Teacher salaries lowest in region

DATABASE: Prince William County employee database

The starting salary for teachers in Prince William County is among the lowest in the region, and with projected budget shortfalls looming, salaries are not expected to get much better, school officials said during a recent School Board meeting.

The Prince William County School Board heard a presentation at its last meeting comparing teacher salaries and class sizes in county schools to those in neighboring jurisdictions.

According to data presented by school officials, and taken from the Washington Area Boards of Education guide, Prince William ranks the lowest among school divisions in the Washington area, both in starting salaries and average salaries for teachers.

This year the starting salary for a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree was $42,354 in Prince William County. The highest salary for a first-year teacher in the region is in Montgomery County, Md., where the starting salary was $45,410 this year.

In Fairfax County, the starting salary for teachers was $44,789 this year. In Manassas, the starting salary is $43,296.

In Manassas Park, which is not included in the WABE guide, the starting salary for first-year teachers was $43,300 this year, according to the school division’s approved salary scale.

According to the WABE guide, Prince William County’s average teacher salary is also the lowest in the Washington area at $57,406. The highest average salary is $75,517 in Montgomery County. In Fairfax County, the average salary is $66,237 and in Manassas it’s $63,160.

Some School Board members said they were concerned about the teacher salaries.

But board member Betty Covington said the salaries do not reflect the benefits offered to school division employees.

“Yes, we are lowest on the teacher salary ... but we have a fabulous benefits package that this doesn’t show,” Covington said.

School officials also presented data related to class size. In Prince William County there is an average of 23.3 students per teacher at the kindergarten level, compared to 17.8 in Montgomery County, 20 in Manassas and 21.6 in Fairfax County.

Prince William County also has the highest pupil-teacher ratios in the area at the middle school and high school levels, according to the WABE data.

School Board member Julie Lucas said that information is “hard to swallow” as school officials are set to begin their budget planning season.

School officials are projecting a large budget shortfall that would make it difficult to increase teacher salaries or reduce class sizes by much, though no budget specifics have yet been revealed.

Superintendent Steven L. Walts is expected to present his proposed budget to the School Board next week.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.