what is going to happen to teachers' salaries next year?

[Anonymous]

Dropping the union. It’s not worth it. The only thing they did was bargain for a raise we are not getting. Meanwhile I provide supplies for students and kill myself with overtime. They haven’t advocated for smaller special education caseloads. They haven’t advocated for extra planning for special education teachers. They haven’t advocated for safety. I’m tired of throwing away my money. Get the people who run the firefighters and police unions to represent the teachers.

Reid…I can’t see how she’s made anything better. Discipline is still a joke and teachers’ professional opinions are not respected. Meanwhile FCPS is blowing money on boundaries, Hayfield and middle school start times. I will not be retiring with FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where FCPS is really struggling in attracting the young/new teachers. The best new teachers are no longer coming to FCPS. Part of the issue FCPS has is they created this retirement system that attracts and secures teachers on the back end of their career, but new teachers could care less about retirement. They have bills to pay now.

Then they should have proposed targeted raises for young teachers. Or even targeted raises for all teachers. But not big raises for every single employee in the whole system, including well paid admin at central office. It was a lazy budget without any understanding of the economic conditions.

I really find it interesting that FCPS consolidated years 3,4, and 5 on a single pay step given the often cited statistics about teachers leaving the profession at high rates in the first five years. It just seems counterintuitive to do this.

Is that consolidated for current teachers or just for the initial placement steps for those who enter from outside of FCPs?

It means that for 3 years steps were frozen. A teacher who entered in 2020ish (don't come for me, I'm too tired to figure out the actual calendar years) didn't get a step increase in 2021 or 2022, so for that period of time 1,2,3 year teachers all made exactly the same amount of money. Now, 3/4/5 year teachers are all making the same amount of money. To make it "fair" (and to discourage leaving FCPS for 1 year and coming back) any outside hire who has 3-5 years experience is placed on that same step that teachers who stayed the whole time are on.

You will see it several places in the pay scale. Those are how many times steps were frozen.

I think the plateaus are only for where they do initial placements for those coming from elsewhere. If you look at prepay scales that’s what they are. That doesn’t mean current employees are dozen on that step.

Yes, it applies to current employees. Next year will be my 15th year in FCPS and I will still be on step 11. I had my steps frozen 4 times.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY26-teacher-195-day-draft.pdf

If two years from now they give a step, I will have 16 years of experience and be on step 12. If they don't give a step in 2 years, I'll be on step 11 still.

That chart shows the initial placement of a new hire from outside of FCPS. It says it at the top in red. It doesn’t show where a current teacher falls in relation to years experience. The pay scale isn’t even filled in

How many teachers have to say it? That is where new teachers start because THAT IS WHERE CURRENT TEACHERS ARE. It absolutely matches the level for current teachers.

Next year’s salaries aren’t filled in because the salary hasn’t been decided yet. That will (likely) be decided at the next meeting.

PP here. We are a two teacher household. I'm saying the column on the left (initial teacher placement) doesn't necessarily match up with current employee's years of experience and placement. For example, one of us is in our 19th year. If you look at the "initial placement" on the FY 2025 scale the way you are, it would put a teacher with 19 years experience at step 16, but in our case the employee is higher than step 16.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the County did agreements with police and firefighters that were connected to reality and available funds. FCPS entered into an agreement that didn’t remotely take available money into account. It’s such a failure on Reid’s part. She has screwed up two budgets and one collective bargaining so far. Not to mention all the other scandals like Hayfield.

Meanwhile the schools are getting another big increase in the transfer from the county this year. I really hope they use it to target raises to teachers and other student-facing jobs, not every employee like Reid put in her budget.

Got it, ten percent for firefighters and police is reality, but 7% for teachers isn't.

What cuts has FCPS proposed? Number of students is trending down in FCPS

The number of special education students sure isn’t trending down. The number of special education teachers is though.

Well then the union should have bargained for a big raise for special ed teachers not accepting FCPS’s position that every single FCPS employee should get a 7% raise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Dropping the union. It’s not worth it. The only thing they did was bargain for a raise we are not getting. Meanwhile I provide supplies for students and kill myself with overtime. They haven’t advocated for smaller special education caseloads. They haven’t advocated for extra planning for special education teachers. They haven’t advocated for safety. I’m tired of throwing away my money. Get the people who run the firefighters and police unions to represent the teachers.

Reid…I can’t see how she’s made anything better. Discipline is still a joke and teachers’ professional opinions are not respected. Meanwhile FCPS is blowing money on boundaries, Hayfield and middle school start times. I will not be retiring with FCPS.

