Teachers—Anyone switch from ACPS to FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone do that? Do you have any clue about FCPS compensation, OP? FCPS teachers FLOCK to surrounding counties to get OUT of this bureaucratic nightmare and non-competitive pay scale wasteland that is FCPS.

Not OP but I’m seriously considering switching to FCPS to be on the same schedule as my children. It’s stressful finding care for snow days. Winter breaks don’t always match up either. We are a 2 income household and DH is not a teacher so my pay cut would t affect us that much. The stress of childcare affects us a lot.

Being in the same district is so helpful. I went back to work when my son started Kindergarten and decided to go in as an instructional assistant in APS (where we live.)The schedule aligns plus I get all workdays and conferences off. The best part is that I'm done by 3:30 and don't have tons of meetings or paperwork. I think I will continue on this path as long as we can afford it.

How are the pay and benefits as an instructional assistant? Do you get a pension?

I make approximately $25/hour and have access to all the same benefits at the same rate as other full time employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ACPS employee premium costs are shown on this chart (24 pays): https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/804/benefits/open-enrollment/active-rates-fy2019.pdf
FCPS employee premium costs are shown on the chart (10 pays): https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/2018%20Employee%20Premiums_0.pdf

Based on the charts, an ACPS teacher pays $150.80 each pay for a family using Kaiser Permanente. That's $3,619/year. A FCPS teacher pays $464.75 each pay for KP family plan. That's $4,647/year. For an individual it looks like the teacher working for FCPS pays a little bit less each year.

ACPS retiree healthcare is slightly less than FCPS:
https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/804/Retirees/retiree-rates-jan-1-2018.pdf

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/2018%20Retiree%20Premiums_0.pdf

As far as salary scales, the maximum amount of experience credited in ACPS is 12 years:
https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/804/compensation/salary-teacher-2018.pdf

The maximum amount of experience credited in FCPS is 15:
https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY18-teacher-194-day.pdf

12 years with a MA in ACPS: $79,674
12 years with a MA in FCPS: $73,952

15 years with a MA in ACPS: $87,484
15 years with a MA in FCPS: $80,353

Thanks, PP. I hadn't looked at the salary scales closely before. Because we got so far behind in steps I will actually make more if I move even though technically FCPS pays less. Interesting.

And those are old scales for FCPS. The new ones for next year are out and next year, 12 years with a MA in FCPS is $77302 while 15 years is $84421. Given that there was no COLA given in ACPS from 2016 to 2017, my guess is that it won't be long before FCPS has caught up or even surpassed ACPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ACPS employee premium costs are shown on this chart (24 pays): https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/804/benefits/open-enrollment/active-rates-fy2019.pdf
FCPS employee premium costs are shown on the chart (10 pays): https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/2018%20Employee%20Premiums_0.pdf

Based on the charts, an ACPS teacher pays $150.80 each pay for a family using Kaiser Permanente. That's $3,619/year. A FCPS teacher pays $464.75 each pay for KP family plan. That's $4,647/year. For an individual it looks like the teacher working for FCPS pays a little bit less each year.

ACPS retiree healthcare is slightly less than FCPS:
https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/804/Retirees/retiree-rates-jan-1-2018.pdf

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/2018%20Retiree%20Premiums_0.pdf

As far as salary scales, the maximum amount of experience credited in ACPS is 12 years:
https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/804/compensation/salary-teacher-2018.pdf

The maximum amount of experience credited in FCPS is 15:
https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY18-teacher-194-day.pdf

12 years with a MA in ACPS: $79,674
12 years with a MA in FCPS: $73,952

15 years with a MA in ACPS: $87,484
15 years with a MA in FCPS: $80,353

Thanks, PP. I hadn't looked at the salary scales closely before. Because we got so far behind in steps I will actually make more if I move even though technically FCPS pays less. Interesting.

And those are old scales for FCPS. The new ones for next year are out and next year, 12 years with a MA in FCPS is $77302 while 15 years is $84421. Given that there was no COLA given in ACPS from 2016 to 2017, my guess is that it won't be long before FCPS has caught up or even surpassed ACPS.

Yes. I posted the 2018 pay scale for both since I didn't find the 2019 scale for ACPS.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t the Alexandria City Council recently vote for higher teacher pay in 2019?

[Anonymous]

ACPS teachers were notified yesterday that they will not receive their Steps this year. They will receive an increase but no Step. Not good.

[Anonymous]

PP, did they share reasons for this? Does not seem like a good practice in times of (relative) economic stability?

[Anonymous]

There was just the explanation of what they are doing. They did not make a case for why they are not giving the step. It is very disappointing and upsetting to people who have gone without steps before. Knowing that we are getting even further behind makes it that much more difficult to justify staying for many people.

[Anonymous]

The message from ACPS is that they are not giving a step increase, however eligible teachers will receive an increase in pay equivalent to a full step. The explanation is that the overall payscale is being revamped (improved).

[Anonymous]

That is not the message that was in notification that went out so perhaps you have information that the rest of us don't. It is hard to understand how the process is being "improved" when teachers are not receiving credit for time served. It all seems very sneaky and sketchy. Of course, this is ACPS so who can be surprised by that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was just the explanation of what they are doing. They did not make a case for why they are not giving the step. It is very disappointing and upsetting to people who have gone without steps before. Knowing that we are getting even further behind makes it that much more difficult to justify staying for many people.

+1

[Anonymous]

I heard we weren't getting a step because of funds needed to provide third graders with Chromebooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard we weren't getting a step because of funds needed to provide third graders with Chromebooks.

Source? That's a pretty inflammatory rumor, especially considering all of the grant funding available for schools to get them virtually for free.

[Anonymous]

It is crazy enough to be true for ACPS. At this point it is easy to believe just about anything. I cannot believe how unhappy people are at my school. I normally stay until 4:30 but left at 3:30 because I couldn't stand hearing about it anymore.

[Anonymous]

Step increases for our ACPS teachers! Pay them their due.

Moderate rehabs of schools, not excessive and/or over budget!

Teachers teach, not buildings!

[Anonymous]

ACPS is improving the pay scales, they may not be giving a “step increase” this year but due to improvement in scales, they will be giving increase almost equivalent to a step increase. I don’t like this about teachers, they never bother to understand the complete message and just start protesting, whining based on incomplete understanding.