Candland Shares Plan to Decrease Class Sizes, Increase Teacher Pay

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Gainesville District Supervisor Pete Candland made decreasing class sizes and increasing teacher pay a priority at his Nov. 21 Town Hall meeting at Alvey Elementary School, which was attending by 90 citizens including children.

Candland, who has four children attending Prince William County Schools, said decreasing class room size was a topic he looked into when he ran for supervisor two years ago, and now believes the county is in the throes of a “crisis.”

“We have the largest classroom sizes in Virginia. I will let that set in,” said Candland, before he repeated it.

He explained that Prince William has been losing some of its best and brightest teachers due to having large class sizes and having teacher pay that lags behind neighboring counties of Loudoun and Fairfax.

From an economic perspective, he explained that having bigger class sizes than our neighbors becomes a reason for high-paying companies not to relocate into our area.

While in the past the Board of County Supervisors and the School Board have pointed fingers at each other as to who is to blame for rising class sizes, Candland said it was about time that they spend their time and money fixing the problem.

The Solution? Elimination of the Revenue Sharing Agreement

Candland did not propose raising taxes to provide more money to the schools; rather he said he would like to see more county funds go towards schools via the elimination of the revenue sharing agreement.

“I’m not going to win a lot of friends saying this,” said Candland, “but I don’t like the revenue sharing agreement.”

Last year, Candland proposed a change to the agreement, and raise the amount the schools received from 56.75 to 57.23 percent, a proposal that was accepted, even though Candland said people literally laughed at him when he proposed it.

Now Candland is questioning whether Prince William's revenue sharing agreement is good policy. He explained that Prince William County now provides 57.23 percent of its tax dollars to the school division. However, other high performing divisions, such as Loudoun and Fairfax, receive a bigger portion of the pie from their counties. For instance, Loudoun provides 65 percent of its budget to its schools.

Additionally, Candland said that having the Board of County Supervisors approve a school budget would provide more transparency.

“I don’t believe the revenue sharing agreement encourages responsible budgeting,” he said. While it might guarantee predictability, Candland said it should act as a "basement" of the minimum amount the schools will receive, rather than a "ceiling."

The revenue sharing agreement also ensures that in most years the two boards do not have meaningful discussions about budget needs.

To provide more money for education, Candland said money would have to be eliminated from "favored" projects, but he did not elaborate as to which projects fall into those categories.

A Difference in Priority

Although Candland said he believes more funding is need to school priorities, he also criticized the way the Prince William County Schools has been spending its county dollars, which is another reason he believes the School Board should negotiate for its budget with the Board of County Supervisors.

Although Candland said that he and Gainesville School Board member Alyson Satterwhite are on the same page when it comes to prioritizing the reduction class sizes and increasing teacher pay, he questioned the judgment of the School Board when many members prioritizing an aquatic center over other prioritizes.

“This pool issue is something that really rubbed me the wrong way,” Candland said.

Candland did not deny the need for a new aquatic center and new lane space for swimmers. However, he said that should not be the priority for the schools. While the pool will cost $10-15 million to build via bonds to be paid back over time, the pool also requires operating funds that cut directly into funding staff and providing school resources.

While people have hypothesized the money could be earned back by leasing lane space or club memberships to the center, it is still an unknown how much lane time would be available for those uses, and how much money the schools can take in via these means.

Why Do We Need to Decrease Class Sizes?

Candland came armed with statistics to show just how high Prince William class sizes are and to prove how class sizes negatively affect student performance.

The average student to teacher ratios for Prince William County Schools in 2005 were 17.2:1 for elementary schools, 21.4:1 for middle schools and 21:1 for high schools. This year, those numbers have risen to 23.3:1, 30.8:1 and 30.3:1. Because these ratios include assistant teachers, special education teachers and other teaching staff, actual class sizes skew higher.

Prince William teachers also lag behind counties such as Fairfax and Loudoun in teacher pay, which is another disincentive to stay in the county.

“We are packing in more students, and paying them less for their troubles,” Candland said.

But, perhaps most disturbing difference is in SAT scores between the three counties. While Loudoun and Fairfax averages are above 1600, Prince William average SAT scores are just under 1500.

These numbers put Prince William students at a disadvantage when they apply for college, but it also points to the fact that the difference in class sizes are negatively affecting students. Surely, there are other factors influencing SAT scores, but the effective of overcrowded classrooms cannot be insignificant.

One teacher, who spoke out during citizen’s time, said that 30 students in a classroom will completely change the dynamics of that class. At that point, he said, a teacher spends more time “putting out fires.” He said it makes effective teaching nearly impossible, even for otherwise very effective teachers.

How Can Proffers Help?

Classroom sizes rose very quickly in the county over the past decade as a result of rapid growth coupled with a downwardly trending economy Candland explained. As a result, PWCS now spends less per pupil than it did in 2009.

However, Candland did not let his own board off the hook, criticizing the Board of County Supervisors for not requiring high enough school proffers from developers. Loudoun County school proffers are $34,000, where Prince William proffers are $14,462. Even Stafford County proffers are higher than Prince William’s at the moment.

Candland said that while we brought in new development, the county never made sure it received enough money to pay for new services.

However, on Friday, Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington said that raising proffers would only offer small relief. He also said that the Board of County supervisors has often requested more from developers than the minimum proffer requirements.

However, he also said, “I’m not opposing to raising proffers.”

Others Chime In

Gainesville School Board member Alyson Satterwhite was with the School Board at a weeklong meeting, but sent a statement. In it, she also said it is her belief that it is fiscally irresponsible for the School Board to approve the building of a school pool, when the county is adding approximately 2,000 new students per year.

President of the Prince William Education Association, Jim Livingston spoke about class size “crisis”, an issue, he said the PWEA has been championing for 10 years.While he said he agrees with the superintendent that quality teachers are very important, he said at some point class sizes that are too large with negatively affect a teacher’s ability to teach, as increasing class sizes with decreasing budgets, “run headfirst into each other.”

The goal of decreasing class sizes gained bi-partisan support as even outspoken conservative Bob Weir said, “I actually agree with everything you said tonight and even with Mr. Livingston. Agreeing with a union person, is strange for me.”

How the School Board Sees It

One mother asked Candland how it is that there is such a marked difference between the proposed and actual budgets every year, leading to approximately $500 million dollars cut from the 5-year plan over the past five years. *

School Board members have complained that these reductions have made it impossible for them to adequately fund a decrease in classroom sizes, and as a result they have also had to spend less per student. Former Woodbrige School Board member Steve Keen requested a more realistic 5-year budget plan that would allow the School Board to know what kinds of funding it would receive and better plan for its own budget.

The School Board has also boasted that it has a higher teacher retention rate than the state average, and it also has its choice from a very large pool of qualified applicants each year

Community Relations

Candland emphasized to parent that he could not reduce class sizes on his own, and they have to become advocates on behalf of their children.

However, even though the topic was class sizes, not many parents attended the Gainesville Town Hall meeting in comparison to older citizens, community activists a few teacher.

*That figure was provided by Assistant Superintendent of Planning and Finance Dave Cline at the October 8 joint School Board and Board of County Supervisors meeting.

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