FCPS teacher salaries--pathetic

[Anonymous]

^^meal tax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many people think they have the solution to the problem. Have you approached your school boards or the government with these solutions?

I have personally spoken with Jeff McKay (Board of Supervisor) about it. His response was lukewarm--"we tried one 20 years ago and it failed. It takes years to educate citizens on voting on meals tax...." It was a pretty weak answer. I think that more folks need to approach the Board of Supervisors (NOT the board of education--they do not set taxes) about this. We need elected officials who can have the guts to do the right thing and raise some taxes. There is no way we can continue to think that we'll get the same with less.

[Anonymous]

We contact the supervisors. Ours is Herrity and he insists the school budget is fully funded.

Perhaps the schools just need to make some big time cuts. My wife and I both teach for FCPS. I can see how every year the schools look like they are crying wolf. Changes are made, but overall the public doesn't see them. They aren't affected.

[Anonymous]

What are these three month vacations people speak of?

School gets out LATE June and starts again late August or mere days into September. Plus, all teachers have mandatory work days before kids begin in the fall.

So by my count that's less than 2 months vacation. And seeing as how they're either only receiving checks for when they work or spreading out a thinner paycheck over 12 months, I don't think we can call it a "vacation" anymore than we can call weekends a vacation.

Try 3 months.

194 day contract = less than 39 weeks. That comes to 12 weeks of vacation.

I think you are forgetting about all the federal holidays, Thanksgiving vacation, Christmas vacation, Spring break, etc.

It does add up. And, you do also get personal leave, don't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What are these three month vacations people speak of?

School gets out LATE June and starts again late August or mere days into September. Plus, all teachers have mandatory work days before kids begin in the fall.

So by my count that's less than 2 months vacation. And seeing as how they're either only receiving checks for when they work or spreading out a thinner paycheck over 12 months, I don't think we can call it a "vacation" anymore than we can call weekends a vacation.

Try 3 months.

194 day contract = less than 39 weeks. That comes to 12 weeks of vacation.

I think you are forgetting about all the federal holidays, Thanksgiving vacation, Christmas vacation, Spring break, etc.

It does add up. And, you do also get personal leave, don't you?

I'm happy with my teaching salary. Then again, I don't work for FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What are these three month vacations people speak of?

School gets out LATE June and starts again late August or mere days into September. Plus, all teachers have mandatory work days before kids begin in the fall.

So by my count that's less than 2 months vacation. And seeing as how they're either only receiving checks for when they work or spreading out a thinner paycheck over 12 months, I don't think we can call it a "vacation" anymore than we can call weekends a vacation.

Try 3 months.

194 day contract = less than 39 weeks. That comes to 12 weeks of vacation.

I think you are forgetting about all the federal holidays, Thanksgiving vacation, Christmas vacation, Spring break, etc.

It does add up. And, you do also get personal leave, don't you?

I don't think people are complaining about the salary compared to number of days, but complaining that fcps teachers are paid so much less than teachers in neighboring counties for the same number of work days. I teach in fcps and am overall happy there, but if I was just starting out again, I would definitely look in Arlington instead because of the higher pay. I live in Arlington so the commute would be great, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many people think they have the solution to the problem. Have you approached your school boards or the government with these solutions?

I have personally spoken with Jeff McKay (Board of Supervisor) about it. His response was lukewarm--"we tried one 20 years ago and it failed. It takes years to educate citizens on voting on meals tax...." It was a pretty weak answer. I think that more folks need to approach the Board of Supervisors (NOT the board of education--they do not set taxes) about this. We need elected officials who can have the guts to do the right thing and raise some taxes. There is no way we can continue to think that we'll get the same with less.

Some of us citizens, even with children, do not want a meals tax.

Raise property taxes, put in casinos, raise regular food taxes, I don't care, but I DO NOT want a meals tax.

[Anonymous]

DCPS ranks up there with Arlington, but I don't know any of my teacher friends who are clamoring to teach in DCPS. The ones that are applied for Arlington and Fairfax, but were not hired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many people think they have the solution to the problem. Have you approached your school boards or the government with these solutions?

I have personally spoken with Jeff McKay (Board of Supervisor) about it. His response was lukewarm--"we tried one 20 years ago and it failed. It takes years to educate citizens on voting on meals tax...." It was a pretty weak answer. I think that more folks need to approach the Board of Supervisors (NOT the board of education--they do not set taxes) about this. We need elected officials who can have the guts to do the right thing and raise some taxes. There is no way we can continue to think that we'll get the same with less.

Some of us citizens, even with children, do not want a meals tax.

Raise property taxes, put in casinos, raise regular food taxes, I don't care, but I DO NOT want a meals tax.

Because it's a progressive tax? Just curious why you are open to other taxes but not that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many people think they have the solution to the problem. Have you approached your school boards or the government with these solutions?

