Parents, Teachers Applaud Proposed Budget for Manassas Park Schools

Manassas Park City Schools parents and teachers praised a proposed school district budget that would award all 370 employees with a 2 percent pay raise next year, the first such hike in four years.

A handful of speakers took the podium Monday at a public hearing that gave them a chance to discuss the $33.5 million budget proposed for FY 2013. All were in favor of Superintendent Bruce McDade’s spending blueprint for the 3,000-student, four-school system.

Debbie Dank, a teacher at the middle school and president of
the Manassas Park Education Association, said the proposal represented a significant turnaround for the district.

“We must keep funding our schools and keep our salaries competitive
with other school systems,” Dank said. “We don’t want to be known as the
district with the lowest teacher salaries in Northern Virginia.”

James Foster, a parent, agreed. “This school system is A1,” Foster said. “I support the budget and I urge the board to go ahead and approve
it.”

Hung Xu, a patent attorney who has two daughters in the system, said he often tells his girls that they are receiving a top-rank education at Manassas Park.

“They want to transfer and I tell them that they are in the
best education system,” Xu said.

Sandra Elaim, a parent, applauded the proposal, but asked
the board to reconsider staffing levels for its on-site nursing staff. Elaim
asked the board to convert a part-time school nurse to fulltime to help address the needs of her daughter, who is a diabetic. The district now has three fulltime school nurses and one part-time position.

“My daughter has Type 1 diabetes and she really needs (the
attention) of a full-time nurse on staff,” Elaim said.

School board Chairman Michael Wine said the board was already considering that suggestion and planned to take it up further with McDade. “We can’t make any promises, but we are looking at it in detail,” Wine said.

McDade said that this year’s budget has drawn a lot of attention in the community. The budget PowerPoint display posted on the district’s website has received about 1,000 hits, he said.

Although the district is small compared to other systems in the region, McDade said he believes the size works to the community’s
advantage.

“We know all the kids in the district and I can pretty well go into any classroom and know all the kids that are in there,” McDade said.

The FY 2013 budget proposal represents about $2 million less
in spending compared to the funding levels in the FY 2012 budget of $35.7
million. That budget was slightly bigger because the district added 7.5 new
positions. The FY 2013 proposal does not add any new positions.

The school board is to vote on the budget, which does not include a pay hike for McDade, on March 19.  McDade said he voluntarily
declined the pay hike.