I don’t get why the union didn’t bargain for a step given all of the interest teachers seem to have in it. Also, Reid has completely screwed up the budget. She has pissed off all of the supervisors. And the school board did nothing but rubber stamp her nonsense budget. Who is doing what over there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Dropping the union. It’s not worth it. The only thing they did was bargain for a raise we are not getting. Meanwhile I provide supplies for students and kill myself with overtime. They haven’t advocated for smaller special education caseloads. They haven’t advocated for extra planning for special education teachers. They haven’t advocated for safety. I’m tired of throwing away my money. Get the people who run the firefighters and police unions to represent the teachers.

Reid…I can’t see how she’s made anything better. Discipline is still a joke and teachers’ professional opinions are not respected. Meanwhile FCPS is blowing money on boundaries, Hayfield and middle school start times. I will not be retiring with FCPS.

It is frustrating! I keep them for liability insurance, but I don't feel like they advocate for things that make a difference in the working conditions for teachers . . . many of which parents would probably like to see too. I've worked in another school district in another state with a stronger union, and while I didn't always agree with every decision they made, they successfully pushed back on things that were a time-suck for teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anybody have a link to the bargaining agreement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody have a link to the bargaining agreement?

I found it.

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/CPKTMN6D4B04/$file/FCPS%20Revised%20Draft%20CB%20Resolution%20Clean%20Copy%203.2.23PDF.pdf

[Anonymous]

The board meeting about the budget will start shortly. We’ll begin to learn about what their plan is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody have a link to the bargaining agreement?

I found it.

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/CPKTMN6D4B04/$file/FCPS%20Revised%20Draft%20CB%20Resolution%20Clean%20Copy%203.2.23PDF.pdf

Never mind. That’s not it. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Let’s try this again. CBA:

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/DCJR5C6C4BC7/$file/Collective%20Bargaining%20Agreement%20FEU-FCPS%20Licensed%20.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Dropping the union. It’s not worth it. The only thing they did was bargain for a raise we are not getting. Meanwhile I provide supplies for students and kill myself with overtime. They haven’t advocated for smaller special education caseloads. They haven’t advocated for extra planning for special education teachers. They haven’t advocated for safety. I’m tired of throwing away my money. Get the people who run the firefighters and police unions to represent the teachers.

Reid…I can’t see how she’s made anything better. Discipline is still a joke and teachers’ professional opinions are not respected. Meanwhile FCPS is blowing money on boundaries, Hayfield and middle school start times. I will not be retiring with FCPS.

I just skimmed the CBA.

The contract does stipulate that special education teachers will receive the extended day contract pay. I know it isn’t a raise, but they will continue on that scale.

Planning time seems to be more specific than current policy (especially about CT mtgs) at least at the ES level.

I see the stipend for ES team leads will match that of MS and HS department chairs. I wonder if ES’s without team leads will have to designate them.

It looks like healthcare cost sharing arrangements are locked in.

Personal leave use went from 5 to 6 days.

I think 3 days of bereavement leave that is not deducted from accrued leave is a new benefit of the contract.

I believe the requirement for just cause disciplinary action for all is also new per the contract. Didn’t that used to just apply after a certain number of years employed? The grievance procedures seem to be very specific, but I don’t know how they compare to current policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The board meeting about the budget will start shortly. We’ll begin to learn about what their plan is.

They haven’t even posted budget materials on boarddocs yet. It’s 7:30 and they’re still blathering on with useless proclamations. They have serious work to try and figure out how to use the huge transfer the county gave them to best pay teachers, not gatehouse employees. But these are not serious people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board meeting about the budget will start shortly. We’ll begin to learn about what their plan is.

They haven’t even posted budget materials on boarddocs yet. It’s 7:30 and they’re still blathering on with useless proclamations. They have serious work to try and figure out how to use the huge transfer the county gave them to best pay teachers, not gatehouse employees. But these are not serious people.

They already know what they’re going to do. This is just for optics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where FCPS is really struggling in attracting the young/new teachers. The best new teachers are no longer coming to FCPS. Part of the issue FCPS has is they created this retirement system that attracts and secures teachers on the back end of their career, but new teachers could care less about retirement. They have bills to pay now.

Then they should have proposed targeted raises for young teachers. Or even targeted raises for all teachers. But not big raises for every single employee in the whole system, including well paid admin at central office. It was a lazy budget without any understanding of the economic conditions.

I really find it interesting that FCPS consolidated years 3,4, and 5 on a single pay step given the often cited statistics about teachers leaving the profession at high rates in the first five years. It just seems counterintuitive to do this.

Is that consolidated for current teachers or just for the initial placement steps for those who enter from outside of FCPs?

