Fauquier County is well known for their admirable and hardworking staff within its school system. The teachers, in particular, stand out as county superheroes. Every day, they pour themselves out into the students to ensure that school is remembered as a positive and fun experience. Yet people fail to remember that these individuals, who are shaping future generations into intelligent and kind humans, are severely underpaid and overlooked.
Fauquier County, according to the United States Census Bureau, spans 648.0 square miles, making it the eighth-largest county in Virginia. This raises the question: If Fauquier County is one of the largest counties in the state, why are the schools’ budgets so low and the teachers so underpaid?
Prince William County is a short drive away, with around a $12,000 pay raise. A beginning salary for a starting teacher in Fauquier County is $50,000, whereas a beginning teacher in Prince William County would make $62,562. While Prince William is proximally closer to Washington, D.C., Fauquier County falls in the same region, Northern Virginia (NOVA).
The pay scale for each county differs depending on the level of degree the educator holds. While this is a positive incentive, Fauquier County still faces a disadvantage because the pay step increase stops at a master’s degree plus 30 credits towards a doctorate. In contrast, Prince William County’s pay step exceeds this and includes teachers who hold doctorate degrees. “There’s not necessarily a pay grade for doctorates. You have a pay grade for…up to master’s, so there’s that slight discrepancy,” Fauquier High School (FHS) chemistry teacher, Doctor Sara Ansteatt, commented.
The teachers in Fauquier County do receive bonuses throughout the year. Some are supplied via the state and others via the county. The teachers are very appreciative of these raises; however, not everything is as it seems. Over the past summer of 2025, the state of Virginia allowed each school district to give its teachers a $1000 bonus. Each school board had the choice of who to give this money to. Many hoped that the teachers would see most, if not all, of the money. Fauquier County chose to take $200 out of each bonus and give it to other staff members working for the school district. While this decision benefited many more underpaid employees, after taxes were taken out, the teachers only ended up receiving around half of the original bonus. Prince William County, however, decided to take the $1000 bonus and add it to the teacher’s overall salary.
One thing is always very apparent throughout Fauquier County’s school system: no matter what happens, this is one family, all in it together. This county is full of hardworking and dedicated teachers. With little incentive to stay, these teachers still give everything they can to educate the future generations. “I’m staying here because I love this school and I’ve been here my entire career… but if I were a young teacher, I don’t know that I’d stay here,” FHS history teacher Ronald Pfeiffer stated. In the past, Va. used to apply pensions for teachers. A pension is a retirement plan given to an employee that states the employee will receive a lifelong income calculated based on how many years they have worked and the average of their salary. However, in 2014 pensions were taken away and replaced with the Virginia Hybrid Retirement Plan. This plan takes the defined benefit, or the pension plan and the defined contribution plan (a plan where both the employer and the employee supply money into a retirement account) and creates a whole new retirement benefit plan. “So new teachers, they have some sort of matching retirement thing, but it’s not a state pension. They’ve cut our benefits,” explained Pfeiffer. Considering that teachers play fundamental roles in the economy, they should also be able to afford to live in it.
Many of the teachers in Fauquier County are forced to commute to work every day due to the lack of pay received. With the inflation stricken economy and the already high cost of living in Fauquier County, teachers are given no other choice. The average cost of a house in Fauquier County is 636,709 dollars. This is without considering the cost of living for any teacher who has a family. Teachers deserve to be able to live where they work, just as every other citizen in the economy is able to. To put this in perspective, Fauquier County is listed as the 30th most wealthy county in the country. Prince William is listed as the 25th. For two counties five steps away on a country wide poll, the pay difference for teachers is extraordinarily immense.
A major problem the school district is now facing is losing its teachers to higher paying counties such as Prince William. Sonya Rooke, a former teacher at FHS and current teacher in Prince William County, found herself leaving FHS for lack of salary compensation and resources. Rooke has worked in six different counties making her a very experienced and well-rounded educator. After leaving FHS to go to Prince William county, Rooke found a very organized school district, working together to ensure students are receiving the best education possible with the resources at hand. “In Prince William there is a group of people making decisions about everything. In Fauquier there’s not a group of people making decisions about everything, so sometimes I feel like you get in a silo and your making decisions based on what’s better for you or maybe even you think is better for the kids, but for me personally, I think that you need to be in a group of people,” expressed Rooke. These decision making groups are titled Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Each subject and the classes within that subject, acquire their own PLC to make decisions about the curriculum taught per month. Rooke explained how each PLC group meets once a month and uses the Va. state curriculum provided as a guideline for the education. Then, the team as a whole will make adjustments based on the students’ needs. This lack of support structure for the new teachers in Fauquier County has caused each student to receive a different education.
Another large issue spurring from underpaid and understaffed schools in the county, is the lack of consistent educational evaluations. These evaluations are put in place to ensure the students are maintaining the proper education. Students will occasionally see an administrator within a classroom but not nearly as consistent as other school districts. “Nobody ever came [to evaluate me at FHS whereas new staff is evaluated] once a month [in Prince William],” said Rooke.
The fact of the matter is, this school district has given teachers little to no incentive to stay. If the county can’t give teachers what they need to live comfortably, what does this mean for the future of the schools? Each school, no matter the location, should be able to distribute a strong education to its students. Fauquier County teachers deserve the ability to afford living in close proximity to work and the ability to support a family. Education should be prioritized. The standard of education Fauquier County is currently receiving is far lower than most. If something doesn’t change soon, Fauquier County will not be able to support the staff or level of education required to send students’ confidently out into the world. The teachers in this county are absolutely, hands down incredible people. They endure being paid a fraction of what they should make, and the emotional tax of being caregivers and still show up to work with a smile. Every teacher is a light in the world, but the teachers in Fauquier County are true inspirations and deserve way more than they are currently receiving.
