In preparation for the inevitable employee pay freezes that will hit employees now that the school board has wasted 5 million on this bullshit SLEEP thing and alienated the Board of Supervisors, FCPS sent out a "The Bottom Line Budget E- neswletter" today.
It starts out by saying "There is no getting around it: The Fairfax County Public Schools' (FCPS) $2.5 billion school budget is complex and can be difficult to understand. " Yes, it sure is! Especially when you just fucking spent 5 million on bullshit and effectively alienated the Board of Supervisors.
It continues by stating:
It's important to understand that FCPS continues to experience major financial challenges. Costs are outpacing revenue and continue to rise. To balance the FY 2015 budget, a shared approach of making expenditure reductions totaling $97.8 million and eliminating 724 positions, coupled with an increase in funding from the Fairfax County Government, was needed to address significant cost drivers.
Really? then WHY did you just spend 5 million dollars on such a ludicrous false precept? If you cant PROVE that the 40 minutes will net kids more sleep , why gamble- that's what it is, gambling with taxpayers' money which is completely irresponsible, particularly when you have just alienated the politicians who could help boost your revenue via irresponsible spending.

It then states:
"Over 70 percent of FCPS revenue comes from Fairfax County. State funding accounts for 23 percent. Federal aid and other sources make up the balance of school funding".
So, over 70 percent of the revenue comes from the COunty , which now will not give more money to help cover irresponsible spending. Then it continues:
"Instruction is always FCPS' highest priority. As a result, 85.6 percent of the budget is allocated to instructional programs. This includes elementary, middle, high, special education, adult and community education, and instructional support program costs".
Notice, these dickheads say "instructional programs" not the INSTRUCTORS that will be needed to RUN these programs, who they are about to fuck over again, which they acknowledge by saying:
"The majority of the budget (88.8 percent) is for employee compensation, reflecting the fact that education is a labor-intensive enterprise".
Which means that when they make cuts, it is going to FIRST come from the 89 percent of the money allocated to employee compensation.
They THEN continue with :
"The cost per student is $13,519 in FY 2015. This represents only a $112 increase in the per pupil cost over the last seven years while educating a more diverse student population. This demonstrates responsible fiscal management".
What a horseshit argument! First of all, they fail to mention that enrollment has increased. Increased spending across more students will equate to the same average - DUH! The SECOND thing they fail to mention is that they kept the average down by freezing employee compensation, thereby fucking over their employees which, of coure, they are preparing to do AGAIN. The puropse of this whole NEWSLETTER was to tell employees that you are about to get fucked over AGAIN, and there is no telling when your fucking over will END.
Foolishly, in a sidebar they note that :
"Since FY 2008, FCPS has grown by nearly 22,000 students-greater than the size of many school districts around the country, and nearly the same size as Arlington County Public Schools".
So , here they acknowledge that, since 2007 the school district has grown by 22000 kids which they ommitted earlier. By admitting that the school system has grown that much in the past seven years, and by stating that the cost per student has gone up only a nominal amount since 2007 AND by saying that 89 percent of FCPS' overall expenditure comes from employee compensation they have inadvertenlty told employees WE HAVE KEPT THE COST PER STUDENT DOWN OVER THE PAST SEVEN YEARS BY FUCKING YOU OVER, AND WE ARE GOING TO CONTINUE TO FUCK YOU BECAUSE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IS GROWING AND YOUR PAY IS THE FIRST WAY WE CAN REDUCE OUR COSTS".
Fuck you GARZA, Fuck YOU School Board, FUCK YOU MCELVEEN, and FUCK YOU SLEEP. Five million! YOU MOTHERFUCKERS. Work to RUL TEACHERS

Ask your teacher to explain it to you.

McLoven is great

Troll away you illiterate fucking anal maggot snorter. The more you troll the more this stays on top.

They can make a fortune renting out the turf fields.

They can pay more attention to Tara Brach on ways to save money.

They can run Boosterthon year round and raise millions.

They can charge the real costs of sports along with a surcharge.

If you deport the illegals, there would be a surplus budget... money for all!

to hey dumbass Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Troll away you illiterate fucking anal maggot snorter.
> The more you troll the more this stays on top.

