At the joint Board of County Supervisors and School Board meeting last night, supervisors disagreed upon the best method for funding a reduction in class sizes.
Supervisor Pete Candland-R of the Gainesville District proposed that the Board of County Supervisors eliminate the revenue sharing agreement between the two boards and provide more money to the school, based on annual need, via the existing county budget. However, Chairman Corey Stewart said that the budget does not have that kind of flexibility.
Superintendent Dr. Steven Walts offered his proposal for reducing class sizes, which would focus on kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade math classes. The proposal would cost an estimated $3.5 million annually as new teachers would need to be hired in order to reduce those classes by a minimum of one student. However, once the maximum class sizes are reduced, the overall class sizes are expected to decrease by more than one student per class.
Candland talked with Bristow Beat today, saying that the county did not get into the situation of large class sizes overnight, but it is has become a “crisis” in the county that the elected leaders need to address.
“The first budget nobody was talking about it, or very few people talking about it,” said Candland, but “I realized this was one of the biggest issues facing the county.”
Candland said the Board of County Supervisors can no longer hide its head in the sand, and must address the issue. His suggestion to address the issue involves prioritizing spending.
“Not to say that we aren’t going to have a look at new revenue,” Candland said, “But it’s about priorities in spending. We already have a lot of money.”
However, Chairman Corey Stewart-R also spoke with Bristow Beat, and he disagreed with Candland that there is enough money. He said the county is already behind in funding police and fire and rescue.
“ it is not going to change anything. There is no free money out there. There are needs on the county side as well; right now, we are not keeping pace with county growth in our police department and our fire departments," Stewart said.
Stewart said the needs on the county side and the school side both grow every year with rising populations, but the ratio between the two sides remains relatively stable, leaving no reason to have to renegotiate between the county and the school board every year.
But Candland rejected the idea that providing more funds to the school would come at the expense of police or fire and rescue. He said that he is not proposing taking any funds away from those much needed departments, but that does not mean that other expenses should not be measured against the importance of reducing class sizes and increasing pay for Prince William County teachers. Examples he gave included money for fields and funds to community partners. He said from now on the supervisors should question if those funds should come before reduction in class sizes.
Candland could not yet specify what he would certainly cut, saying he will have to first look at the budget. But he warned that, “Very few things are going to be safe. Police are going to be safe, fire and rescue are going to be safe.”
Candland also felt that the school proposal for $3.5 million probably does not go far enough as it would only decrease class sizes for three grades.
But Stewart said that there are simply not enough funds to go further. He explained that it is not a one-time expense, but a strain of spending that would need to be maintained each year. He too, however, would like to fund a reduction of more class sizes in future years.
Additionally, the School Board is asking for another $3 million increase in funding to help pay for the increased amount the school divisions would need to send to the state to help fund the Virginia Retirement Funds for educators.
Stewart is in agreement with Candland that something needs to be done to decrease the class sizes; however, he offers a different solution. He is willing to look for more cost-savings, but he doubts those will be enough to fund the entire increase to the schools over perpetuity. He suggests the county raise taxes by a nominal amount. He would, however, first like to seek input from citizens to see if they are onboard to make that sacrifice.
“I don’t want to mislead the public to think that we can decrease class size without a slight increase to tax bills,” he said.
Candland thinks that reductions to the current budget should be found before they look at raising taxes, but he also recognized there was not much support for eliminating the revenue sharing agreement so other solutions may need to considered.
However, Candland has another reasons for wanting to eliminate the revenue sharing agreement. He believes this is because the agreement provides a convenient excuse as to why each board has not gone further to solve the county's problems. Essentially the agreement allows them to instead point their fingers at each other.
However, He is encouraged that they are at least on board to find a solution for decreasing class sizes and he is not giving up on his plan just yet. He noted there was little support for his other initiatives: eliminating discretionary funds, increasing school proffers and increasing the revenue sharing agreement last year, and those ultimately ended up passing. If the county needs to change the way it traditionally conducts business to make a difference, then Candland said he is willing to provoke that change.
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