I do think it is a good idea that you are asking people how they feel about the cuts, but does this survey mean that like our Chariman, Board Member Stevens, you are not considering any of the suggestions or proposals from your constituents on how money can be saved besides the cuts recommended by Hatrick. Those suggestions were made by people who spend alot more time on educating or helping out at the schools than the board or even Hatrick himself. They know what is truly needed to educate their children.
Total savings in the proposal that follows are about $18 million dollars. If Dr. Hatrick thinks all of his employee positions are needed, then they all have been saved and the only cut is a week of school in mid to late June when not much is really being learned anyway. 1. Place LCPS on a different calendar (LCPS application to the State Depart. of Ed) that does NOT require LCPS to build in 15 snow days to its schedule. You can roll the dice. The chances are HUGE that we will not have another winter like we did this year next year. It is a little risky, but the odds are great in your favor. Fairfax, Clarke, Frederick, Warren, Fauquier and Shenandoah counties have all reduced the length of their school year in recent years by being on a different schedule. 2. Then, since you are not required to have these 15 days built in, you can cut the school year one week shorter in June. Presently LCPS attends school 1080 hours during the year(LCPS web site during the blizzard).This is 90 more hours than required by the state which equals the 15 days that must be built in to the schedule. If the school year was shortened by one week LCPS would still be attending school 60 hours (2 weeks) longer than required by the state of Virginia. Shortening the school year would mean furloughing teachers for 5 days, BUT this would be giving them 5 more days of summer vacation. Savings will be at least $11.5 million dollars in doing this (Dr. Hatrick's own numbers). 3. Then cut 3 days of Teacher professional training (furlough) at the beginning of the school year. Times are extreme. Sorry Dr. Hatrick. Something has to go. You have to do something to balance the budget. One day in-service trainings like these are known to be very ineffective. Doing this will have less impact on the students and on the system than anything else that you can do. Teachers do need 5 days of work time in their classrooms to get ready for school. Savings by removing these 3 days = $6.9 million dollars. Trade off; teachers get 3 more days of summer vacation. New teachers and new hires to LCPS have NOT been affected by this. Still have them come in for those training days. Students have NOT been impacted at all. Times are extreme. Loudoun County has to wake up and realize that the country is in a recession! People don't have jobs and they are NOT happy when the school always wants more and more. You may be surprised as to how many people are on the edge of financial collapse in Loudoun County. This proposal seems like the simplest way to cut a huge chunk of money and yet still retain the school system in its present condition. Teachers at least get something in this scenario, 8 more days of vacation.
Savings with the least impact...as a teacher, there is an impact...on my pay. So my taxes still go up in LOCO AND I don't get a COLA AND my salary is cut by more than $1000? I don't agree with your proposal.
Hey anon, my business has been cut as an independent consultant, and so have many other people see wage freezes and cuts. I'm sure you wouldn't like a pay cut for less work, but that seems to be pretty standard these days in private industry. LCPS can't be immune to macro-economic trends.
Loudoun Insider, thanks for your thoughtful response. However, that's one of the differences between government and private industry: comparitively lower wages and increased job security/stability versus the potential for higher wages at an increased risk. You shouldn't compare apples to oranges; meaning that comparing my government job to your private industry job is not a fair comparison. Why should teachers bear the burden of the cost-cutting here?
Teachers do bear some of the burden of cost cutting - but they are not the only ones. Everyone who lives in this county and all who work for the county bear the burden of cost cutting.
Teachers have to realize too, that there are a lot of us in private industry that are in the same boat as them in the fact that we are not getting COLA raises and we have increased costs in health insurance premiums/co-pays as well as increased real estate taxes.
One of my biggest problems with this whole budget mess is that the School Board is asking us (residents, teachers, county workers, LCPS workers) to pay for the cost cutting, yet there doesn't seem to be much in the way of giving from them. Hatrick still gets his car allowance and expense account - not sure how many others in the county govt get those, but they should be the first thing to go.
I'd be more willing to accept some of the cost as long as I felt there wasn't a ton of waste going on elsewhere in the school system.
Anon, studies are showing that public sector jobs are rapidly closing ranks with private industry on salaries, and total compensation packages including time off, retirement, and other extras, make public sector jobs more competitive. Everyone is hurting - join the club. And the quicker you teachers band together against Darth Vader, the quicker you will get back to being the focus of the bureaucracy. Nothing is changing until the top changes.
"I'd be more willing to accept some of the cost as long as I felt there wasn't a ton of waste going on elsewhere in the school system."
Bingo!
Most taxpayers think the budget is still fat. Nobody believes Hatrick when he says he needs more money because he has always asked for more, more, and more! Even when he was getting ridiculous increases most the past decade, it was never enough. All we’ve ever heard is half-truths to justify more spending, such as “LCPS is second to last in the region in teacher pay.” The scam has worn thin. Taxpayers will keep demanding more cuts until it is obvious that LCPS has reached capitulation.
Here's a suggestion, stop buying Smart Boards or Promethean boards that cost over $2500 eachf or every classroom! How much money could have been saved if a little foresight was given here?
I agree with the Promethean board comments, and I'm a very experienced teacher who loves technology. And perhaps reducing the number of built in snow days is a serious option to look at. Moreover, I believe all teachers would like more days in their classrooms to prepare for the start of school, however, we do have to meet the state inservice day requirements. I filled out the school board's survey but can't help but wonder what impact it will have. My first picks did not match Dr. Hatrick's 4/12 list. I guess I will find out after tonight's meeting.
From what I understand the Promethean boards that are being installed now were bought with a Technology grant, not loudoun tax dollars. Still hate them though...
I find it shameful that the richest county in the nation is squabbling about fully funding the school budget. I wish all of these supervisors would take one day to visit a self-contained autism class, or any special education class, and witness how hard the teachers and teacher assistants work to earn their money. They deserve every penny.
I do not know why all the elementary math resource teachers, science resource teachers, and social studies resource teachers were not cut. They do not even teach children and they are about useless to teachers in the classroom. We DO NOT need them. Cut those that do not directly work with children. Make it bare bones at the county office with supervisors and just the necessary support staff. We are over employed at the county office!
Anonymous at 4:01 One reason to keep the small schools open is because all other schools are projected to be way over capacity and having every available seat (and overflow capacity) is critical for the forseeable future.
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