding unless they have gas in cars that are well maintained and safe to drive or have been able to buy the equipment they need or make sure their technology works – or better yet PAY THEM and pay them accurately.
How do they expect the schools to function year after year! I don’t jnow how these people manage their personal budgets if they think changing it up every year is normal. Schools = economic development which in turns increases your commercial tax base.
If only the BOS was pandering to a special interest group it would be easier to swallow. They’re pandering to EACH OTHER which is clear to us watching but clearly not obvious to them. They really look ridiculous.
You’re absolutely correct, the annual destruction of a multi year plan cannot work where continuity of services is needed.
“Johns and other board members have started to look at cost savings that could be achieved by eliminating programs not required by state law”
I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t care to live in a place where only the minimum is provided.
The Loudoun County School board infused over a million more dollars than the Superintendent asked for.
Loudoun County School Board is showing some class!
http://www.leesburgtoday.com/news/budget-adopted-school-board-adds-m-to-williams-proposal/article_5001252a-a83a-11e4-aaf2-9766e74fb50d.html#.VM6NWctk3ok.mailto
B-b-but they’re all Republicans. How will they survive their next elections? Maybe there could be a BOCS exchange day?
On the Libraries: this being tax season, and although I e-file, I do go out and see what the VA Tax booklet says each year; just checking for any little nuances. I noticed the list of who you can make a contribution (via deduction from any refund) – PW Library Foundation is on the list.
Now, that would be an excellent way for the Library System to get additonal funds, and yet, I have not seen any advertisement or announcement via the local system encouraging folks to do so. Maybe I missed it, but just haven’t seen one.
Maybe the new esteemed protector of the libraries should make a pitch for the residents of Prince William County to start supporting their libraries rather than waiting for it all to come from government.
A huge MEOW.
Thanks, Ray.
I know the lurking readers will take the word back to the appropriate people so a big deal can be made of it during the next BOCS meeting. One supervisor can monopolize all the time on it and then accuse Marty of never shutting up, which I find extremely funny.
What is also funny is when the citizens of PWC do not differentiate between a blog and a supervisor. It just all runs together and becomes one big blur.
We get what we vote for. I believe one of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results each time.
As to all day kindergarten. How many here went to all day kindergarten or even part day kindergarten? I expect not many. My generation, at least in my little town in Oklahoma, never went to kindergarten and our parents didn’t either and you know what- I think we did pretty damned good. If people want all day kindergarten (or what might be considered very good day care), they should be prepared to pay for it and they should be prepared to elect a school board and a board of supervisors who have the chutzpah to make sure the necessary funding is available and used wisely.
I never went to kindergarten. However, both my parents were educated and they and the older ladies I lived around taught me things long before I went to school. I lived next door to a scientist who was working on his PHD in something or other so he taught me all sorts of neat things. Many kids don’t have those luxuries. Kids don’t have an extended family living around them. Many have parents who work, sometimes more than one job. Kids don’t all have scissors and magazines in the home. Many don’t have books.
So, when you look at it this way and the emphasis on getting those test scores up, all day kindergarten is a great deal. The classes I have seen sure can’t be considered day care.
I grew up in one of the best public school systems in the country, and it still is, and I went to half day kindergarten 45 years ago……….my kids went to half day here and it was definitely not day care. It is more important in schools that have fewer children who went to preschool though.
The kids in the US are largely undereducated compared to other countries. This is just another example where we have elected officials who want to disinvest in everything we have. Getting full day kindergarden is hard to do – but once you have it, it should be east to maintain. Removing it is a step backwards.
George – years ago most people (and the Amish still) only achieved an 8th grade education. Today’s jobs are getting more and more technical, requiring more and more education. Most employers are having issues getting qualified people to work in high tech jobs like manufacturing. Unions – although not perfect – ran apprenticeship and training programs that have largely gone by the wayside in our quest to cut all costs.
If I could change one thing in education it would be to pour tons of money into vocational training. Not everyone should go to college.
