Gainesville Supervisor Peter Candland and Prince William School Board Chairman Ryan Sawyers.The squabble over Prince William School Board Chairman Ryan Sawyers’ budget presentation before the on the Board of County Supervisors escalated to a criticism of Pete Candland’s office and some of the BOCS financial decisions when Sawyers sent his second reply to Candland, last week.
Sawyers again addressed Gainesville Supervisor Pete Candland, April 15, attempting to school him on the budgetary needs of Prince William County Schools.
Sawyers criticized the Gainesville Supervisor for politicizing certain budgetary items as though attempting to appear supportive of PWCS while advocating for a lean budget that would not increase school funding.
By playing offense, Sawyers forced Candland to defend his own budgetary decisions, which he did in a April 18 letter.
Sawyers began by distancing himself from the previous administration, saying he disagreed with spending decisions that resulted in an aquatic center and elaborate architectural features for schools. However, he blamed Republicans for those decisions.
“ no argument from me with respect to the wasteful expenditures perpetrated by the prior regimes, led by members of your political party with majority control of the School Board….To be clear, under my leadership, aquatic centers, ‘soaring atriums’ and the like would never have come to exist.
He asked Candland if he sent similar letters to former Chairman Milt Johns at the time, and said that he may FOIA his emails to find out.
“I trust that, at the time those projects were approved, you made School Board members who voted for those items aware of your displeasure with the short of lengthy letters you have been sending to me, is that correct? Consider this a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) for any contemporaneous correspondence between you and any School Board member regarding the items you cite in your letter.”
Sawyer defended his decision to spend money to rename Godwin Middle School to Hampton Middle School because it is important to not pay homage to a segregationist. Sawyers described it as removing a stain of “an avowed and unapologetic segregationist who institutionalized his own brand of racism in Virginia schools and deprived thousands of children, including many in this area, of a public education.”
Then, flipping the conversation, Sawyers took aim at Candlands’ offices’ expenses by contrasting his own meager Prince William salary as chairman with the 18 times it costs to run Candland’s Gainesville office.
“I have seven times the number of constituents you do, a substantially larger budget, significantly more employees under my governance, and the additional burdens that befall a chairman. By contrast, you personal office budget has increased four of the last five years and the amount you’re taking from taxpayers to run your office for FY17 will be $378,678. That is nearly 18 times the amount of money I spend to do my job.”
He also said the Gainesville District’s operational budget is “woefully short on detail.. perhaps we have been looking for money to spend on school children in the wrong places.”
He also asks why the BOCS wants to spend $13 million on a new animal shelter, saying, “I love animals as much as the next person, but I don’t see them as more important than kids.”
He said that while Candland was “shoveling public funds to a soccer league,” he refused to meet with "another local sports league and investors,” who proposed donating over $3 million in park improvements.
Plus, he asked Candland why the company he works for, QBE, who bought a former school building in Haymarket received “generous terms on a lease with the County, resulting in a ten-year break on its property taxes.”
He goes on to say that the BOCS test a “lavish feast” for its Legislative Dinner, while the school board meets over breakfast eggs and orange juice.
Lastly, he asks why, if Candland is so interested in PWCS’s finances, has he not proposed a professional audit, saying that might prove this was more than political theater.
“When all your focus is on the small, it means you aren’t solving the big things that really make a difference in people’s lives. When you do it simply for political gain, it becomes the source of my disappointment and frustration with you.”
He said the real discussion should be about class sizes.
“So, let’s be honest about the real issue: PWC underfunds its schools by a staggering margin when compared to neighboring jurisdictions. This year, for example, Arlington spends approximately 74% more per student than PWC.”
By drawing focus away from the county budget, Sawyers said it is a “clear indication that the BOCS, and you, are grasping for any excuse to continue that shameful pattern for yet another year…The BOCS has been failing the students, employees, and families of PWCS for years.”
He ended it saying that Candland needs to stop deflecting.