And the more people see what a bunch of ignorant loser fucktards you and the FCPS haters are. Worthless stupid shits from A to Z.

To be called ignorant by a brainless, spineless , troglodyte like you is an honor. You wouldn't know a smart person from the rectum you crawled out of. I just hope God doesn't flush you

If you're an employee

Wouldn't it be great to see the School Board standing in front of schools selling cupcakes?

Yeah but then they'd have to work. McElveen might do it though so he could ingratiate himself.to high school kids

And work to the rule. Have some balls for once in your miserable , whining lives

+1 on deporting the shitskins to free up money.

Also, show me an FCPS teacher that isn't fat as fuck. They seem to have plenty of money to eat.

These are really good points. They are trying to do damage control while simulyaneously telling you to never expect a raise. The ludicrous "cost per pupil" being used as evidence of responsible spending is a joke. They should all be shitcanned

The average teacher had SAT scores of less than 1000 (CR + M). They really shouldn't expect to get paid like programmers and scientists.

If it's so bad for them here, let them go somewhere else where the kids are dumb as rocks and will disrupt their classrooms all day. DCPS is just across the river.

My job is so frickin easy it is almost unbelievable! I will stay with the county because I have NO papers to grade.

Let's face it, if you're working in the public sector, pay freezes and layoffs are the norm:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcauliffe-announces-budget-cuts-layoffs-to-address-revenue-shortfall/2014/10/15/e788c486-546e-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html

-------------------------------------------------
“We don’t have any rude, unpleasant people here. We’re different!”

Dane Bramage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let's face it, if you're working in the public
> sector, pay freezes and layoffs are the norm:
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-polit
> ics/mcauliffe-announces-budget-cuts-layoffs-to-add
> ress-revenue-shortfall/2014/10/15/e788c486-546e-11
> e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html


Maybe, I have 2 retirements from the public sector while my private sector neighbors complain they can never retire. I wave at them when they drive away every morning to sit on I 66 , going to the jobs they complain about constantly.

Anyone who has been an employee of FCPS for any length of time should be used to it by now. School board budgets are driven by political goals, not educational goals. If spending 5 million to make parents happy by having later starting times, then that is good politics. Education is less important, and employee salaries and benefits are pretty much last.

"Anyone who has been an employee of FCPS for any length of time should be used to it by now. School board budgets are driven by political goals, not educational goals. If spending 5 million to make parents happy by having later starting times, then that is good politics. Education is less important, and employee salaries and benefits are pretty much last."


+1

nailed it Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Anyone who has been an employee of FCPS for any
> length of time should be used to it by now. School
> board budgets are driven by political goals, not
> educational goals. If spending 5 million to make
> parents happy by having later starting times, then
> that is good politics. Education is less
> important, and employee salaries and benefits are
> pretty much last."
>
>
> +1
This is very true. If education really mattered, or if employees really mattered, they could just cut hs sports. That would save a shit ton of money, but they won't do that. Its a shame: most of those sports don't even help student athletes get scholarships, but they won't cut em

thank you taxpayers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Maybe, I have 2 retirements from the public
> sector while my private sector neighbors complain
> they can never retire. I wave at them when they
> drive away every morning to sit on I 66 , going
> to the jobs they complain about constantly.

Key word: retirement. Days gone by it may have been great career choice, but from a pay perspective, not so hot since 2006-07.

-------------------------------------------------
“We don’t have any rude, unpleasant people here. We’re different!”

Dane Bramage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thank you taxpayers Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Maybe, I have 2 retirements from the public
> > sector while my private sector neighbors
> complain
> > they can never retire. I wave at them when they
> > drive away every morning to sit on I 66 ,
> going
> > to the jobs they complain about constantly.
>
> Key word: retirement. Days gone by it may
> have been great career choice, but from a pay
> perspective, not so hot since 2006-07.

No the key word is save , start the month you begin your first real job, the real issue is all the yuppie assholes around here spend too much on toys and keeping up with neighbors, no real secret on how to retire on a modest income.

love those checks every month Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> No the key word is save ,


Absolutely. And while I agree, saving and retirement is not the topic in this thread.

