Stafford Educators: "We are the 71%"
At rally in support of education funding last week, school employees hoped to remind Supervisors that most of them are county residents as well. The division's budget for FY26 is still uncertain.
By Devin Schwers
CORRESPONDENT
More than 70 educators and community members gathered outside the Stafford County Administration Center on April 15, ahead of the Board of Supervisors meeting, to advocate for full funding of the school division’s budget.
The demonstration was organized by the Stafford Education Association.
Matthew Lentz and Katie McNelly, both educators, were the lead organizers of the demonstration.
McNelly said one of the primary reasons for the demonstration was to show that not only school division employees, but residents as well, want to see more investment in the schools.
“What instigated this is that 71% of Stafford County staff are also Stafford County residents,” McNelly said. “[The board] asks, how do we know residents are in support of this? So many of us are actually residents, and this is clearly what Stafford wants.”
Lentz, who is also a resident of Stafford, moved to the county with his wife in hopes of being able to provide their children with a well-funded education system. However, he said he’s been continuously disappointed at the level of funding provided to the school division.
“Stafford County is one of the wealthiest counties in Virginia, if not even in the country,” Lentz said. “I thought it was going to be drastically different, but we have to fight to have them fund our kids and to have them support our next generation.”
School Board member Alyssa Halstead, Hartwood district representative, and Chair Maureen Siegmund, Garrisonville representative, were in attendance to show support for the educators.
Both Halstead and Siegmund spoke about the potential consequences of having to make cuts to the school division.
“Unfortunately, it looks like, ‘what is the cost of graduation? What does it cost us to do prom?’ Those are considerations,” said Halstead.
Siegmund said her biggest concern is staff pay.
“85% of our budget goes to compensation, so anything we don’t get essentially comes out of compensation,” she said.
Both Halstead and Sigemund stressed their desire to help staff.
“It’s a privilege to stand here with them. We’ll do whatever we can for them,” said Halstead.
“I hope that the people gathered here today feel seen for the work that they do,” said Siegmund. “We can look at spreadsheets all we want, but there are real people behind those numbers, and for every person here, we’ve got 25 to 30 kids in a classroom. So, you know, you do the math.”
Where does the schools’ budget currently stand?
The Board of Supervisors on April 15 approved a budget that allocates $175 million to the school division—a $5 million increase over last year, but less than what the School Board requested.
Supervisors also proposed increasing the county’s meals tax by 1% and allocating that new revenue—estimated at $3.1 million—towards providing salary increases for school division staff. The meals tax proposal is still subject to a public hearing and has not yet been formally approved.
The school division won’t have a final budget picture until the General Assembly adopts the state budget for next fiscal year. According to a presentation given at a School Board work session on April 17, the best case for the school division would be if Governor Glenn Youngkin approves the budget put forward by the General Assembly, which would provide $18.8 million in new revenue.
The worst case would be if Youngkin vetoes the General Assembly’s budget and funding reverts to what is in the state’s biennial budget. That would mean a $6.1 million increase in school funding.
In either case, there will be a funding gap, but it could be as small as $700,000—if the county adopts the meals tax increase and Youngkin approves the General Assembly’s budget—or as large as $16.5 million if neither of those things happens.
As of Thursday morning, there was no news about the state budget. The School Board will meet in May to assess the budget situation.
-Adele Uphaus
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