Being a member of the Fairfax County School Board and being on the Board of Supervisors is technically a part-time job. A majority of School Board members voted to receive a $12,000 raise and will now make $32,000 annually. The Board of Supervisors awarded themselves a $25,000 raise, which led to their annual pay becoming $95,000.

In an article on Reston Now, Superintendent Karen Garza discussed how due to Fairfax County Public Schools current budgeting issues, there is likely cuts that will limit what electives are offered, reduce career programs, and lead to an increase in class sizes. Superintendent Garza also discussed how FCPS teachers are paid with such low salaries compared to other counties, meaning the school system is losing talented staff.

Electives are key courses for students, they allow students to feel as if they have control of what they learn and give students the ability to discover new subjects. The idea that one day students may not have the opportunity to take electives, or even not have as many options of what they take, is extremely sad.

FCPS teachers work hard to help their students be successful since they invest a lot of effort into learning and getting good grades. Yet, both the teacher’s ability to assist the students and the student’s ability to learn are limited because of the lack of certain supplies.

Recently, our school system has been going through struggles such as paper shortages, a general lack of materials, risk of cutting out electives, and teachers not being given a proper raise in years. While students and teachers are struggling through these issues, our school board members and board of supervisors gave themselves a huge raise, which is absolutely absurd.

This is not meant to undermine what the school board and the board of supervisor does, because they do help Fairfax County Public Schools run smoothly. However, it just seems that the money could and should be put to paying the teachers more, providing all the necessary materials for students, and making sure all types of electives can be offered.