The Proposed FY 2009 Budget/CIP served as the highlight this meeting. The budget controversy is such that it managed to get a page one position on the Washington Post’s Prince William Extra (here). In addition, we heard from more parents and teachers on the Math Investigations (MI) program.
Invocation
The senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Woodbridge, Virginia, Ray Bearden, asked for the Lord’s blessing.
Musical Presentation, Leesylvania Elementary School
The students did a nice job with the music, and I am certain their teacher had the best of intentions. However, as the lyrics of the first song have moral implications, this song deserves some consideration (see here).
The popular culture often invades our schools. In this case, we have the song “Hero,” associated with Mariah Carey. Carey has a beautiful voice, and she does an impressive job with this song (see here). Nonetheless, do we want children to learn that the source of their strength comes from within themselves? Don’t adolescents already have enough trouble with the unrealistic expectations?
Consider the lyrics (see here). How much strength can a young boy or girl find within themselves? Are heroes grown or born? Do the strong take refuge within themselves or learn to call upon the strength of our Creator?
Consent Agenda
As usual, the consent agenda included many interesting, if non-controversial items. The School Board approved:
- The payrolls for February in the amount of $43,240,841.70.
- A contract award for the Elizabeth Vaughan Elementary School addition to Taft Construction, Inc. in the total amount of $2,934.500.00.
- A contract award for the Rockledge Elementary School additions E.E. Reed Construction, L.P., in the total amount of $3,570,000.00.
- A contract award for the Neabsco Elementary School renovation to Taft Construction, Inc. in the total amount $4,679,000.00.
- That the Prince William County School Board confirm the School Board poll of March 7, 2008 to support the Superintendent’s recommendation of returning Nokesville Elementary School to the 2007 Board-approved CIP, calling for renovations and a 10-classroom addition.
Citizen Comments
The first two speakers spoke about the National Museum of the Marine Corps located at Quantico Marine Corps Base. Ken Bassett, a teacher, announced that he and Anne Leighton, one of the museum’s educational specialists, are working together to develop programs for the students. (Later Lattin noted that Marines will pay for a teacher to help develop this program.)
The MI Program, however, drew the most comments, four speakers.
- The first speaker seemed to favor of the MI program. Nonetheless, he appeared concerned about staff development and whether student testing would be used to properly identify deficiencies within the MI program. Even though he suggested that MI critics are uninformed, he did not seem confident with the school administration implementation of the MI program.
- The second speaker was a new teacher. She said she went to Georgia Tech and took advanced Calculus classes, and she has a first grader of her own participating in the MI programs. She is quite happy with the MI program.
- The third speaker was Greg Barlow. Barlow argued against the MI program. To correct the assertion that it did not originate from within the county, he pointed out that he is the author of the petition against the MI program (see here). In addition, he presented the School Board with a bunch of studies. This included the Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (See here for a summary.). Obviously, Barlow thinks the report favors his cause, and he quoted the report’s first recommendation (from page xvi).
A focused, coherent progression of mathematics learning, with an emphasis on proficiency with key topics, should become the norm in elementary and middle school mathematics curricula. Any approach that continually revisits topics year after year without closure is to be avoided.
- The fourth speaker, at teacher, attended the National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s presentation. Whether this lady was for or against the MI was somewhat ambiguous. She stressed that Panel’s members were highly qualified; that they called for national, but voluntary math instruction standards. She also said that panel members believe that what children learn about math depends upon the effort they put into it and that math is for everyone, not just smart people.
Public Hearing on Proposed FY 2009 Budget/CIP
This was an opportunity to hear citizen comments on the budget. Two citizens spoke.
- One spoke to comment on the MI program. She had two points to make. With respect to the MI program, she said the school division had spent $642,000 from the Spring of 2006 through Jan 2008 on staff development and consultant fees. In addition to the cost, she was disturbed by the consultant fees. One of the consultants advocated the MI text that is causing all the fuss. That seemed inappropriate to her. It is her understanding that the textbook selection process is supposed to be unbiased.
- A representative from the Virginia Education Association (teacher’s union) spoke and thanked the School Board for their efforts to raise teacher’s salaries.
FY 2009 Proposed School Budget/CIP Approval
The Prince William Extra has provided coverage of this portion of the School Board meeting.
On Wednesday night, School Board members approved a $823.7 million budget that trims more than $12 million from Superintendent Steven L. Walts‘s initial proposal. School officials were able to keep an average raise of 6 percent for teachers but had to put off $6 million worth of school renovations for next year; the other $6 million in savings came from unexpected enrollment decreases, a likely result of the housing downturn and a new county policy toward illegal immigrants. (from here)
Nonetheless, some additional points need to be made. The Washington Post’s article is somewhat misleading. The $823.7 million number is the operating budget. Because $823.7 million is a smaller figure and easier to compare with other, more established school systems, the school division prefers this smaller number. However, the budget also includes capital improvements and other bells and whistles. That number is $1,199 million (about $16,650 per student), and the $1,199 million figure is what the School Board approved.
The budget is not yet set in stone. The Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) has set an advertised tax rate. The BOCS can still set the rate lower. While the current proposed school division budget is within $200,000 of the advertised tax rate, a lower tax rate will result in more cuts. Regardless of whether there are further cuts, the School Board may make further adjustments. In fact, several members of the School Board emphasized the the only thing the board was voting on was an overall budget figure.
The article in the Prince William Extra emphasized the controversy and the anguish of School Board members. The Extra article provided delicious coverage of the crisis and conflict over the issue of raises for teachers and the administrative staff, but we are talking about six percent across-the-board pay increase. All things considered, that hardly constitutes a crisis.
Let’s not overrate the competition. The other counties in our area are also contending with a falling housing market. Their school boards are also suffering much “anguish.” Nonetheless, there is one change Richardson mentioned that is worth noting. Due to a new cost of living adjustment from the state government, Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Fauquier counties will now be able to offer more competitive salaries. So we will have more competition (for the best teachers and administrative staff) to the south of us.
Employment Policies
The board approved policy updates related to employment practices. This apparently is a required five year update. The updates include updates to the general policy and policies related to discrimination, sexual harassment (including the harassment of employees by students), grievance procedures and recruitment. The purpose of the update is to keep the policies in line with Federal and State laws. To review the changes, click here for the Electronic Agenda (March 26th)) and look for the related topics.
