Report Card Part I:

With this edition, the Loudoun Independent begins a multi-part series examining the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) system with a focus on achievements, assessments, certifications, efficiency, compensation, resources, special education, parity, design, planning, building and budgets. Interviews with former and current school board members, school administrators, teachers, students and parents are planned.

Grading the Schools

Grading a school system is similar to judging students’ performance for a report card; with categories and test scores, yet it is also individual. Certainly, there are triggers and marker and uniform and standardized tests that confirm accomplishments. But assessments are also individual, depending on the specific school students attend. While the LCPS school division may receive top marks in various rankings and assessments, there remains the more subjective, individual and no less important evaluation: How well is our school serving my child?

The final grade the LCPS system receives is most assuredly the judgment of the students, their parents—and yes, the employees. Teachers, administrators, librarians, coaches, guidance counselors, school staff are all necessary components of a successful school system.

No matter how well funded a school system might be; how experienced and professional the schoolteachers and staff; or how ambitious the curriculum—parental involvement is critical to student success. While facilities, funding, teacher certifications and professional endorsements, and activities are all factors in a comprehensive and balanced educational system, parental involvement completes the education circle of success.

Parental involvement and support takes many forms, like membership and efforts in school PTAs and PTOs, and volunteer and booster clubs. But it also plays out privately in homes and in family relationships.

The LCPS report card is a composite grade–certainly that of the school system management, but also our grade as a community, as elected officials, teachers, administrators, parents, taxpayers and Loudoun residents.

LCPS is the system and the umbrella covering and guiding some 75 individual, evolving, moving and changing schools. Each is headed by a particular principal and staff, and serves its own unique is school population. Each school is special with its own needs, attributes and challenges, yet must conform to “21st Century of Education,” and to more and more standardized tests and evaluations.

As public schools across America are funded by federal, state and local tax dollars, they come under both federal and state scrutiny. The Federal “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” required states to “Set annual measurable objectives or proficiency in reading and mathematics, participation in testing, and graduation and attendance.” Virginia has its own litany of rankings and ratings: Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) tests; Virginia School Report Card: School Accreditation status; Standards of Quality, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) rating, Special Education Performance reports, and Title One Schools are some of the state benchmarks.

The Washington Area Boards of Education (WABE) Guide for FY 2009 provides a comparison of eight school divisions in northern Virginia–Loudoun, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church City, Manassas City, Prince William and two school divisions in suburban Maryland (Montgomery and Prince George's county public schools.) LCPS continues to earn high marks and good grades in a variety of metrics and measurements, which are documented in private, public, state and federal assessments.

LCPS Snapshot

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) is one of the fastest growing school systems—in one of the wealthiest counties—in the United States. Student enrollment has grown from 28,787 students in 1999 to more than 59,000 students this school year, and projections are for more than 73,000 students by 2013.

The 2005 Triennial School Census listed a summary count of 1,473,360 people ages 5-19 living in Virginia. Loudoun is the fifth largest school division, with Fairfax County leading the state with more than 199,127 students, followed by Virginia Beach 93,638; Prince William County 80,7893; Chesterfield County 64,208; Loudoun; Henrico County 58,111; Chesapeake City 52,220; Newport News 41,543 and Norfolk City 41,403 students.

There are several school divisions in Virginia with enrollments of less than 1,000 students, with Highland County posting 368 students as the smallest, and Colonial Beach with 526 students.

With growth comes diversity. Minority population in Loudoun County has risen from 19.4 percent in 1998 to 37.13 percent in August 2008, with Asian/ Pacific Islanders and Hispanic students accounting for 13.37 percent and 13 percent, respectively, according to LCPS information.

School facts provided by LCPS for the 2008-2009 school year include enrollment—57,317 students in grades Pre K-12, served by 5,100 teachers, 350 administrators and professional staff and 3,650 classified staff including bus drivers, cafeteria workers, secretaries, nurses, maintenance, custodians, classroom aids and therapists.

LCPS maintains 75 school facilities, including 50 elementary schools (grades K-5), 12 middle schools (grades 6-8), and one Intermediate school (grades 8-9); 10 high schools (grades 9-12) and two instructional centers. Two new high schools are scheduled to open for the 2010 -2011-school year, Woodgrove in Purcellville and Tuscarora in Leesburg. Kenneth Culbert Elementary School will open in September 2009 in Hamilton. The average class size is 23.0 students in elementary, 22.6 in middle and 26.9 in high school.

The average cost to educate a student in Loudoun during the 2008-2009 school year is $12,898: $10,254 for instruction; $1,096 for operations and maintenance; $916 for public transportation; $568 for administration; and $64 for facilities.

The LCPS 2008-2009 School Operating Budget is $745.6 million, with $592.2 million allocated for instruction; $33 million for administration, attendance and health; $53.1 million for pupil transportation; $3.4 million for facilities; and $63.7 million for operations and maintenance.

In 2008, 90 percent of LCPS graduates planed to continue formal education, with 86 percent attending college.

Starting teachers salaries for the 2008-2009 school year: Loudoun, $43,065; Arlington, $43,910; Fairfax, $44,789; and Prince William, $42,354.

The LCPS website, www.loudoun.k12.va.us, is the online source for information on the school system, individual schools, school board members, meetings, calendars, and all manner of school related topics.

Following the Civil War and pursuant to federal Reconstruction legislation, a new constitutional convention was held in Richmond, and in 1870, a provision of the “Underwood Constitution” established a state school system with mandatory funding and attendance. Such were the beginnings of public education in the Commonwealth.

Today, responsibility for the operation of the school system lies with the local school boards, in accordance with Virginia Department of Education regulations. Virginia school boards are fiscally dependent on the elected jurisdictional governing bodies – in Loudoun, the Board of Supervisors - for funding.