Ryan Sawyers at Haymarket Day (Photo from Ryan Sawyer for PWC School Board Chairman Facebook page)Opinion piece: written by Ryan Sawyers, candidate for Prince William School Board Chairman.
Our kids are getting a bad deal. Every year, when budget season rolls around, every department in local government must advocate for their budget in front of the Board of County Supervisors. That is, all organizations except for Prince William County Public Schools. Our School District is chained to a funding level that was decided years ago and due to this agreement does not have the right to advocate for much-needed funding.
Can you imagine asking our police force to set their budget years in advance take away their ability to negotiate funding levels if they have new costs? Would you feel safe knowing that the police force could not purchase the proper equipment if the price rose one year, or had to cut the salaries of those who work day and night protecting our community? No, of course not. So why are we putting this same restriction on our children?
As a small business owner, I know that this is no way to properly handle a budget. Under the current agreement, the Board of County Supervisors and the School Board agreed to a Revenue Sharing Agreement where the School Board receives 57.23 percent of the revenue generated from real estate taxes in Prince William County. That funding level is simply not enough.
Our school systems, like other government-funded departments, have ever-changing needs. We have grown to have the largest class sizes in Virginia, the lowest paid teachers [in the region] and are cramming our kids into unsecured and unsafe trailers instead of using the brick-and-mortar buildings.
Everyone seems to agree that public education is very important. So why isn’t any other candidate in the School Board Chair race talking about the lack of funding for our children?
We need to start climbing our way out of this hole. Of course there are restrictions to what the School Board can do. But that should not be a reason for the School Board to pass the buck to the Board of County Supervisors. The School Board Chair is the chief advocate for the Prince William County Public Schools and I promise I will take that role very seriously. My first order of business will be to advocate to the Board of County Supervisors to throw out the revenue sharing agreement that has locked our children in a bad deal for years and begin to reorder our budget to properly fund our children’s education.
I believe we need a new direction for Prince William County Schools; we need to stop passing the buck and start working to get our children a world-class education. That is why I am asking for your vote on November 3rd. Together we can move Prince William County forward.
Readers can learn more about Ryan Sawyers at his campaign webpage and Facebook site.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Bristow Beat, LLC, its staff, contributors or sponsors.
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