Two candidates for the Prince William school board chairman’s race spoke about their views on leadership, funding and Superintendent Steven Walts.
Tim Singstock and Ryan Sawyers met for a discussion Tuesday at the Prince William Chamber of Commerce.
Overcrowded classrooms in Prince William
One topic discussed was the overcrowding in the county’s public schools, and how to reduce class sizes.
Singstock, a Republican, said that he would put forth a budget plan and bring in the community for feedback on what they felt needed to be funded or cut.
“The way we’re going to confront the problems we’re facing here in Prince William with respect to overcrowding and competitive compensation for our teachers is by making fiscally responsible decisions. We’ve got to be able to build a consensus. Just one person isn’t going to be able to get anything done,” said Singstock.
Sawyers, a Democrat, agreed that crowding was an issue, and stated that while setting a budget was the easy part for the school board, sticking to the outlined budget was the difficult part.
“I think the community outreach is clear when it comes to things like class size – everyone wants them to come down. We only control one side of the income statement. We can’t raise or lower taxes – we can only spend, and invest the money that is given to us. Our job as a school board is oversight. Quite frankly setting a budget is the easiest thing to do…keeping to and holding to the budget is the most difficult part,” said Sawyers.
The third candidate for the seat, Tracy Conroy, was scheduled to attend, but was ill.
Is the revenue sharing agreement enough to fund the schools?
Currently, the primary funding source is a 57% of Prince William County’s annual budget, set by the county board of supervisors.
Sawyers and Singstock were both in agreement that the school system was underfunded and that the revenue sharing agreement funding needed to be readdressed.
“I think [the revenue sharing agreement] should be turned into a floor and not a ceiling. 57.23 percent should be the jumping off point, if we’re going to keep a semblance of the [agreement] – which we certainly don’t have to,” Sawyers said.
“The revenue sharing agreement is a policy tool – it’s a tool we use in Prince William County to fund our school system. Our school system is underfunded. We know that because we can look at the magnitude of overcrowding we have…we can look at the disparity of pay for our teachers…we need a better tool to fund the school system adequately…,” stated Singstock.
Additionally, Sawyers stated that a big reason for the overcrowding in schools was that too many homes in the county were being built without giving the school system time to catch up, and pointed to the board of county supervisors for approving more housing projects and developments in Prince William.
Superintendent Walts’ performance
Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent Steven Walts has been on the job for 10 years. He reports to the school board, who evaluates his job performance.
Singstock stated that he would give Walts a year before making a decision on his performance.
“My position is that I would work with [Dr. Walts] for a year, and make my own evaluation as to whether or not he needs to be leading Prince William County Schools,” said Singstock.
According to Sawyers, it is the job of the entire school board to handle oversight – including the leadership employed by the Prince William school system – and that firing Walts could be on the table.
“I would want to know that the person looking to oversee [the school system] is doing their job…I would have absolutely no problem firing anybody if it needed to come. I’m not running on a ‘fire Dr. Walts campaign’ but I think at the same time it’s the school board’s job for oversight…and especially when it comes to the top dog that we hire and can fire is a duty I would take very seriously,” said Sawyers.
Election Day in Prince William County is on November 3.
