Hatrick compacted the story of 134 years, 61 schools and more than 40,000 students and 6,000 employees into a 20-minute presentation, which he promised would be similar to the State of the Schools Address he gave Sept. 16 before the Chamber of Commerce. The address was a part of the Chamber’s 2003 Leadership Series on federal, state and local issues.
On Friday, Hatrick told the Economic Development Commission about the history of the public schools. In 1782, James and Rebekah Dillon likely built Loudoun’s first school near present-day Purcellville to educate their five children, he said. That school later became Neersville School, one of hundreds of one-room schoolhouses that once existed in the county.
By 1831, Loudoun had 75 schools to educate 900 children and an average calendar of 70 days. The state considered education in the 18th and most of the 19th centuries a private, non-governmental function until 1869, when the General Assembly mandated public schools for all white children. A year later, the public schools officially opened with 55 schools in the county, 46 of which were for white children. In 1957, Loudoun’s last one-room schoolhouse, Waterford’s 2nd Street School, closed after 90 years, later becoming a living history museum.
Hatrick came to Loudoun a year later and moved up through the ranks from teacher to superintendent, serving since 1991 as one of five superintendents in the past 86 years. “I think that when I moved to Loudoun in 1958, there were more cows than people,” he said, adding that now, “The words Loudoun and growth are the two most often linked together.”
TO ACCOMMODATE an increasing county population, which has grown 96.9 percent since 2000 and 50.1 percent in the 1990s, the public school system has had to open new schools every year since 1995, except for in 1996. During that time, the district built four high schools, six middle schools and 19 elementary schools, a total of 29 new schools that nearly doubled the number of school buildings, along with completing 15 school renovations on older schools. The district has 61 schools and 11 support buildings that cover a total of 6.6 million in facility space.
The new schools serve an increase in enrollment from 17,067 students in 1993 to 40,250 students this year, an increase that ranks the district the sixth largest in the state of 134 school divisions. Fairfax County is the largest school district with 166,746 students followed by Virginia Beach with 74,083 students.
To accommodate the growth, the district adds new teaching staff each year, this year hiring 508 teachers compared to 93 teachers in 1992. The teachers, along with administrators, food service workers and classified employees, make up a staff of 6,026 employees.
Salaries for the staff and other operation costs are funded 75.3 percent locally, 22.1 percent from the state, 1.7 percent from federal funds and the remainder from other sources. Less than three percent of the budget is spent on administration and 80.6 percent on instruction costs. In 2002, the district increased teacher salaries by 3 percent to match Fairfax County’s salaries and to retain staffing, providing teachers with an incentive to stay in Loudoun after they received some experience and training. However, Fairfax County recently increased salaries another 3 percent, leaving a gap in some of the salary levels between the two districts.
“It’s a huge challenge. We don’t want all of the [state’s] graduates. We want the very best,” Hatrick said, adding that the district needs to pay “the most competitive salaries.” “This salary business is going to be extremely important. The key to this, fundamentally, is to have the kind of salaries that attract teachers.”
ANOTHER CHALLENGE Hatrick mentioned is continuing to increase scores on various testing measures and closing the achievement gap among some minority students, which is 27.1 percent of enrollment, up from 15.6 percent in 1993.
The public school system is the largest district in the state to receive full accreditation under the state Standards of Learning, a designation received last year, Hatrick said.
In addition, SAT scores hit a record high in 2003 at 1,054 points, with Hispanic students making a 52-point increase and African-Americans a 36-point increase. Newsweek ranked the six high schools that administered the Advanced Placement tests in 2002 in the top four percent of high schools in the nation. In 2003, the schools administered 3,032 tests, compared to 652 tests in 1998.
The district is ranked second in the state for a graduation rate of 96.9 percent, following closely behind Scott County, which had a 97.2 percent rate with 242 graduates. Loudoun had 1,818 graduates with 87 percent of students planning to attend college and earning more than $4 million in scholarships. This year, the district hopes to graduate 2,212 students.
“If you don’t have a good school system these days and you have anything to do with attracting business that require a lot of talent, you’re dead,” said Larry Rosenstrauch, director of the Department of Economic Development. “For us, it’s pretty easy. People have discovered we have a great school system.”
Education is the third most important thing to businesses considering locating to a new area, following quality of life and transportation, said Georgia Graves, member of the Education and Workforce Development Committee of the EDC. “People become here because of that,” she said.