School Board hears worries

STAFFORD — Red T-shirts stood out during Tuesday night’s regular school board meeting as citizens came forward to voice their ever growing concerns over the funding of Stafford County schools.

"I’m not a cynic, yet,” said one Stafford teacher. “I am fearful that we are going to create cynics of our young teachers.”

A North Stafford High School student told his story of starting the school year with a wonderful teacher who was then replaced with a teacher from the Philippines.

“I could hardly understand her,” he said. “[The class] struggled and our grades went down for the rest of the year. Why does the school think it is such a good idea to waste money looking for teachers in other states and even other countries… You need to use the money more wisely. There are teachers here [in the local area]. I want a quality education and cannot have that without quality teachers.”

Teachers and students began wearing red T-shirts with statements like “Fund our Schools. Fund our Future” in response to the Stafford schools budget for 2009, which was approved with a $15.3 million shortfall by the Stafford County Board of Supervisors.

As a result, the school board included a stipend for all Stafford County Public Schools employees totaling approximately $1.2 million in lieu of a cost of living increase.

Each full-time employee will receive a $300 stipend and full-time employees at the top of their pay scale will each receive an additional $400 instead of a cost of living pay increase Dec. 1.

The majority of school employees will also receive an average 2.5 percent pay “step increase.”

The Stafford Education Association launched a 30-day “Restore Our Value” campaign May 19 in response to the board of supervisors’ and school board decisions for the 2009 budget and what they describe as a cycle of “devaluization” over the paste few years.

Jannette Martin, SEA president, updated the board on some of the tactics the SEA has used since May 19.

“You say that you value us; we ask tonight that you show us,” said Martin. “We are asking for and increase in funding for quality education at the state and local levels… and provide a small cost of living increase.”

So far the SEA has employed a “work to the rule” tactic, which means participating teachers strictly working 7.5 hour days. In other words, many teachers are not staying after school to grade papers or volunteer for extra activities as they have in the past.

They are also participating in permanent protests outside of the board offices and staging car washes to fund the campaign.

After the citizen comments portion of the meeting board members discussed and agreed with the citizens and made suggestions for possible solutions.

“We’re witnessing the severe deterioration of our school system,’ said Patricia Mancini, George Washington District. “No matter how great our will is to help you…we do not have the power…I urge all of you to let your supervisor know how important the schools are to you.”

Chairman Patricia Healy, Rock Hill District, echoed Mancini’s comments.

“This board is in agreement. While we agree, we can’t personally do anything about it,” Healy said. “Who does not know a teacher who left the school system because economically they cannot afford to be here? If the community as a whole is going to support education then the [board of supervisors] will follow.”

The school board will be on a retreat during its next regular meeting, July 11, and added discussions about the current state of the budget as a part of their agenda.

Also during the meeting several special presentations were given from advisory committees.

Among those presentations was the end of year report from the Finance and Budget Advisory Committee, which suggested some possible solutions for the budget shortfalls.

“The cumulative effects of continued budget shortfalls can no longer go unaddressed,” said Committee Chair Dean Fetterolf. “We have great teachers and great staff and they deserve our respect.”

Several suggestions included giving the budget to the board of supervisors earlier in the planning stages so that they know the schools needs earlier in the process and to avoid cutting the technology funding because maintenance and updating costs will increase in the long run.

The next regular school board meeting is July 22 at 7 p.m. at the Alvin York Bandy Administrative Complex. The July 8 meeting is cancelled.