Warren County School Board sets aside action on proposed WCPS 2023 budget

Seeking higher employee raises and more time to review the proposed fiscal year 2022-2023 budget for Warren County Public Schools (WCPS), members of the Warren County School Board on Wednesday, March 2 voted to table action on the proposal.

During the board’s regular meeting, the School Board majority voted to have WCPS staff conduct more work on the proposed budget before they vote to approve it. The Warren County Board of Supervisors also must approve the school division’s roughly $70.93 million proposed budget for next year.

Board Vice-Chair Ralph Rinaldi, for instance, pointed out that he would like to see more money than what’s in the currently proposed budget go to teachers to solve some of the school division’s teacher retention issues. Right now, the proposed budget would provide WCPS teachers with a 5 percent salary increase, inclusive of a step up in their years of experience.

“I would rather see more money going to the teachers in order to solve a lot of problems, one of them being the teacher exit,” Rinaldi told WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger, who presented the proposed budget for board action. “I would like to see if there’s anything we could do to stretch that raise back up a little bit so that we can retain our teachers.”

Rinaldi called WCPS a “training academy,” in reference to the fact that WCPS teachers tend to get lured away by higher salaries offered to them by surrounding school divisions.

“And you know, folks,” Rinaldi said, turning to the audience, “it’s not only teachers. It’s firemen, sheriffs, and everybody else on the County payroll that’s affected by this. I guess I’m tired of being the training academy for Loudon County and Prince William County and the rest of them.”

In fact, during the community participation portion of the School Board’s meeting, Warren County Education Association President of Secondary Education Amy Flora, who is a math teacher at Warren County High School, offered board members some numbers to consider.

For instance, according to one media report, Flora said that Virginia has increased open teaching vacancies by nearly 62 percent since 2018. Additionally, Business.org reports that Virginia ranks last among 50 states when comparing average state teaching salaries.

And when comparing WCPS salaries with Loudon County Public Schools (LCPS), the pay difference amounted to $17,942 a year for the 2021-2022 school year for teachers having the same experience, with LCPS paying more. Prince William County paid the same experienced teachers $8,347 a year more than those working for WCPS, Flora said.

The 5 percent salary increase that’s proposed, Flora said, is actually a state mandate that is not coming from the WCPS budget. Every county in Virginia is being incentivized with state funds to give a 5 percent raise. “But WCPS is combining that money with what teachers would have gotten for a step increase due to years of experience,” she said.

Flora also pointed out that 5 percent is not equal across salaries. In Loudon County, for example, that increase means $3,508, while in Prince William it means $3,028. “But in Warren County, it is only $2,611,” she said.

“I came to you last month with great concerns about teacher loss. This discrepancy in pay is only widening the gap between Warren County and surrounding areas,” Flora said. “We still have unfilled positions.

“What is the County prepared to do when we don’t have enough teachers to run the system? When we are relying on substitutes — as great as they may be — to get kids through the SOLs, which affects accreditation and, thus, affects state funding?” she asked School Board members. “What is Warren County doing to encourage teachers to stay?”

Ballenger’s explanation of the proposed 5 percent salary increase, inclusive of step, bolstered Flora’s comments. And he acknowledged that the state’s incentive for the 5 percent salary raise “is not going to touch” what school divisions in the Commonwealth actually need to give everybody within their division 5 percent.

The superintendent explained that if a teacher is in step one and there’s a one percent difference between that and step two, under the proposed budget a WCPS teacher would get the one percent raise with an additional 4 percent tacked on to make it a total 5 percent raise that is inclusive of the step.

Rinaldi asked what it would cost WCPS to offer a 5 percent raise, plus a step, for teachers.

WCPS Finance Director Robert Ballentine answered that giving teachers a step plus a 5 percent raise would cost WCPS an additional $444,111. To do that for all WCPS employees it would cost an additional $678,000.

Rinaldi said that it’s not just teachers who deserve the raise, “but also the bus drivers and anybody else who’s in contact with a kid in the system. And I wouldn’t mind seeing that. It sort of sets the stage and the perception that we’re trying to keep these teachers here,” he said.

