After supervisors raised their pay by 30%, Fairfax School Board Members piled on with their own pay raise
Political Pay Raises Are Contagious
Shortly after the members of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors gave themselves a $2,500 MONTHLY pay raise, School Board members joined with their own pay raise.
Is there any other job where an employee has an unlimited ability to decide their own pay? Only in politics.
One very important lesson you learn growing up in another country is that self-dealing is contagious.
So it’s no surprise to me that Fairfax County School Board members followed suit just 3 months after County Supervisors raised their own pay by 30%.
There’s a lot wrong with a 30% pay raise for politicians, especially for part time jobs like supervisor and school board member.
But what’s really hard to fathom is how they could justify such huge raises for themselve, while giving teachers and police only modest pay raises.
After all, we have more politicians than we know what to do with.
But massive vacancies exist among the ranks of teachers and police in Fairfax County where money properly spent could attract the best of both.
At the FCSB jobs site, there are some 156 vacancies listed for teachers. Nearly 300 vacant slots are still waiting to be filled on the police force.
So why the belief by politicians that they deserve a pay raise?
Fairfax schools have lost nearly 9,000 students, SAT scores have fallen 27 points, and school officials are regularly embroiled in controversy.
The quarrels with which they’ve dealt most recently relate to schools’ forcing girls to share their restroom and locker facilities with biological boys, that students be taught a kind of race theory that emphasizes racial division and “white privilege,” and that national merit scholars not be informed of their awards.
And supervisors have a lot to answer for as well. They approve more than 50% of school budgets, but have failed to hold school officials accountable for any of their failures.
In fact, just the reverse. Despite the suicidal tendencies of school officials, supervisors upped the county education budget this year by $250 million.
Fairfax County has many problems. If supervisors had solved any of them, maybe a modest pay increase could be justified. But $2,500 more EACH MONTH?
Instead, by nearly every measure, Fairfax County is in decline.
Crime is up. Traffic congestion is up. So are taxes of every kind. In fact, the cost of living is off the charts. And we’ve already talked about failing schools.
If you weren’t sure whether Fairfax County politicians were tone deaf, just consider the fact they thought they deserved a 30% pay raise.
It shows they’re not just out of touch, but out for themselves.
It’s time for change.
It would help our campaign tremendously if you would share this email with your friends and family in Fairfax County.
And please remember, ELECTION DAY is Tuesday, November 7th. Early voting is also open. To find your polling place, or an early voting location, just click the blue button below.
Or call our campaign at (703) 283-6644.
Thank you.
