John Chapman & Mayor Express Support for Funding What ACPS Needs

A ray of hope is shining through the budget storm clouds following an explosive, well researched article by reporter and editor of Theogony, James Libresco, where numerous members of city council expressed support for funding ACPS' budget, so long as they ask.

Theogony, the student paper of Alexandria City High, published the piece, titled "Proposed ACPS Budget Stirs Controversy Surrounding Teacher Pay", on January 31, 2024 and detailed the controversy surrounding the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in the FY 2024-25 budget proposed by ACPS Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt (1).

In the article, ACPS Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Dominic Turner claims “We recognize and value the dedication, hard work and contributions that all staff bring to our collective success. We will continue to advocate and work for competitive compensation and benefits for our staff," which echos similar statements made by Superintendent Kay-Wyatt and other top ranking ACPS officials, despite numerous open positions across ACPS (2, 3)

However, actions speak louder than words and the actions of ACPS top brass make me question if they truly do care about educator retention. For example, numerous ACPS educators have had their steps frozen despite numerous years of loyalty and service to their community. These step freezes and a 3-year inflation rate of 18% converged together to provide the background to the current COLA controversy (4).

Adding to the controversy is CFO Turner's comments where he claimed that a COLA and a market rate adjustment (MRA) are the same thing. If we set aside the fact that a COLA and an MRA are NOT the same thing, and accept Mr. Turner's statement as fact, controversy still exists because the proposed FY 24-25 budget does include and MRA...for central office staff and administrators, not frontline educators (5). Throw this confusion of terms on top of the controversy Mr. Turner created when he claimed that steps and COLAs were the same thing, along with Mr. Turner characterizing the 2% raise, as characterized by Governor Glenn Youngkin, given to educators in January as an "MRA", and you can see why many educators are dubious of the current budget proposal and its lack of a COLA (6, 7).

However, hope for these educators has come in the form of a strong statement from City Councilmember, John Chapman. In Libresco's article Mr. Chapman states "At the end of the day, if School Board comes up and says, ‘Hey, we need this,’ if our teachers say ‘We need this,’ [then City Council] will fund it." (8)

This willingness to support ACPS financially was also expressed by Mayor Justin Wilson when, in Libresco's article he states "As an ACPS parent and a long-time policy-maker, I strongly support competitive compensation to ensure that ACPS attracts and retains the best educators in the region." (9)

However, Mayor Wilson also alluded to the fact that ACPS School Board will need to ask for those additional funds when he said "I will leave it to the School Board to make their judgments without me putting my finger on the scale at this point in the process." Mayor Wilson also reminded readers that city council's funds are not unlimited, and the needs of educators will need to be weighed against other vital city needs. (10)

However, with the city recently coming to terms with police, firefighters, and trade workers on their collective bargaining agreements, I fail to see how ACPS will not get their funds if they ask (11, 12, 13). This is where we, the community come in. The next school board meeting is on February 6 at 6:30 PM in the School Board Meeting room at Central Office. We need as many educators and community members to be in attendance to demand that ACPS includes a COLA in their budget and start to lobby city council for the funds we need to truly make our school system run properly.

It is time to put your money where your mouth is ACPS and City Council. -Alex's Pen

REFERENCES

1,2,5,6,8,9,10.) Proposed ACPS Budget Stirs Controversy Surrounding Teacher Pay – Theogony (actheogony.com)

3.) Parents decry ‘staffing crisis’ in Alexandria City Public Schools | ALXnow

4.) CPI Inflation Calculator (bls.gov)

7.) Virginia lawmakers pass bipartisan budget with teacher pay raises, tax rebates | VPM

11.) Alexandria Police to get significant raise after reaching collective bargaining agreement | ALXnow

12.) BREAKING NEWS: Alexandria City Council Reaches Collective Bargaining Agreement With Alexandria Fire Department's Union (thezebra.org)

13.) Notes: Alexandria approves collective bargaining agreement with trade workers | ALXnow