Loudoun Schools budget (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax: 2014, elementary schools, teacher salaries)

[acgood]

Superintendent Hatrick is going out swinging against the cheap-a** board of supervisors in his last budget proposal:
http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudou...0-%20final.pdf

Should be an interesting spring. Last year they pushed through an average $40 property tax cut mainly by eliminating a chunk of teaching assistant and other low-level positions.

The questions that the local officials ask during the process are often quite comical, must read material.

[stpickrell]

At some point the BoS will have to touch class sizes or teacher salaries -- making the admission that we're no longer competing with Fairfax/Prince William, but instead peering with Frederick VA/Clarke or positioning ourselves between the two sets.

Will the $7.50 a month we save be worth it? Only time will tell.

Most of the upper-middle class students and parents in Loudoun won't notice or care if you just put in an extra 1-2 students without telling them. But ... there'd be many students at Douglass, Banneker, and the whole Park View HS pyramid that'd notice.

I hope, at least, the board will hold the line against residential-only development. If that means fields stay green for 10-15 years until there's the demand for commercial/industrial, then so be it. Land development is a risky business and it's not the county government's job to bail out land speculators.

[JCVA]

The Loudoun BOS has its head in the sand (or some other dark place). Loudoun schools should be competing with Fairfax, and we'll never get there with this kind of penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking. This is one of the reasons I no longer consider myself a Republican.

[dmv101010]

This whole budget scream "Keeping up with the Joneses". Heck no to raising my property taxes, loudoun teachers are really complaiing about salary? Comeon COL is less to live in Loudoun than Fairfax and Arlington, Alexandria. Most of these teacher probably live west so this salary is excellent to them anyways. This whole budget just sounds whinny and makes me want to scream.

[acgood]

The discussion of where teacher compensation should fall among local jurisdictions is a reasonable one to have.

But the issue many of us have with the BOS and their budget mindset is the unwillingness to acknowledge that there are fixed costs (ie, 1+ new school every year and associated staffing) that are (in a sane world) not negotiable as you experience explosive population growth. There were seriously BOS questions in recent years nitpicking about hiring new custodian head count and things like that...the response was like "um, nitwit, we opened three new schools vs last year's budget"

[cdmurphy]

Maybe the BOS should at least push through some additional funding for information security.
Loudoun schools' data accidentally breached - The Washington Post

As a parent of children in LCPS, I have been extremely impressed with their school's administration, teachers, and staff - even at overcapacity - but the district itself is floundering.

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by acgood

The discussion of where teacher compensation should fall among local jurisdictions is a reasonable one to have.

But the issue many of us have with the BOS and their budget mindset is the unwillingness to acknowledge that there are fixed costs (ie, 1+ new school every year and associated staffing) that are (in a sane world) not negotiable as you experience explosive population growth. There were seriously BOS questions in recent years nitpicking about hiring new custodian head count and things like that...the response was like "um, nitwit, we opened three new schools vs last year's budget"

They're having this nickel and dime **** because they know it'll be harder to hit teacher compensation + class size.

[tgbwc]

It's interesting that the superintendent compares step 9 of the pay scale with Fairfax instead of Prince William. At that point PW surpasses Fairfax by $1,100.

[NC211]

I got some email recently that asked me to engage on some budget discussion survey for Loudoun. In it, it stated how important it is that we understand how impactful this budget will be during these continued "economic hardships". I responded with one question: How can the second wealthiest county in the county actually use the "economic hardships" approach to try and scare folks into budget cuts?

With this kind of money sitting out here, I'd like to think that those of us who are making up that statistic, could go without the two extra apple pies at Costco so we could pay an extra $40/$50 a year in taxes to support the schools.

My kids go to a brand spacing new school out here. We found out that neither of their classrooms had "toys", like balls and carts and stuff like that. Instead of screwing around with it, we just went to the store and loaded up the family buggy with as much as we could and gave them to the school teachers. Cost about the same as a tank of gas in the new family suv.

You screw with the schools, and we'll just be hurting ourselves on every single economic front in the area. Great schools attract the deep pockets.

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by NC211

My kids go to a brand spacing new school out here. We found out that neither of their classrooms had "toys", like balls and carts and stuff like that. Instead of screwing around with it, we just went to the store and loaded up the family buggy with as much as we could and gave them to the school teachers. Cost about the same as a tank of gas in the new family suv.

Yes, new elementary schools in Loudoun do not have play equipment or a playground. I know of some Girl Scouts who are running a project to collect new or gently used play equipment for Moorefield Station ES. That is also why some parents resent the frequent redistricting - not just because of the community and educational disruption, but because they have given money to help build a playground or track at the school and now their kid won't get to use it, and now they might be at another new school with no stuff starting all over.

I think their reliance on parents to pick up the slack along the way (instead of asking for more property tax up front) is related to why the push for full-day kindergarten hasn't gained traction. If enough parents are willing and able fork up the cash for private full-day, that takes the burden off the schools (until those kids re-enter first grade, which is why my kids' school has seven first grade classes). If everyone paid a little more in property taxes, then everyone could have free full-day kindergarten and those who pay for private just because they want full-day (not those who intend to keep their kids in private past kindergarten) could save a lot on tuition.