Candland proposes new tax to tackle school overcrowding

Prince William County Supervisor Pete Candland, R-Gainesville, is pitching an ambitious new plan to help the county’s school division tackle the twin issues of overcrowded classrooms and the widespread use of school trailers.

Candland, long one of the board’s more fiscally conservative members, unveiled a 10-year, $170 million proposal to fund the construction of new schools and classrooms on Tuesday night, as supervisors got their first look at the school division’s fiscal 2019 budget.

He’s envisioning the board setting aside a “school capital fund,” supported by a new tax on county residents, in order to end the persistent debate among Prince William leaders about the best way to improve conditions for students.

Candland’s proposed tax increase wouldn’t kick in until fiscal 2020 and would sunset after the 10-year period is up, but he wants to see supervisors take a vote on the issue this year so staffers can start hashing out the nuts and bolts of exactly how this plan would work.

“Some critics would say this is just another money grab or just another tax,” Candland said. “That would be true if you’re fine with the status quo, fine with these trailers, fine with these classrooms. But we have to take extraordinary measures to address these issues.”

Candland’s proposal represents a significant new development in the class size and school trailer debate, which has dominated discussions among county politicians for years. Acting School Board Chair Lillie Jessie of the Occoquan District even pointed out in her presentation of her board’s proposed $1.2 billion budget that the fiscal 2019 spending plan does little to address the school division’s 207 trailers or its large class sizes in middle and high schools.

“Other school divisions are moving on,” Jessie said. “We’re doing the best we can with what we have.”

Supervisor Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge, pushed an even larger set of tax increases to fund new school construction last year, but that measure died a quick death. Supervisors opted instead to give a special committee focused on school infrastructure time (made up of both school board members and supervisors) to study the issue in more detail.

After roughly a year of work on that subject, Candland and other members of the group are signaling a new interest in addressing the issue.

“There’s plenty of blame to go around for everyone involved in this situation,” Candland said. “But something needs to be done. We can’t kick the can down the road any longer.”

Candland says he isn’t quite sure how the new levy would work just yet, noting that staff would have a year to set up the mechanics of his plan if supervisors approve it this year. However, he expects that it would be a separate levy on homeowners, analogous to the county’s levy for fire and rescue services.

Yet talk of a new tax could spook some of the board’s conservative members — after all, they would be implementing a new tax in the same year supervisors go back on the ballot for the 2019 county elections.

“We need to know a little bit more and just what this tax will be,” said Supervisor Maureen Caddigan, R-Potomac. “We need to hear from our constituents on this.”

Candland believes he’ll ultimately find enough support for the plan, even suggesting in an interview that he’s “a vote away” from earning a five-member majority on the board. For instance, Supervisor Ruth Anderson, R-Occoquan, said she saw “some merit” to the proposal, even though she has admittedly “railed against all our other levies in the past.”

The board will also need to hash out some legal questions, however. County attorney Michelle Robl noted that the county has the legal authority to set up such a school capital fund, but Prince William would become the first locality in the state to actually do so.

She expects the county would need to seek guidance from the state attorney general’s office on how exactly to proceed. Supervisor Marty Nohe, R-Coles, even suggested that the county could pursue a “bond validation suit,” essentially asking a court to sign off on the financing plan’s legality.

But Candland stressed that he envisioned a long runway for the whole process; he merely wants to get the board to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later.

“We want to have all the specific numbers before any vote happens,” Candland said.

Supervisors will now consider this school construction funding issue among its broader consideration of the county’s fiscal 2019 budget. The school board unanimously approved its budget proposal March 22, passing it on to supervisors to examine as part of the whole county budget.

The school division’s spending plan includes $2.3 million to the budget to hire 12 new social workers and three school counselors, as part of a response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. The budget also includes roughly $20.1 million to provide a “step increase” to school division employees, raising their pay commensurate with experience and equating to an average pay raise of 2.7 percent.

The county will provide the school division with about $584 million in funding as part of a set revenue-sharing agreement to help schools afford that spending. Supervisors also have their own tax and spending decisions to make, including a proposal from At-Large Chairman Corey Stewart to trade a big tax hike on county data centers for a cut to the real estate tax rate.

Supervisors plan to hold a markup session to make alterations to County Executive Christopher Martino’s proposed budget on April 17, then vote on the full budget on April 24.