Testimony to the Fairfax County School Board Regarding the Proposed FY2011 School Budget
27 January 2010By Arthur G. PurvesPresident, Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance
Dr.
Dale and Members of the Board:
The
best-kept secret of the current budget crisis is the spending that preceded
it. Between 2000 and 2007, the
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) inflation-adjusted operating budget
increased five times faster than enrollment (30% vs. 6%). Since 1975, the inflation-adjusted
budget has increased eight times faster than enrollment (197% vs. 24%).
Have
the resulting higher taxes produced academic excellence?
State
accreditation is not a good indicator because passing the SOL tests requires
only “D” level achievement.
FCPS boasts that 93 percent of
its graduates attend college.
However, how many will graduate from college? When we asked the superintendent, his answer was, “I do not
know.” The DC Public Schools
chancellor knows. In 2006, D.C. Public Schools published a study concluding
that only one out of nine DCPS ninth graders would graduate from college. If DC can answer the question, why
can’t we?
According
to the 2009 ACT college admissions test, only 39 percent of the 3000 FCPS
seniors tested were prepared for college.
What
about last year’s ten-point increase in SAT scores? We asked the College Board how much higher SAT scores
increase the probability of college success. Their answer was, “We
cannot predict how well a student will do based on the SAT scores ….”
Rather than funding academic
excellence, higher taxes are giving school employees better salaries and
benefits than received by taxpayers.
According to the county website, between 2001 and 2009 private-sector
raises in Fairfax County outpaced inflation by 7.3 percent. Over the same period, county raises
outpaced inflation by 22 percent.
The Superintendent’s budget press
release announced cuts totaling $100 million. It did not mention that spending for employee benefits is
increasing by $100 million. In
comparison, accommodating next year’s increase in student enrollment costs only
$9 million.
Low revenues are not the
reason for bigger classes and cuts in sports and band. Indeed, next year’s proposed budget is
$50 million more than this year’s approved budget ($2,256M vs. $2,203M). The reason for the cuts is to pay
for the high cost of the schools’ generous pension and health benefits. Teachers are not well served when
excessive raises and benefits result in layoffs. We recommend that you present to the teachers’ union
President Obama’s suggestion of accepting lower salaries and benefits in return
for fewer layoffs.
Thank you.