Our schools in Prince William County are facing a serious employment crisis.  We are in the midst of a teacher shortage, a substitute shortage, and a bus driver shortage.  These shortages end up placing more stress and workload on our current employees, which exacerbates the shortages as more educators and staff quit or retire. The consequences of shortages include educators being told to cover other classes during their planning times due to lack of substitutes, expanded class sizes with additional students due to not enough teachers, and working consistently beyond their contracted hours often without additional pay to cover school duties daily.  

The starting salary for a PWCS educator with a masters degree is $57,000. That educator is also responsible for purchasing most of the resources and supplies they will need to use during the school year.  When you visit your child’s classroom, most of what you see is purchased by the teacher.  When you schedule a phone call with your child’s teacher, that is more than likely their lunch, planning period, or their personal time that they are using to speak with you. As planning time is limited during the school day, your child’s teacher is working unpaid on the weekends and evenings on grading, communication, and lesson plans. This creates a stressful work/life balance for all educators.  Burnout and resignations are consistent problems in our county and throughout the country.  There is one way to help alleviate this strain on our teachers – collective bargaining.  The right to negotiate will enhance learning environments for our students and improve working conditions for our educators by giving educators a voice in creating a sustainable atmosphere where both students and employees can thrive together. 

Virginia banned public sector collective bargaining 44 years ago.  That ban included our police and fire departments, county employees, and school employees. The ban was overturned last year, and now public sector employees are finally able to collectively bargain, but only if the locality votes to approve negotiation rights. Just this week, our Board of County Supervisors voted to provide police, fire, and county employees with the right to bargain. Our school board has the responsibility to vote for school employees to do the same. 

Collective bargaining gives educators a voice in their workplace, and they will be able to seek competitive compensation and benefits, improve recruitment efforts, and create a pathway for a secure retirement, all which will lead to higher retention rates.  Having more teachers will benefit students and staff alike. Students will receive more individualized attention and support, which will improve their educational outcomes. 

Our community will be stronger when our public sector employees have negotiation rights.  As police, fire, and educators are able to bargain, our community will see more of our public sector employees able to afford to live in Prince William County and pay taxes back into the county budget. They’ll live in the neighborhoods they serve, build valuable community relationships, put less burden on local traffic, and be less stressed with shorter commutes to work and a more reasonable workload. 

Our public sector employees have served our community through hard economic times, during an ongoing pandemic, and in all types of inclement weather.  Without our public sector employees, our community is unable to protect, serve, and educate.  As a community, we learned how vital public sector employees are for our families during this pandemic.  Schools are a place not only to learn, but for many, are a place to eat, seek comfort, and be safe. Our students deserve educators who are paid fairly and are able to afford to live where they work. 

For the sake of our students, our educators, and our community, I hope you will join with school employees and support them in obtaining the right to collectively bargain. 

Maggie Hansford

 PWEA President, previously a speech pathologist for Prince William County schools and resides with her family in Bristow where her three children attend our public schools.