It means that for 3 years steps were frozen. A teacher who entered in 2020ish (don't come for me, I'm too tired to figure out the actual calendar years) didn't get a step increase in 2021 or 2022, so for that period of time 1,2,3 year teachers all made exactly the same amount of money. Now, 3/4/5 year teachers are all making the same amount of money. To make it "fair" (and to discourage leaving FCPS for 1 year and coming back) any outside hire who has 3-5 years experience is placed on that same step that teachers who stayed the whole time are on.

You will see it several places in the pay scale. Those are how many times steps were frozen.

I think the plateaus are only for where they do initial placements for those coming from elsewhere. If you look at prepay scales that’s what they are. That doesn’t mean current employees are dozen on that step.

Yes, it applies to current employees. Next year will be my 15th year in FCPS and I will still be on step 11. I had my steps frozen 4 times.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY26-teacher-195-day-draft.pdf

If two years from now they give a step, I will have 16 years of experience and be on step 12. If they don't give a step in 2 years, I'll be on step 11 still.

That chart shows the initial placement of a new hire from outside of FCPS. It says it at the top in red. It doesn’t show where a current teacher falls in relation to years experience. The pay scale isn’t even filled in

How many teachers have to say it? That is where new teachers start because THAT IS WHERE CURRENT TEACHERS ARE. It absolutely matches the level for current teachers.

Next year’s salaries aren’t filled in because the salary hasn’t been decided yet. That will (likely) be decided at the next meeting.

PP here. We are a two teacher household. I'm saying the column on the left (initial teacher placement) doesn't necessarily match up with current employee's years of experience and placement. For example, one of us is in our 19th year. If you look at the "initial placement" on the FY 2025 scale the way you are, it would put a teacher with 19 years experience at step 16, but in our case the employee is higher than step 16.

Did the employee in their 19th year take time off at some point in their career during frozen steps? Because I am in my 20th consecutive year and it absolutely matches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where FCPS is really struggling in attracting the young/new teachers. The best new teachers are no longer coming to FCPS. Part of the issue FCPS has is they created this retirement system that attracts and secures teachers on the back end of their career, but new teachers could care less about retirement. They have bills to pay now.

Then they should have proposed targeted raises for young teachers. Or even targeted raises for all teachers. But not big raises for every single employee in the whole system, including well paid admin at central office. It was a lazy budget without any understanding of the economic conditions.

I really find it interesting that FCPS consolidated years 3,4, and 5 on a single pay step given the often cited statistics about teachers leaving the profession at high rates in the first five years. It just seems counterintuitive to do this.

Is that consolidated for current teachers or just for the initial placement steps for those who enter from outside of FCPs?

It means that for 3 years steps were frozen. A teacher who entered in 2020ish (don't come for me, I'm too tired to figure out the actual calendar years) didn't get a step increase in 2021 or 2022, so for that period of time 1,2,3 year teachers all made exactly the same amount of money. Now, 3/4/5 year teachers are all making the same amount of money. To make it "fair" (and to discourage leaving FCPS for 1 year and coming back) any outside hire who has 3-5 years experience is placed on that same step that teachers who stayed the whole time are on.

You will see it several places in the pay scale. Those are how many times steps were frozen.

I think the plateaus are only for where they do initial placements for those coming from elsewhere. If you look at prepay scales that’s what they are. That doesn’t mean current employees are dozen on that step.

Yes, it applies to current employees. Next year will be my 15th year in FCPS and I will still be on step 11. I had my steps frozen 4 times.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY26-teacher-195-day-draft.pdf

If two years from now they give a step, I will have 16 years of experience and be on step 12. If they don't give a step in 2 years, I'll be on step 11 still.

That chart shows the initial placement of a new hire from outside of FCPS. It says it at the top in red. It doesn’t show where a current teacher falls in relation to years experience. The pay scale isn’t even filled in

How many teachers have to say it? That is where new teachers start because THAT IS WHERE CURRENT TEACHERS ARE. It absolutely matches the level for current teachers.

Next year’s salaries aren’t filled in because the salary hasn’t been decided yet. That will (likely) be decided at the next meeting.

PP here. We are a two teacher household. I'm saying the column on the left (initial teacher placement) doesn't necessarily match up with current employee's years of experience and placement. For example, one of us is in our 19th year. If you look at the "initial placement" on the FY 2025 scale the way you are, it would put a teacher with 19 years experience at step 16, but in our case the employee is higher than step 16.

Did the employee in their 19th year take time off at some point in their career during frozen steps? Because I am in my 20th consecutive year and it absolutely matches.

No time off. This is the 19th consecutive year.