@ Pat Herve-I don’t know what you mean by “years ago” or where you’re talking about but I graduated from high school 64 years ago this coming May and a lot of people were graduating then. Yes, I fully understand that, “Today’s jobs are getting more and more technical, requiring more and more education.” The problem is, as Moon points out at #12,is the right kind of education. I have taught school, ran a large medical technical school wit military officer training programs and spent 7 years in a medical university. I didn’t just get off the turnip truck. High schools and community colleges have failed to keep pace with the changes in industry to the point it is almost criminal. Today, machines/robots have replaced many personnel and what is needed now are people to maintain the machines, program the machines and develop new machines and programs. IMVHO, cutting costs is not the primary reason apprentice programs aren’t around much any more-sophistication is the reason. And I sometimes believe the sophistication is really necessary but it is a way to raise the entrance bar plus nobody can live on an apprentice salary.
I may have called it “day care” but kindergarten is, in many ways, very sophisticated day care. And one of the many reasons it is “day care” is that both parent have to work in order to live, some well beyond their means even though both are working.
I will refer back to my opening statements in #8, “We get what we vote for. I believe one of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results each time.” We continue to put the same folks in office knowing what they are despite their election promises. I don’t feel sorry for Prince William Schools, I pity them-they are the victims of a stupid electorate.
+1
The property assessments in PWC are way below market value. Don’t believe it? Check out your property here, http://pwc.publicaccessnow.com/AddressSearch.aspx.
If assessments catch up then so do taxes. We should insist that property be assessed at 100% of market value. Investing in our school system will bring jobs. Employers will point to a great school system when hiring top level employees to their company, not to slightly lower property tax rates.
Welcome Steve. You might want to use a last name initial because we already have a Steve here who is a regular, Steve Thomas. Or you may chose a nom de plum. Your choice.
On to your comment…I don’t disagree with you but I don’t know how the county would pull it off. From a manpower point of view, assessments are not personalized. No one comes to inspect your home. Secondly, how would they keep the assessment up to date since current market values fluxuate?
I certainly agree with you about investing in our schools. It pays off in so many different ways, including upping your real estate value so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will be back.
Assessments are a snapshot in time. When that photo is taken that is their value according to the market. That’s no different then when a home is sold.
Energy screaming at the School Board is nearly wasted. Sure there are details that they need to reconsider (even if some of them are just merely political with minimal financial impact). The real problem here is the BOCS and the people who do their bidding. Crying a tear and claiming to be the “poorest of the rich” is a song that nobody with real problems wants to hear.
Why would I want to scream at the School Board? They pretty much are the poorest of the rich. Check out the per pupil spending. That pretty much paints the picture. I don’t think the BOCS does do their bidding. Never have. Probably never will.
Help me understand your issue with them.
Sorry. I wasn’t super clear after re-reading my post.
I don’t think you are screaming at the School Board nor do I think you are doing the bidding for the BOCS.
I was referring to other people (including many at School Board meetings) who seem to demand that the School Board properly fund the schools. They have ZERO say in how it is funded, only how the money is spent. When the average funds per student is WAY below our regional competitors this simply isn’t a school board issue. Getting picky on a few school board issues can certainly save some here and there but it cannot nearly save the money needed to get our schools where they need to be.
The School Board needs to come out in favor of the five year plan’s increase and quit protecting their ultra-conservative friends by talking about either A) Draconian cuts that nobody wants like losing full-day kindergarten or B) flipping out about a pool and a theater that admittedly have bad optics but are a drop in the bucket to what is needed to fund our schools properly.
Regular increases in teacher pay and reduction of class sizes are a must. But we need to “give” some too. Eliminate waste (I don’t like the word “waste” because it is often used broadly and/or vaguely) and also look at our borders and specialty programs so some schools are sitting partially empty while others are overcrowded.
To be clear, my issue is with the BOCS and their severe and regular underfunding of our school system. We need a School Board who will step up to protect the school system and not just be happy with whatever money the BOCS is kind enough to throw its way. The School Board’s job is to defend and protect the school system in order to provide a “world class education”, not to go-along-to-along with the BOCS.
They hint at it. They suggest it. But School Board members should come out publicly against any BOCS member who is suggesting anything less than a 4% increase in property taxes as prescribed in the five-year plan.
Totally agree, Steve. I misunderstood your original position. Why create a 5 year plan that doesn’t make it past year one. 5 year plans are not only visions, they are the map to chart your course and achieve objectives. 1 year and its canned.
Parents need to sit up and take notice. Those supervisors need to lose their jobs if they aren’t supporting the schools. If there are extras in the school board budget, I sure haven’t seen it.
Thank you so much for taking the time to clarify your position.
Thumbs up.