I have personally spoken with Jeff McKay (Board of Supervisor) about it. His response was lukewarm--"we tried one 20 years ago and it failed. It takes years to educate citizens on voting on meals tax...." It was a pretty weak answer. I think that more folks need to approach the Board of Supervisors (NOT the board of education--they do not set taxes) about this. We need elected officials who can have the guts to do the right thing and raise some taxes. There is no way we can continue to think that we'll get the same with less.

Some of us citizens, even with children, do not want a meals tax.

Raise property taxes, put in casinos, raise regular food taxes, I don't care, but I DO NOT want a meals tax.

Because it's a progressive tax? Just curious why you are open to other taxes but not that.

I said this in another thread:

I'd support a meals tax in special business districts, like Tyson's, where there are thousands of non-Fairfax residents eating every day.

But otherwise, I am friendly with several local restaurant owners, I love my local restaurants and bars, and they don't deserve an arbitrary extra tax placed on their goods and services. Why not have a barber tax? Why not have an accountant tax? Why not a car wash tax? It is the local, small restaurant owners that are not serving thousands of out-of-county residents every day that will feel the pinch. My husband and I take our kid out to eat I don't know, once or twice a week at times - it is truly an enjoyable experience, and we'd feel a pang of annoyance if we saw a 10% tax bill every time we got the check. Meals taxes work better in Arlington and DC because they have a LOT of out of towners eating there every single day.

Honestly, this is really unpopular, but I think that if the state raised the food tax 1%, the state and county could make a killing. As much as my husband and I spend on restaurant eating, our grocery bill dwarfs that bill exponentially. But, that is considered a regressive tax.

And I don't like that in many locales, we are approaching upon Canadian and European level taxes of consumables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We contact the supervisors. Ours is Herrity and he insists the school budget is fully funded.

Perhaps the schools just need to make some big time cuts. My wife and I both teach for FCPS. I can see how every year the schools look like they are crying wolf. Changes are made, but overall the public doesn't see them. They aren't affected.

FCPS has made 500 million in cuts and over 2100 positions since 2008. HALF A BILLION INC CUTS. There is nothing left to cut.

Will school continue to be in session? Sure. But if anyone thinks we can maintain any semblance of a high quality education, they are delusional.

[Anonymous]

The problem is not a lack of money. The problem is how it is spent. Gatehouse needs to cut. Transportation is inefficient. Do we really need instructional coaches? Wouldn't they be more useful in classrooms?

Do we need all these assistant principals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many people think they have the solution to the problem. Have you approached your school boards or the government with these solutions?

I have personally spoken with Jeff McKay (Board of Supervisor) about it. His response was lukewarm--"we tried one 20 years ago and it failed. It takes years to educate citizens on voting on meals tax...." It was a pretty weak answer. I think that more folks need to approach the Board of Supervisors (NOT the board of education--they do not set taxes) about this. We need elected officials who can have the guts to do the right thing and raise some taxes. There is no way we can continue to think that we'll get the same with less.

Some of us citizens, even with children, do not want a meals tax.

Raise property taxes, put in casinos, raise regular food taxes, I don't care, but I DO NOT want a meals tax.

Because it's a progressive tax? Just curious why you are open to other taxes but not that.

I said this in another thread:

I'd support a meals tax in special business districts, like Tyson's, where there are thousands of non-Fairfax residents eating every day.

But otherwise, I am friendly with several local restaurant owners, I love my local restaurants and bars, and they don't deserve an arbitrary extra tax placed on their goods and services. Why not have a barber tax? Why not have an accountant tax? Why not a car wash tax? It is the local, small restaurant owners that are not serving thousands of out-of-county residents every day that will feel the pinch. My husband and I take our kid out to eat I don't know, once or twice a week at times - it is truly an enjoyable experience, and we'd feel a pang of annoyance if we saw a 10% tax bill every time we got the check. Meals taxes work better in Arlington and DC because they have a LOT of out of towners eating there every single day.

Honestly, this is really unpopular, but I think that if the state raised the food tax 1%, the state and county could make a killing. As much as my husband and I spend on restaurant eating, our grocery bill dwarfs that bill exponentially. But, that is considered a regressive tax.

And I don't like that in many locales, we are approaching upon Canadian and European level taxes of consumables.

There is a meals tax in Vienna and the businesses there seem to do fine. It can be a 1-2% meals tax which still goes a long way to paying for the needs of the county.

[Anonymous]

I've heard more teachers complain about their workload than their pay. More teachers leaving because of the work load too. Lower the workload and keep the pay as is, and it will be like a pay raise and will allow more teacher jobs to be manageable.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps my DS doesn't need his teacher's aide in his Kindergarten class and the affluent woman that "volunteers".

Virtualy nobody that grew up before the '90's had a teachers aide in these classes.

It's called overhead folks. If the teacher wants more money, then they should get less help.