by Dr. Babur Lateef

As I enter my fifth year as chair of the Prince William County School Board, I will be overseeing my fifth budget and a new strategic plan. We have been fortunate to receive increased revenues from the state each year and have been a beneficiary of the recent increase in property values.

As I enter my fifth year as chair of the Prince William County School Board, I will be overseeing my fifth budget and a new strategic plan. We have been fortunate to receive increased revenues from the state each year and have been a beneficiary of the recent increase in property values.

For too long, our school division has been funded on the backs of property owners and families. The residential property tax makes up nearly 83% of the revenue we used to pay for schools. It is close to 65% in surrounding counties. Other counties generate the rest of their revenue from a commercial tax base that is far more extensive than we have developed here in Prince William.

Board of County Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler has made a commitment to the economic development of our community. She has had considerable success in the past two years. But if we are to fully fund our school division without creating continued burdens on the residents, we need to diversify our tax base. The supervisors’ five-year plan addresses creative ways to diversify the tax base. This plan will help our schools, and I fully support these initiatives.

For this to work, we must look toward other sources of revenue. Loudoun County Schools have made significant strides over the past few years with data center revenue that amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars a year. As Prince William becomes a destination for data center development, we can also benefit from this revenue stream.

The Prince William Digital Gateway offers tremendous potential for tax revenue that can make us more competitive with surrounding districts. These revenues, as well as initiatives to redevelop the Interstate 95 corridor, will offset the continued heavy burden we have placed on our residents. This project will allow us to move to a more fair and diversified tax base. Our goal is to get to 65% residential and 35% commercial. This will be a strong step in that direction.

Parents complain to me about losing good teachers and remark on what other surrounding divisions have compared to us. Our teachers continue to demand better pay that is competitive with surrounding divisions. The only way to recruit and retain top-notch instructors is to continue to increase their salaries and benefits.

I ran on a platform of student success, safety and security, space and infrastructure, and increasing salaries. I have been able to accomplish improvements in all these areas within the constraints of the revenue-sharing agreement, but we are reaching limits to what can be done without structural changes in school funding.

Approving projects like the Prince William Digital Gateway can make a significant impact on the lives of our employees and, most importantly, on the lives of our children. I urge the Board of County Supervisors and our community to welcome this project and make the investments our community needs and deserves.

Dr. Babur Lateef is a Woodbridge ophthalmologist and chair of the Prince William County School Board.

(Editor’s Note: The preceding guest column was printed with permission by the author.)