STAFFORD — Senator Tim Kaine (D) on Friday participated in a roundtable discussion with educators in Stafford County.
Chief among the concerns of educators who gathered Friday at Stafford Middle School on Spartan Drive was how to attract and retain teachers in rural areas. Kaine listened to teachers and administrators in the hopes of finding ideas of how to solve the county’s woes.
Many of the solutions ranged from incentives of debt forgiveness, colleges and universities creating programs to encourage future educators, fast-tracking recruits from various professions, as well as recruiting potential teachers from other countries.
Stafford County School employees will receive a 5% pay raise this year, approved by the County School Board and funded by the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. It’s on top of a 5% pay raise awarded educators at the state level this year.
According to a report from the Federal Education Department’s National Center for Educational Statistics, a startling 37% of students who enroll in education programs in college are likely to change majors within the first three years of their enrollment. The number was even higher for Math majors at 52%. These statistics were published in Inside Higher Ed and was presented at the roundtable by Ms. Lisa Boatwright, Executive Director of HR for the Stafford County Public Schools.
In recent years, many educators have left Stafford for neighboring Prince William County to earn higher pay.
Allen Watkins, who teaches career and technical education at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, the pay scale of Prince William County compared to Stafford County is more appealing. An educator can earn $331,000 more from their thirteenth year to their thirtieth year in Prince William County.
Ultimately, teachers could earn much more in terms of pay, benefits, and retirement earnings over their entire career in Prince William than they could in Stafford.
Kaine has introduced the PREP Act (Preparing and Retaining Education Professionals) to help ensure that there are enough teachers and principles to help students prepare for the future, especially in rural areas such as Stafford County.
“We should be encouraging people who are interested and passionate in education, the challenges of keeping teachers in Stafford are sizable, and we should do what we can to attract teachers to these schools,” said Kaine.
Kaine has been the junior senator of Virginia in the U.S. Senate since 2013 and serves on the committees of Armed Services as well as the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee.
Kaine served as Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010. He was also the running mate for Hillary Clinton as nominee for Vice President on the Democratic ticket in 2016.
This is the second visit by a U.S. Senator to Stafford County in a week. Last Friday, Virginia Senator Mark Warner (D) spent the day in the county attending events at the county’s public safety center, Mary Washington University’s Stafford Campus, and 6 Bears and a Goat Brewing Company.