To recap. Poor budget management and screwing over FCPS workers is what the OP posted. I offered that public sector salaries have suffered for the last several years.

Please stay focused.

-------------------------------------------------
“We don’t have any rude, unpleasant people here. We’re different!”

The teachers unions support Democrats, who promise much and deliver little. They wasted money when they had it, and now they don't. The Supervisors are not all fools. If the school board really wants teachers to be paid more, they need to identify major cuts. Eliminating all consultants would be a good start. An independent auditor would also be welcomed.

High schooler in FCPS checking in here.

They've alienated me and most of the kids in my school too with their whole hour back thing. That means everything after-school will be pushed back another hour. I have friends who don't return home until 9:00 or so as it is. Not to mention kids (knowing kids) will probably just take this as an opportunity to stay up even LATER, which just perpetuates the sleep issue and doesn't fix anything. Just pushes everything back. It's BS really considering most of us are used to getting up at 5:00 or so and are in the habit.

^Until they actually cut things that don't matter to the classroom (and they will say everything matters whether it does or doesn't), there will little support for higher taxes and thus no raises for teachers. Here's a solution: give raises to only those who actually give a GRADE to a student or who actually teach students at least 3 hours per day (the usual is 5.5 so I'm being "nice" here). I would love to see how much money such raises would really cost the system (versus giving everyone a raise). Or another solution would be to give raises to only those making less than 70K per year. It could be called a "living wage" raise. Those people need the raises more (yes, I know this sounds like socialism, but all of these people are getting paid by the government anyway so it's all socialism on some level). Or give those at the lower levels a higher percentage raise than those at the higher wage levels.

Thanks for your candor. The school board doesn't care how kids or teachers feel. Those nimrods on the sleep committee must've had some kind of political pull because they certainly didn't have a majority and there is absolutely no way to prove that starting school later will result in more sleep. I believe one of two things is more likely to happen:
1. As you propose, everything that happens now will simply be pushed back forty minutes. Kids will get home later, start their he later, and socialize until later netting no more sleep for the five million dollars that the school system doesn't have.
2. Kids will not do their homework at night and wake up earlier in the morning to do it, which will net them no more sleep for a price tag of five million that the school system doesn't have.
Now, there are a few important lessons to take away from this:
1. Teachers are a bunch of pussies. The school board can do things like this and exploit them and waste money because at the end of the day teachers will bitch and moan but never really do.anything.Any time anybody gets pissed on and doesn't fight back they can expect the piss shower to continue. So the board will do what they have just done: grab their ankles to accommodate a political agenda, pretend they care about student and teacher feelings, say the right things and point their fingers at the board of supervisors as the bad guys, then screw teachers over again without a second thought. There is no danger in making teachers mad, so why not do it.
2. Student feelings don't matter either. Did anyone ask you how you felt?? Teachers are a bunch of pussies, but it would be interesting if kids gathered and started a petition or something. After all, you are getting screwed too. You sound like a bright kid- have you noticed that your AP classes have way too many kids? That is due to irresponsible spending took and the end result is that you aren't getting the attention and preparation you deserve.
If kids petitioned and became a nuisance that may be interesting because teachers are the worst. They are cowardly whiners

PE teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My job is so frickin easy it is almost
> unbelievable! I will stay with the county because
> I have NO papers to grade.


It pisses me off seeing gym teachers leaving for home 90 seconds after the buses are gone while I have to stay 90 minutes grading papers and helping struggling students. They should get paid less than real teachers.

I hear you, but I can't help but be a bit envious of their choice. In addition to leaving early and hardly ever having to grade, they can also come to school in sweats and work out all day. Furthermore, I bet they rarely get asked to do recs. They were smarter than we! Of course, if we all work to the rule that evens it out. Just sayin'.

After working in a school for years, it looked like a majority were already working to the rule. Those with that last period "planning period" were laughing all the way out of the parking lot at you

Overall, it's the students who get "fucked" by all of this.

There are many things that the majority of students, teachers, and parents can agree on. But then there is the SB and the administration who kowtow to every special interest out there. Some of that is forced upon them by those above, but you don't see the SB and administration getting all "brave" and speaking out about the absurdity of much of this "legislation" or "executive action" or whatever it is.

