Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Teacher pay and foreign language cutbacks are also concerns as Fairfax County School Board looks for another $30 million in reductions for next year's budget.
If push came to shove, Jane Lipp would give her right kidney to keep an instructional coach at her school. The principal of South County High School, which has a 49 percent minority population, said that's the kind of sacrifice she'd make, drama aside, to keep a position that's been 'instrumental" in helping her teachers push the school's diverse student body to succeed. More than a dozen of the 40 speakers who addressed the school board Tuesday night in a public hearing about Fairfax County Public Schools' budget spoke about the role coaches play in the day to day lives of teachers and students, including their help toward narrowing student achievement gaps. The public hearing comes as the school board prepares to adopt a $2.5 billion …
Friday, February 8, 2013
Members vote to increase request in county transfer to fund field custodians, remedies to achievement gap issues.
The Fairfax County School Board approved an advertised $2.5 billion fiscal year 2014 budget Thursday that asks county supervisors for $3 million more in their annual transfer to the system, to fund field custodian positions and add more part-time advanced academic resource teachers in elementary schools with high risk populations. That request comes on top of a 5.5 percent increase ($92.4 million) in funding from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors — for a total transfer of $1.77 billion — already in the proposal Superintendent Jack Dale unveiled last month. The 10-2 vote sends the spending plan to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Fairfax County Executive Ed Long will release his budget Feb. 26. Board members passed three …
Friday, February 1, 2013
Restoring full day elementary on Mondays also discussed as Fairfax County School Board stares down Feb. 7 budget vote.
Amendments to Fairfax Superintendent Jack Dale's $2.5 billion proposed Fiscal Year 2014 budget could direct more money toward head start and early learning programs, along with those that tackle the county's achievement gap, school board members said Thursday at a work session on the spending plan. Though board members are still in the process of drafting amendments to the budget, some gave a glimpse of what they hope to adjust next week before the plan is adopted and sent to the Board of Supervisors. On Tuesday, a dozen speakers addressed the board with their own concerns about the proposal: that it doesn't adequately address teacher compensation, time or workload issues, a living wage for other employees like bus drivers, food service …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
As Fairfax County School Board prepares to move FY 2014 budget forward, start times and issues with planning and policy also highlighted by community members Tuesday.
Kevin Hickerson has taught in Fairfax County Public Schools for a decade, but this year is the first he's realized he may need to change careers if he wants to continue to live here and make ends meet. The special education teacher at Chantilly High School was one of 11 speakers at a school board budget hearing Tuesday, many of whom asked board members to better compensate teachers and other employees before the system loses its edge — and their educators — to other jurisdictions. The issue is one Superintendent Jack Dale highlighted earlier this month in his $2.5 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2014, a spending plan $62.7 million larger than last year's budget but one that also hinges on a 5.5 percent increase ($92.4 million) in …
Friday, January 11, 2013
FY 2014 spending plan adds nearly 293 positions to accommodate 2,857 extra students -- but 'bare bones budget' falls short on some needs, Superintendent Jack Dale says.
Superintendent Jack Dale unveiled a $2.5 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2014 on Thursday — a budget $62.7 million larger than last year's spending plan largely driven by huge enrollment growth and the staffing needed to accommodate it. But the plan is "bare bones," Dale said, compared to an earlier Fairfax schools fiscal forecast that anticipated giving more compensation to teachers and reducing class sizes or creating a permanent line item for textbooks, among other program needs. "It's nothing extravagant but it does recognize some of the things Fairfax expects," Dale said Thursday morning after a meeting with reporters. The budget Dale presented to the school board Thursday finds $50 million in savings, but relies heavily on a proposed …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Superintendent Jack Dale's proposed $2.5 billion budget for FY 2014 doesn't adequately compensate educators compared to neighboring jurisdictions, leaders say.
As he presented his $2.5 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2014 on Thursday, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Dale threw up a "red flag" about the county's ability to pay teachers compared to other neighboring jurisdictions, which could hurt its ability to attract and retain educators, he said. Dale's proposed budget is $62.7 million larger than last year's budget but relies heavily on a proposed 5.5 percent increase ($92.4 million) in funding from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors — for a total transfer of $1.77 billion — as a revenue source. Compensation — including an extra 293 positions to accommodate student growth and the costs of benefits and a state-mandated Virginia Retirement System shift — makes up …
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Board members explore new budget strategies, prepare for season at work session Monday
Fairfax County Public Schools will face a projected $147.9 million deficit in fiscal year 2014 — a gap that would require an 8.8 percent increase in the annual transfer it receives from the county. That amount does not include $90.8 million in identified program needs, such as restoring class size reductions, extended teacher contracts and textbooks — in all, the system would need $238.7 million to meet projected costs. The county's school board got an early look at the structural gap it faces over the next five years during a fiscal forecast presented during Monday's work session, created largely by the board's use of one-time money to meet ongoing needs, said FCPS Chief Financial Officer Susan Quinn, who gave the presentation, noting the…
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Fairfax County School Board disagrees on whether slight changes or drastic shift necessary for system's method
A review of how schools are ranked on Fairfax County Public Schools' building renovation queue will be done through a combination of community input and staff review rather than a task force or independent consultant, board members decided at a work session Monday. The board develops its Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) every five years, which includes new schools, renovations, capacity enhancements, additions and infrastructure management. Schools receive improvements in the order in which they're ranked on the system's renovation queue, driven by a list of weighted criteria ranging from how the buildings serve "Fundamental Educational Requirements (FER)," including whether they are under or over capacity, to their age and physical …
Monday, July 16, 2012
Because of school board action on VRS shift, new teachers will earn less than those hired in 2009; administrators say lower scale is necessary to prevent inequity across the system
Leaders of Fairfax County teachers unions say new teachers hired at the lowest pay step this school year will be earning $1,129 less than their counterparts in 2009 as part of pay scale adjustments expected to take effect next month. The adjustments were a response to Fairfax County School Board action on new state legislation requiring public school employees who participate in the Virginia Retirement System to pay a 5 percent employee contribution, which school systems currently pay. To offset the increased contribution, the legislation requires school systems to in turn pay a 5 percent salary increase to employees. School systems have the choice of implementing the change all at once or over the course of five years, but all new …
Friday, May 25, 2012
In 7-5 vote, Fairfax County school board members praise increased compensation but worry about how state retirement system plan will affect future
The Fairfax County School board narrowly approved a $2.4 billion budget Thursday night that will give teachers a 1.25 percent market-scale adjustment, add positions to handle unprecedented student growth and add $2.5 million more for extended learning time for at-risk students while phasing in the beginning of costly new state retirement system requirements. The fiscal year 2013 spending plan, which takes effect July 1, did not include earlier pledges to give larger market scale adjustments, step increases and extended time for teachers — items high on school board members' priority lists at the beginning of the budget cycle that were later compromised because of new state retirement system demands. New legislation requires public school …
Gail Ritchie
9:08 am on Thursday, May 16, 2013
The best way to counter ignorant, hateful, inaccurate information is to provide accurate information. So: 1. Instructional coaches are 11-month employees, so their salaries reflect an additional month of salary. Many of us are long-time employees, so some of that salary reflects longevity and years of experience (from which all the teachers and students at our schools benefit). And FCPS … more ›