One suggestion on how to come up with additional funds to support a 5 percent raise, plus a step, came from board member Melanie Salins, who asked about the need for a new full-time WCPS Communications Director position, which is included in the proposed budget.

“Improved communication is certainly something I wanted to see, but I had no idea that it was going to come as a full-time position and a price tag of $100,000 a year,” Salins said. “When there’s a 7 percent inflation rate and we’re giving teachers a raise less than the inflation rate, and to then hire someone to communicate for $100,000 year seems like a real slap in the face to our teachers.”

Ballenger said the proposed Communications Director salary amount is based on the administrative pay scale for a professional having 10 years of experience. However, if someone was hired having fewer years of experience, then the salary would be less. Likewise, if someone with more than 10 years of experience was hired, then WCPS would be “in the hole” for the difference in salary.

And Ballenger said that a full-time position is warranted because the job would require more than just issuing infrequent press releases and would entail completing tasks associated with the ongoing release of information via various WCPS outlets, such as its website, for instance.

“I’m cringing at that one,” Salins said.

Rinaldi thanked Ballenger and Ballentine for the details they provided on the budget, acknowledging how complicated the process is this year.

Salins made a motion to table the vote until the School Board can meet with the Board of Supervisors on it, and to also provide board members with more time to go over the line items.

“I would really like for you guys to work hard on finding places that you can cut things on this budget” that don’t include teachers’ pay, she said.

The motion received a second from Rinaldi and the board members voted 4-1 to carry the motion with School Board Chair Kristen Pence, Rinaldi, Salins, and Antoinette Funk voting aye and board member Andrea Lo voting nay.

Superintendent’s response
The Royal Examiner asked Superintendent Ballenger if — considering the many important budget priorities for WCPS next year — there are areas where cuts could be made to find more money for teacher raises.

“In order to give all staff additional compensation, with the current figures we have, the only place to gain funds is to reduce the additional proposed positions, reduce the cost for grounds, or not move funds into the textbook fund for future expenditures to name a few,” Ballenger wrote in an email today. “We can also see additional revenues from the state and that could have an impact, as well.”

Ballenger also said he plans to have a revised proposed budget ready for the School Board’s review at its March 16 work session.

Other action
WCPS Assistant Superintendent for Administration George “Buck” Smith presented School Board members with two food service contracts needing renewal for the upcoming school year.

The first was the Food Service Management Contract Renewal with Sodexo America LLC, which has managed the foodservice operations for WCPS since 2019. The agreement contains a clause that allows the contract to be renewed annually for four additional one-year periods upon the mutual consent of both parties.

Smith highlighted items in the contract that Sodexo plans to continue into the next agreement, such as a guaranteed return of $72,750; a $6,000 annual scholarship; a $6,500 donation to the WCPS Backpack Food Program; and a $2,500 grant to introduce new programs in Warren County.

“Sodexo will also continue to employ the foodservice employees and train the employees on proper food handling, customer service, and safety,” Smith explained, noting that there is 48 staff across the kitchens and four total in administration, all working onsite.

The agreement’s cost increase for the 2022-2023 school year is 5 percent for general support services and 5 percent for the management fee, although the management fee would not be paid unless the program generates a minimum guaranteed financial return of $72,750, said Smith.

“The actual cost of increase is less than a percent of one cent per meal served and if we maintained at the current serving levels that would be around $11,000,” Smith said. “Our current reimbursement per meal and school nutrition fund would have no issue absorbing this small increase and as previously stated, the increase only applies to meals served not the overall budget, so reimbursement easily handles this cost.”

The School Board voted unanimously to approve the contract renewal.

The second Sodexo contract up for renewal regards the management of the WCPS custodial operations for an additional one-year period beginning July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

The initial contract agreement for the 2021-2022 school year included a 12-month contract in the amount not to exceed $2,082,501. The proposal for the 2022-2023 school year includes a 2.5 percent increase totaling $52,063 for a total contracted price not to exceed $2,134,564, according to Smith.

The board also voted unanimously to approve this contract renewal.

Following that action, the School Board went into a closed meeting to discuss a student disciplinary matter.

To view the Warren County School Board March 2 regular meeting in its entirety, go HERE.