collective bargaining

‘This isn’t my first rodeo’: New ACPS Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt touts experience with hard choices

Published October 13, 2026 at 3:45PM

Jharrett Bryantt was appointed as the next ACPS superintendent (via Alexandria City School Board meeting)

The incoming superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools has his work cut out for him.

Before starting work with ACPS on Feb. 1, 2027, Jharrett Bryantt will wrap up more than four years as superintendent for the Anchorage School District in Alaska by preparing a budget for his successor. In Alexandria, Bryantt will have had less than three weeks on the job before the Alexandria City School Board votes on the ACPS fiscal year 2028 combined funds budget, which will have been drawn up by Interim Superintendent Grace Taylor and ACPS staff.

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Alexandria fire chief reports morale boost, staffing gains with new 49-hour work week

By Emily Leayman

Published June 24, 2026 at 3:45PM

Alexandria Fire Chief Felipe Hernandez (on left) at APD’s Public Safety Summit, June 18, 2026 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Morale and staffing are improving at the Alexandria Fire Department after a 49-hour work week was implemented, according to an annual presentation to City Council by Fire Chief Felipe Hernandez Jr. yesterday (Tuesday).

AFD implemented the 49-hour work week in October 2025, reducing weekly hours from 56 as a strategy to improve retention and recruitment. The department achieves the 49 hours with a fourth-shift schedule and “debit day” system. That means firefighters work a 42-hour work week and work an extra day every 24 days to average 49 hours weekly.

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School Board cuts 56 positions in $401M ACPS budget, gives lifeline to CIS program

By James Cullum and Emily Leayman

Published June 12, 2026 at 5:45PM | Updated October 8, 2026 at 7:39PM

The Alexandria City School Board on June 11, 2016 (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Alexandria City School Board gave the green light to its $401.18 million combined funds budget on Thursday night, capping months of public meetings and conversations during what Board Chair Michelle Rief described as “an extraordinarily difficult budget year.”

“This year’s budget development process occurred amid significant uncertainty,” Rief said before the budget’s passage, “including federal workforce reductions that disproportionately affect Alexandria, slowing City revenue growth, continued inflationary pressures, the complexity of negotiating our first collective bargaining agreement and the delayed adoption of the state budget.”

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City Council approves $979.1M budget with unchanged real estate tax rate but eyes tougher choices ahead

By James Cullum

Published April 30, 2026 at 1:45PM | Updated May 6, 2026 at 11:43AM

Alexandria City Council on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria City Council unanimously approved City Manager Jim Parajon’s $979.1 million Fiscal Year 2027 budget with a few changes Wednesday night.

The budget represents a 2.4% increase over the FY2026 budget and maintains the real estate tax rate of $1.135 per $100 of assessed value, although some City Council members expressed caution about a potential tax increase in next year’s budget. Property owners whose assessment values increased could still see higher tax bills under the unchanged rate.

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City Council scrutinizes funding gap for ACPS collective bargaining agreement

By James Cullum

Published March 16, 2026 at 3:45PM | Updated March 18, 2026 at 12:06PM

Alexandria City Council Member Canek Aguirre (staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria City Council members are pressing for more answers before they can fill a $5.65 million budget gap to pay for Alexandria City Public Schools’ first-ever collective bargaining agreement.

Earlier this month, the School Board approved its $12.7 million collective bargaining agreement with the Education Association of Alexandria, promising a step increase for all eligible employees (and an extra step for staff employed since 2010), a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA) for licensed staff, a 3.5% COLA for support staff and a $2,000 longevity bonus for support staff.

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Alexandria’s professional employees agree to unionize in near-unanimous vote

By James Cullum

Published March 5, 2026 at 3:00PM

A City of Alexandria vehicle (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Alexandria’s professional employees have officially voted to unionize.

On Tuesday, the city’s professional employees voted 155-1 in favor of unionizing with AFSCME Council 20, an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. With significant support, the vote “marks 5 of 5 eligible Alexandria bargaining units to file and win their union representation elections since 2021,” according to a release from AFSCME Council 20.

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ACPS board approves $406M budget, but uncertainty remains over city funding

By Emily Leayman

Published February 20, 2026 at 10:30AM | Updated February 20, 2026 at 10:49AM

Alexandria School Board meeting in 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Alexandria City School Board approved the school division’s 2027 budget yesterday (Thursday), but challenges surrounding city funding and employee health care costs remain before the final version is adopted in June.

The bulk of the Alexandria City Public Schools’ $406.5 million combined funds budget includes the $374.5 million operating budget, as well as school nutrition funds, grants and a special projects fund. The operating budget itself is a 3.7% increase from the last budget.

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Proposed $406M ACPS budget accounts for redistricting, collective bargaining

By Emily Leayman

Published January 23, 2026 at 11:15AM

ACPS Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt speaks at Mount Vernon Community School on Nov. 15, 2024 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Potential collective bargaining agreements and redrawn school boundaries were factored into the latest budget proposal presented to the Alexandria City School Board last night (Thursday).

Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt proposed the $406.5 million combined funds budget for fiscal year 2027, a 3.7% increase from the last approved budget. The bulk of funds are in the $374.5 million operating budget, but it also includes school nutrition funds as well as grants and a special projects fund.

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City Council backs union agreements with police, fire and administrative employees

By James Cullum

Published January 15, 2026 at 10:45AM

Alexandria Police lights (staff photo by James Cullum)

City Council has committed funding for three collective bargaining agreements with unions representing the Alexandria Police and Fire Departments and the city’s administrative and technical employees.

Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the three-year agreements on wages, benefits and work hours, which are now set to go into effect on July 1. The agreements include a reduction from 49 to 46 weekly work hours for AFD personnel, “significant” pay increases for police officers, and structured raises and merit increases for administrative and technical employees.

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Alexandria City Council ends impasse, approving police union’s collective bargaining salary increase

By James Cullum

Published December 10, 2025 at 9:15AM

Dozens of Alexandria Police Department officers attended City Council's public hearing on collective bargaining with the department's union on Tuesday night, Dec. 9, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Alexandria City Council ended the collective bargaining impasse regarding three outstanding issues between the Alexandria Police Department’s union and the city late last night (Tuesday).

In a meeting at City Hall that lasted until 11:30 p.m., Council decided in favor of the Alexandria chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association’s request for $10.2 million in increased salaries for APD officers, sergeants and lieutenants over the next three years, while backing the city’s positions on pay parity and an annual $1,200 longevity bonus for those sworn staffers.

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UPDATE: Alexandria police union decries current officer pay as collective bargaining reaches impasse

By James Cullum

Published December 8, 2025 at 3:45PM | Updated December 10, 2025 at 2:59AM

Alexandria Police Department cruisers on Nov. 7, 2024 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Updated at 1 p.m., Dec. 9: An earlier version of this story included a previous offer from the city on pay compensation in its collective bargaining negotiations with the Alexandria Police Department. The city’s most recent offer increases starting pay for police officers 17.21% from $63,988 a year to an annual salary of $75,000; a 21% increase for sergeants from $72,300 to $87,500 and police lieutenants 15% from $89,800 to $106,900.

With collective bargaining at a standstill, the Alexandria Police Department’s union is calling for increased salaries as the department’s pay has fallen behind other Northern Virginia localities.