How To Vote For The Fcops School Board

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1 The Fairfax County Federation of Teachers 2015 FCPS School Board Candidate Questionnaire Please respond completely to the following. Leadership and Advocacy: Will you actively and assertively advocate for the full funding of FCPS as a school board member? Yes, Absolutely. What actions have you taken (in any role) in the past four years to advocate privately or publicly for the funding of FCPS? At this point, I have spoken with several school board members, individuals on the Board of Supervisors, FCPS Staff and other knowledgeable persons in the community to build healthy relationships and communication, to build good will and to gain a better understanding of the issues. I have also spoken to constituents in an effort to assist in developing a dialogue on the significant need for funding for our schools. Lastly, I have been a full participant in the Advisory Budget Committee. Will you advocate for a Meal s Tax for Fairfax County? While the School Board does not have taxing authority, I support efforts to diversify funding sources for our schools. Will you support local school board taxing authority? While I support the idea of local school board taxing authority, this would require legislative action, something that I believe would be extremely difficult in the current political climate. Thus, I believe it is best for me to use my energy toward promoting support for full funding among members of the public and supporting individuals on the Board of Supervisors who work to diversify funding, including efforts like the Meal Tax that is currently in place in Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax City, Manassas and Manassas Park. 2. Do you support the statement of Dr. Garza, below? Why or why not? FCPS Faces Deficit of More than $100 Million FCPS Excellence at Risk Statement from Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen K. Garza following the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passage of the Fairfax County Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget:

2 Once again, we find that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has failed to fully fund Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). This is extremely disheartening We entered this budget year making a good faith effort to work collaboratively with the Board of Supervisors. We worked for nearly a year with the County Executive and the Board of Supervisors to develop a reasonable budget that met only the very minimal needs of FCPS, and in the end they did not deliver." "Supervisors are sending a clear message that they are unconcerned about the increasing challenges of our students, our teachers, and our schools. The supervisors refused to fully fund our budget for the school year (FY 2016), when faced with a nominal $7.6 million deficit." I agree with the message of this statement. It has indeed been frustrating for advocates of the school when considering the extent of the cuts that have been implemented, the lack of raises for our staff and the efforts completed to make our school system efficient. I am also aware that some members of the Board of Supervisors fully support FCPS s efforts and want to provide full funding.

3 Employee Salary, Benefits, and Working Conditions: 3. What priority do you place on FCPS employee salary and compensation? What plans do you have for employee compensation, if elected? Providing equitable funding to FCPS employees is a top priority. I am very concerned that our wages are no longer competitive and FCPS is losing experienced teachers. If we examine the wages of experienced FCPS teachers (10+ years) with a Masters degree and compare their wages (excluding benefits) to other comparable jurisdictions (Montgomery County, Alexandria, Falls Church and Arlington), these experienced teachers can make $9,000-$19,000 per year (excluding benefits) more in other jurisdictions. This inequity is unacceptable. If elected, I would consider it a top priority to raise salaries to make sure these experienced and valuable employees are supported and encouraged to remain at FCPS. 4. What priority do you place on FCPS employee-retirement benefits and programfunding? While I understand that budgetary concerns have placed most programs on the list for potential cuts, I continue to believe that we must compensate our staff in an equitable fashion. Again, if we examine the wages and benefits of experienced FCPS teachers (10+ years) with a Masters degree and compare their wages and benefits to other comparable jurisdictions (Montgomery County, Alexandria, Falls Church and Arlington), these experienced teachers can make up to $23,000 per year more in other jurisdictions. Reducing any teachers benefits without increasing salaries significantly more than the decrease in benefits would be very detrimental to teachers and compound the problem! Any further reduction in compensation will seriously put at risk the excellent level of education provided by Fairfax teachers. Further, such support is necessary to maintain the excellent level of education that FCPS provides. 5. Would you support paying our IA s based upon their educational level as well as by their years of service? Absolutely. 6. Do you support the recent changes to the FCPS Non-discrimination Policy? Yes, I believe that FCPS has an obligation to encourage respect of all persons and students within our system. Instruction:

4 7. Do you support the FCPS Strategic Plan? Why or why not? Yes, I support the Strategic Plan. I am especially pleased with the clear goals within the plan. It is completely appropriate for FCPS to express to all stakeholders, including staff and parents, a commitment to reach, challenge and prepare every student for success in school and life, to eliminate the Achievement Gap and to invest in FCPS employees via completive benefits and compensation. Further, FCPS must always commit to be responsible stewards of the public s investment. The plan also includes a goal regarding implementation with a focus on measuring the success of the plan. The hope is that such guidelines will allow FCPS to align its curriculum with the stated goals. 8. Do you think FCPS currently supports its at-risk students effectively? If not, how can we do better? This is a work in progress. For example, our ESOL community has experienced steady growth. FCPS staff have worked hard to bring ESOL students into the mainstream curriculum but language barriers make such a transition difficult. I continue to have concern regarding the level of study provided in such programs as ESOL. I am also concerned that our Special Education Services are being stretched. Such efforts will require long range planning and a willingness to evaluate the success of our efforts. 9. Do you think FCPS is supporting early childhood education initiatives appropriately? Why or Why not? What are your recommendations? FCPS can do more in this area but at present budgetary concerns hinder such efforts. If elected, I would work to bring attention to such deficits and to help our community understand the long range benefits of an appropriate investment in early childhood education. Communication: 10. Do you support including our teachers in the decision-making process (from planning to implementation), regarding issues of salary, working conditions, benefits, curriculum, instruction, and assessment? Yes, we need teacher input so that we can fully understand which issues are a priority to teachers and whether planned improvements are actually practical. It is also necessary to understand how our employees feel about policy development. If elected, I would work to facilitate regular communication between the Board and our staff.

5 How can we more effectively engage our employees in decisions that impact them and their students? We can effectively engage our employees by providing opportunities for their input and participation. For example, we can seek information from unions such as FCFT and FEA. Next, we can provide anonymous methods by which Staff members can communicate with the Board and the Administration to hear concerns about working conditions and other hindrances within the workplace. Further, we can work to hear from Staff who leave our employ by providing anonymous methods of communication to gain better understanding of conditions and difficulties that our Staff members endure. Finally, if elected, I would visit the schools and try to make sure employees understand how to communicate with the Board and emphasize that their input is valuable. Further, I would encourage Staff members to participate in meetings that I plan to hold within the community. Other Issues: Share ideas on any issues beyond those addressed in this questionnaire: Please return to FCFT by August 21st, 2015