2024 Arlington County Board Candidate Questionnaire
Question 2 of 6
The County Board recently raised property taxes by 2 percent – in part to help fund APS’ structural budget deficit. For the last 2 years, teachers and parents alike have called for a repeal of the pandemic era leave policy that effectively granted 20% of staff (not teachers) an additional 3+ weeks of paid holidays above and beyond federal holidays and annual leave. As APS faces continuing structural deficits, do you support our request for the APS internal auditor to consider both the budgetary and operational cost of this practice that is well beyond paid leave for neighboring districts, federal employees or even our County employees? See our letter requesting an audit.
James DeVita Yes. I support you.
Julie Farnam Yes, I do. APS needs better oversight overall and before any major change or decision on a whole host of issues, not only paid holidays for APS staff, we should be doing a cost-benefit analysis. This is the most fiscally responsible approach, and it helps to ensure money isn’t being misspent. I would support both an audit and I am supportive of Arlington aligning itself with neighboring communities.
Tenley Peterson As a member of the Arlington Education Association union and a proud substitute teacher with Arlington Public Schools, I am grateful for the inspired work done by our teachers and staff on behalf of our students. During my time as Chair of the Fiscal Affairs Advisory Commission and since joining the Planning Commission, I have become even more aware of the essential role that our public school system plays in supporting our community. I also possess important relevant experience as a former member of the County’s Audit Committee. In this role, I worked directly with County Board members and the County Board auditor to identify specific priorities and areas of study and reviewed the auditor’s annual work plan. I would be very supportive of having APS’s auditor consider the budgetary and operational costs of the increased vacation days. I would like to hear from them on their recommendations on the possible budgetary savings of such an audit as compared to other possible audits on the horizon.
Natalie U. Roy Yes, I support asking for an audit. I am a proponent of transparency. On both the County and School Board levels, audits are useful value-added tools that can provide and identify important cost-savings, and inefficiencies.
Julius D. “JD” Spain, Sr. As a candidate running for a leadership position in the community, I strongly believe in the importance of actively engaging with stakeholders to ensure their concerns about policy issues and decisions are heard and taken into consideration. It is also essential to adhere to the law and its provisions. In this regard, it is important to note that the school system is an independent governmental body that must operate autonomously from the County. This means that the system must conduct its own audit without any external interference. I encourage all organizations to express their concerns as decisions are being made, and I believe that the board should prioritize these concerns alongside the most pressing issues that have the most significant financial and operational impact on the system as a whole.