At a joint meeting of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and School Board, board members agreed to help fund smaller class sizes for Prince William County Schools.
In the second meeting between the two boards in recent months, class sizes became the focus at the behest of Supervisor Chairman-at-Large Corey Stewart-R, who told his supervisors this meeting would be about real solutions rather than sound bites.
“I don’t want this to be just another talking session where we all talk and moan about class sizes in Prince William County,” said Stewart at the Oct. 1 supervisor’s meeting, “but I would like to look at actual solutions about what we can do-not just political sound bites- what it’s going to cost.”
Members of both boards have yet to decide if they want to reduce classes sizes for all classes, or chose to focus on one age group, underperforming schools, or another subgroup.
But Stewart was adamant that something should be done to begin the process.
“We keep on hearing it's $15 million to reduce class sizes across the board, when I think you acknowledged we need to start somewhere,” Stewart said.
Dave Cline Superintendent of Finance and Support Services for Prince William County Schools estimated that it would cost an average of $15.1 million to reduce class maximums by one for all classrooms, which comes down to $6 million per elementary school, $4 million per middle school and $5 million per high school.
School Board Chairman Milt Johns said that they have not instituted a plan as of yet because the money was just not there. However, this year, Johns said his board has directed the Superintendent to develop a plan to reduce class size, even if they must start with just one grade level.
When one of the supervisors asked if the additional funding would have to be on-going, Superintendent Steven Walts, answered, “absolutely, because you have to have that every year, otherwise you’re laying off teachers or getting a new place for them every year.
Cline demonstrated how class sizes work in the district. At the elementary level, there is a maximum class size of 29. When a class reaches above that maximum number, another class must be opened, or a second teacher brought into the classroom.
According to this system, reducing class sizes, such as from 29 to 28, may have a very significant impact, such as going from a 28-member class to a 14-member class. However, on the other hand, it may have a very insignificant impact, depending upon how the students are divided per grade level.
Cline said that there may be an additional costs for new classrooms or trailers, but teachers could also take advantage of sharing classrooms, especially in the upper grade levels.
To add to the confusion, high school class sizes are also limited in another way, since each teacher can only teach a limited number of students.
Supervisor Martin Nohe-R from the Coles District pointed out that his constituents want to know how this will affect their children.
“I haven’t had any calls from parents who want class sizes to be smaller, he said. “I get calls from parents saying they want their child’s class smaller.”
Specifically, Nohe wanted to see substantial research on the matter supporting whatever approach is made to diminish class sizes within a subgroup.
Cline said research indicates that reducing class sizes by fewer than four students is difficult to measure.
“It is difficult to assess impact of minor changes,” said Cline, but “teachers are going to tell you that class size makes a difference.”
Cline explained teachers tell him it always makes a difference to have one fewer student in a class because that is one less homework assignment to grade everyday or so. Moreover any reduction in class size helps the teacher spend more time with other students, and fewer students usually makes for better classroom management as well.
Gainesville School Board representative Alyson Satterwhite presented research stating that 75 percent of high school drop-outs say they would not have dropped out had they been taught in smaller class sizes; students with smaller class sizes in the lower grades are more likely to do better later on in school; also, there is a correlation between teacher quality of life and student quality of life and classroom sizes.
Satterwhite said smaller class sizes are needed to retain the “best and the brightest” teachers at Prince William County Schools.
When Stewart asked county and school board members to say if they would support providing additional funds to reduce class sizes, even if it meant raising taxes, everyone agreed, though not without having their say in the matter.
Occoquan District Supervisor Michael May-R agreed with Woodbridge School Board member Steve Keen that proper funding should be budgeted for within the 5-year plan. Keen previously noted, quite adamantly, that the 5-year plan was intended to provide adequate funding.
Cline later demonstrated that with the tax cuts made to the 5-year plan, Prince William County Schools lost more than $500 million from what was originally budgeted in 2008.
Gainesville Supervisor Peter Candland-R defended his record on education, saying he recommended changing the revenue-sharing agreement and even matching funds with the school board to reduce class sizes, but he did not want to give the school board a “blank check” either.
“I think we have to look at this in a comprehensive way. If we’ve done everything that we can, then I would be willing to look at a plan to raise taxes,” Candland said. “To me, raising taxes is the point of last resort,”
Brentsville District Supervisor Wally Covington-R agreed, but also hoped something could be done quickly, so that class sizes could be reduced within the next fiscal year.
School board members gave an enthusiastic yes, and hoped community members could be involved in making the decision on which subgroup needed the most relief.
Dr. Michael Otaigbe of the Coles District explained that the school board had made all the cuts they could make and now an influx of funding was necessary.
“You want to squeeze blood out of the school division. We don’t have anymore to bleed,” Otaigbe said.
Trenum was on-board, saying a start could make a difference to students who might otherwise “fall through the cracks.”
“I’m always up to directing the superintendent to do stuff,” said Trenum, jokingly. “We’re not going to get from 29 to 25 without going through 28,” he said.
But Stewart warned his supervisors they had to be on-board as well.
“It does the citizens no good,” said Stewart, if politicians are more interested in sounding good to the press than solving issues.
“What I don’t want to see the Board of County Supervisors do- what I would hate to see- is a member of our board dismiss it and say, ‘I’m not convinced the school board has” Stewart said.
The Board of County Supervisors also supported another way to increase revenue so that all of it need not come from higher taxes. At their recent meeting, they voted to start the process of increasing proffers, developers' taxes that go toward goods and services, specifically in regards to the schools.
Stewart reminded the elected officials the General Assembly has put some restrictions on what they can do in terms of proffers, and also requires that people occupy the homes before the county can receive any of its cash proffers.
Besides looking just at classroom sizes, Cline presented on other issues that have been causing financial strain on the school board in order to inform the supervisors of the difficulty the school board has had in funding its operations.
The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) now requires employees to partially fund their retirement and the percentage they must contribute rises by 1 percent each year until it reaches 5 percent. That new cost has significantly cut into the salary increases educators have been receiving. And members of both boards expressed that it was important to them to keep teachers’ salaries competitive with other districts in Northern Virginia.
After the meeting ended, Prince William Education Association President Jim Livingston said he was happy with the decisions made and how the boards were working together.
“I think we heard a lot of candid, frank discussion that we haven’t been hearing in the past, and I’m encouraged that the Board of County Supervisors has a clearer idea of the situation we are in,” Livingston said.
He said that the teachers will also be encouraged that class sizes will be reduced as they have been pushing for that for a long time.
“Kids require a lot of attention and [we need to make sure] we’re not warehousing children at public schools,” Livingston said.
Brentsville School Board member Gil Trenum told Bristow Beat he was happy with the outcome of the meeting as well.
“I think it’s good the two boards are starting to have a substantive discussion about class sizes and that we’re having a discussion with each other instead of at each other,” Trenum said.
He also said he was happy that the supervisors are in the process of approving higher proffers, an issue that he had brought to their attention. However, Trenum said he would still like the schools to look at a zero based budget as part of the larger discussion.
Because of the focus on class sizes, the issue of the new aquatic center was not discussed.
Stewart suggested the two boards should set a time to meet again before December.
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