“Try as you might, your days of deflecting these issues and trying to blame situations like overcrowding on swimming pools and orchestra pits are over. This budget would be a fine time to stop digging a deeper hole and begin the hard work needed to get us back to where we were almost a decade ago.”
Gainesville Supervisor Pete Candland again responded to Sawyer with a letter, April 18, defending his position on various spending issues.
He said he was forwarding the Sawyers’ letter to the County Attorney to provide the records (letters) that he had requested.
And, again, Candland said he found Sawyer’s tone to be demeaning to him and to the entire Board of County Supervisors.
He said perhaps the fault in underfunding schools lies not with taxation but with with the Revenue Sharing Agreement, and reminded Sawyers that he has been a big advocate of ending the agreement to provide more school funding.
“You may not be aware of the fact that in 2013 I proposed that the BOCS increase the Revenue Sharing Agreement allocation to the schools from the then 56.75% to share to 62% for the FY14 budget.”
Candland said that increase would have allowed Prince William County Schools to spend $12,700 per student, roughly on par with Loundoun County Public Schools.
He also suggested dedication the Recordation Tax to schools, and proposed a “Quality of Education Challenge Grant” to provide additional pay for class size reduction and teacher pay, including $1 million in matching funds towards class size reduction.
Additionally, he said, “for the record, I also vigorously opposed the funding of the aquatic center complex.” He said one really does not need to dig into emails to find this as it is a matter of public record.
He said, Sawyers might want to look towards his school administration, which has in the past defended and deemphasized the need to reduce class sizes, stressing instead teacher training.
“While I agree that quality teachers are essential to a world-class educational system, I cannot conceive what training could be provided to any teacher to help them handle classrooms with more than 30 teachers where the number create chaos over order.”
“For the record” Candland said he would share his other priorities.
He disagrees that an animal shelter should cost nearly $13 million.
He denies he voted for soccer league, saying he has voted against all county budgets since 2012, and his record shows he has prioritized education above all other items.
In response to meetings regarding an investment in Catharine Park, the meetings in question was with Sawyers in benefit of the youth baseball league for which he is connected. The supervisor said he attended the first meeting and then sent someone from his staff to a second meeting.
However, he said he learned the $3 million was not a ‘“donation’ per se, but actually a transactional consideration where your league would be granted priority scheduling in exchange for the investment.”
Candland said he’s not completely opposed to that arrangement, “however, the net effect of the proposal would have prevented participants in another youth baseball league from using the fields.”
And, he noted there is a contentious history between the two leagues.
As for the QBE Fields, Candland said that was a negotiation between the school board, and Parks and Recreation, and further, he was not employed by QBE at the time. However, the negotiations included allowing the sports fields to continue to stay in use.
“Your reckless accusations are completely unfounded and should be retracted immediately.”
Finally, regarding the Audit of PWCS, he said he would have to consult the County Attorney to see if the BOCS could order the audit of the school system. He said he has proposed a Performance Audit Division be implemented to find better use of tax-payer money.
He said he does not find the Legislative Dinner as lavish as Sawyers has described. He said the meeting allows them to work across party lines.
“I can assure you that these representatives attended the meeting, not for a lavish evening, but to work together and find solutions on how we could improve our communities and quality of life.”
Recalling back the original point of his initial letter, Candland said it is not “materiality” to ask a budget question, when information is available to answer that question. He can argue that the cost is “peanuts” and that the school board cannot manage “every single dollar,” but Candland said in this case there was some info to be shared.
“I truly hope that we can find the occasion to have more productive discussion in future public meeting, and at least our communications can respect legitimate disagreements on policy — that I have tried hard to do in my letters to you.”
Read Sawyers letter to Candland, April 15: SawyersCandlandLtr4 15 16 (1) (3) (1).
Read Candland’s letter to Sawyer, April 18: Apr 18 Response to Sawyers (1)
Bristow Beat cannot verify all the accusations made in these letters. We do have knowledge that Supervisor Pete Candland proposed an alternative Revenue Sharing Agreement, considered using the Recordation Tax for schools and proposed a Challenge Grant for schools back in 2014.
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