It seems like compensating teachers should be discussed first and then money that is left should be budgeted. But apparently it works the other way around---everything else comes first and then let's see if there's money to pay the teachers. And then they complain when they have a lack of money the next year to extend the "everything else that they put first" and voila---no money for teachers again. The cycle needs to be broken or the teachers will be broke(n).

^^^I think the administrators should have a dinner meeting at Capital Grille to discuss these issues.

"^^^I think the administrators should have a dinner meeting at Capital Grille to discuss these issues."


^I don't think they are the "deciders" on teacher pay. It's the School Board!!! But maybe the SB will look the other way while they have dinner and throw the teachers a donut and coffee now and then to keep them appeased.

"85.6 percent is allocated to instructional programs". You can bet that this includes allocated costs from admin and gatehouse under the theory that their time benefits instructional programs. I'd like to know what percentage is actually teachers/instructors with direct contact to students.

^Exactly! "Instructional programs" does not mean actual teachers in direct contact with students. The SB should be asking for these numbers.

The answer to you questions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V3CfD8TPac

Accountant- have you EVER seen more ridiculous proof of "responsible spending" than what they presented? The fact that they even feel compelled to address it reveals that they know people are going to call them out. The fact that they offer such bullshit "proof" is an insult to everyone's intelligence.

Parents- A lot of you would object to teachers working to the rule, not writing recs, and not sponsoring club, and I get that . However, it's the school board that's really not putting the "kids' first" . Spending five million dollars that they cannot afford to defend on the specious premise that starting school forty minutes later will result in more sleep for high school students is ludicrous
Also, think about this: schools are evaluated in part by the number of students taking AP tests (http://www.newsweek.com/2013/05/06/america-s-best-high-schools.html). So, it is not surprising that one middle school that I know of has no "regular" English classes any longer. Every student in English is considered an "honors" student (Longfellow). It is possible that Fairfax County is tryng to get more and more kids to take AP classes so that it can keep it's schools highly ranked thereby not compromising property values. However , AP classes are now capped at a WHOPPING 32 students, which is absurd. Those ridiculous numbers indicate a few things:
1. The quality of instruction for AP classes is not the county's concern, merely the number. To try to bolster those numbers, the school are creating a false sense that everyone is AP capable early on.
2. The county's avarice and irresponsibility with money has created a situation where those burgeoning numbers must be dealt with by more inexperienced teachers trying to teach a ton of content to far too many pupils.

It's the school board that is not putting kids first. They are trying to keep the perception of the schools alive without regard to actual education.

$13,519 in FY 2015

really? it was $2,000 / yr or so when i was a kid

i don't have a first kid and want one and am getting old, these fuckers are cutting in line seriously i might take a swipe at them, thinking about it

that is your damn bill not my bill. you all inflated. i have proof.

i'm suing is what i'm doing. these foreigner fuckers now want luxury homes and asian cars to use FCPS as a breeding ground , and use my fucking land as a deposit on a loan they aren't even going to pay interest on (sound familiar? fx co gov isn't even paying interest on it's $4,000,000,000 of debt loans to itself (prob. by NY,NY loan warehouse tied with fed gov)

With that charming personality I can't believe you don't have kids. Foreign folks have a right to come to this country and many out work and out produce "Americans". The real problem here is the school board. If you want to take a "swipe" at anyone , take a swipe at the school board by showing up to these "listening" parties and taking them to task. They are irresponsible and Garza is out to lunch

Everyone should read this

If administrators aren't in on sticking it to the teachers then why did they get their pay raises when teachers salaries were frozen.

Also, why do they get to keep their slush fund?

10 million for Mondays, 5 Million for Late Start. . . teachers are stupid pussies

The administrators are discussing this over dinner at Bonaroti's tonight.

,, Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The administrators are discussing this over dinner
> at Bonaroti's tonight.

or somewhere with that unaudited county credit card, more drinks for everyone.

