After months of discussing options, listening to protests and identifying priorities, the Prince William County School Board finally has a budget to present to the Board of County Supervisors.
While county educators will receive the step increase they desired, which equates to an average of 2.85 percent, the budget also increases the teachers' contracted workday from 7 to 7.5 hours. The budget will also provide an additional one percent pay increase to all school employees to offset the cost of a new state mandated contribution to the Virginia Retirement System.
At the Wed. Mar. 28 board meeting, School Board members voted five in favor and four against approving a $861 million FY13 budget.
Those who voted for the revised budget were Milton C. Johns (Chairman At-Large), Grant Lattin (Occoquan), Michael I. Otagibe (Coles), Betty D. Covington (Potomac), Denita S. Ramirez (Woodbridge).
The remaining board members: Gilbert A. Trenum (Brentsville), Alyson A. Satterwhite (Gainesville), and Lisa E. Bell (Neabsco) did not support the proposal.
The new budget plan will include cuts from the plan that Superintendent Steven L. Walts proposed last week, before that measure was defeated by a split vote of School Board members. In addition the Board directed Walts to find an additional $5 million to fund the salary increase.
The finalized budget includes a 0.5 percent reduction in staff, which would result in eliminating approximately 48 jobs and an additional 39 teaching positions, as well as increasing middle school class sizes by 0.5 percent and high school classes by 0.3 percent, the minimum allowed by the state.
Board members also passed an amendment directing the superintendent to apply any additional funds from the state or county toward reducing class sizes and/or restoring the "budget-diminished" Capital Improvements Program.
A video of the Board meeting is available at PWCSTV.com.
The next challenge in the budget process is for the Board of County Supervisors to pass the advertised tax rate to fund the FY13 school budget. While the advertised tax rate of $1.215 per $100 of assessed value can be lowered, it cannot be raised. The state contribution to the budget has also not been finalized.
"We could get more money from the State or the BOCS could lower the advertised tax rate. The budget they pass tonight will not be etched in stone," said Prince William Education Association President Bonnie Klakowicz.
Teachers will rally oustide the McCort Building in Woodbridge Virginia today in support of the current advertised tax rate.
Although the 7.5 hour work day matches that of educators in surrounding counties and cities, Prince William educators were surprised by the amendment, which was not discussed openly in previous school board meetings.
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