Sounds like there are a lot of questions regarding transparency. It is a bit liKe Animal Farm- the big wigs keep doimg what they want and get the means by screwing underlings over and over. Nobody ever calls them on it though. The uniions are useless. Check out the article in The Post today regarding Falls Church High School. One of the points they make is how many kids take the AP tests. Newseek bases twenty five percent of their school analysis on just the NUMBER of tests taken, it is clear there is a push to get more and more kids to take these tests. It would be interesting to know if the college board gives any type of kickback. Regardless of that though, the county may have figured out a way to keep certain schools in the top of th Newsweek rankings. That helps property values without really increasing the content of a child's education. Therefore, the politicians are happy and feel no need to hike taxes. Why should they? The school board is irresponsible, and the only people who woulkd really push for meal taxes or increased property taxes to compensate teacher are the teachers themselves, and most of the ones who have answered here won't even work to the rule in protest. Therefore, why even try to appease them? Pretend to listen to their whining, laugh at them behind their backs, pay lipservice, then continue with business as usual. Teacher refuse to do anything BUT whine because the tired "kids first" line makes them forget about their own well being.
Cut school sports. It's simple, it puts a lot of money in the coffer, and its paid for by all but enjoyed by few. They won't even consider that, which ought to tell you how much they care about you.

First - you guys need to get a life. Second of course teachers are getting screwed. The board screws them not for all these elaborate reasons posted. The board screws them because they can. Look at Federal workers - 1 one percent pay raise in 5 years. Why? Because the job market allows it. The simple truth is well paying stable jobs are less common these days. Teaching (and Federal employment) is steady and reasonable pay with good benefits. If teachers had a better place to go they would go. They dont.

Wish it were different. I wish that with corporations sitting on record amounts of cash, the stock market at all time highs and the top 1% being as rich as they were in the robber baron era that middle class employment was better. Its not.

Maybe if we give even more to the massive corporations and ultra-wealthy they will be nice to us - nah just kidding...

Ill have the prime rib Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ,, Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The administrators are discussing this over
> dinner
> > at Bonaroti's tonight.
>
> or somewhere with that unaudited county credit
> card, more drinks for everyone.




THAT WAS THE BEST THREAD EVER!!!!!

Read this

Maybe it's because teachers never really left the shelter that is institutionalized education.

Welcome to the real fucking world. Jobs aren't forever, they treat you like shit, and they don't owe you a god damn thing. Capitalism, baby!

The thing is FCPS is a bureaucracy. The elite in the system (administrators etc..) work to maintain their jobs even at the expense of others. Their interest is not the kids, parents or other stake holder but their own position, power and perks. To this end they promote some people to useless jobs they are not qualified for (building an army of employees who owe their superiors unconditional loyalty) and fire others who do not reflect their own sense of self importance (check out the legal expenses. FCPS supports entire law firms via retainers to handle their many legal problems.) Also check out who is an instructional coach, assistant principal, principal, executive principal etc..you will see the process of rewards and punishment that is used by the bureaucracy to support itself and promote its own elite. You will see why teachers (with a few exceptions) are treated like dirt.

...similar to how most organizations operate. I get it, teachers get screwed. But their opinion that they are the ONLY ONES getting screwed is what I'm so sick and tired of hearing about. If the grass is that much greener on the other side, then quit. Then regret your decision because you'll find that this is life and there are no free rides.

parentandtaxpayer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The thing is FCPS is a bureaucracy. The elite in
> the system (administrators etc..) work to maintain
> their jobs even at the expense of others. Their
> interest is not the kids, parents or other stake
> holder but their own position, power and perks. To
> this end they promote some people to useless jobs
> they are not qualified for (building an army of
> employees who owe their superiors unconditional
> loyalty) and fire others who do not reflect their
> own sense of self importance (check out the legal
> expenses. FCPS supports entire law firms via
> retainers to handle their many legal problems.)
> Also check out who is an instructional coach,
> assistant principal, principal, executive
> principal etc..you will see the process of rewards
> and punishment that is used by the bureaucracy to
> support itself and promote its own elite. You will
> see why teachers (with a few exceptions) are
> treated like dirt.

You are sizzling.
I am sure they will discuss this at their next soirée at Arundel Preserve or their next golf party, all of which we have been paying for.
Very sad situation.
Who is the lucky law firm?

Covington and Burling

Blakinship and Keith

Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe. (Thanks Moe.)

Just a little lawyering up!