Rather than go to war over about 1% of Fairfax County Public Schools’ budget request, county and school leaders are trying to forge a coalition that will press General Assembly members to provide the additional funding.
The Board of Supervisors and school board need to “be loud about the fact that we need help” from Richmond, School Board Chair Sandy Anderson (Springfield) said at a work session to discuss the county’s proposed budget on Tuesday (Feb. 24).
At issue is the amount of county funding requested by Superintendent Michelle Reid, which is about $43.8 million more than the amount that County Executive Bryan Hill proposed transferring to FCPS.
“It’s a tiny little percentage” in the school system’s $4.1 billion budget proposed for fiscal year 2027, Anderson acknowledged, but without it, she says the school budget is “just not going to work.”
Last year, the county’s supervisors and school board members sniped at each other almost constantly throughout the budget season over funding. Ultimately, supervisors sided with Hill over Reid, providing less than the superintendent had sought.
This time around, many on both sides appear willing to work together in pressing state leadership for support.
“There is a small gap,” Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay said. “We hope our friends in Richmond are aggressively filling that gap. It’s not an unreasonable nor an inappropriate ask.”
However, to make that happen, McKay said county leaders “need to speak as one voice.”
“We’re in this together,” he said “We represent the same people — we need to act that way.”
McKay reminded the school board that FCPS can’t be immune from county budget pressures, and members need to meet the challenges of the existing economic environment.
“In tough times … you have to make the sacrifices,” he said.
State legislators currently are working on reconciling House and Senate versions of a two-year budget bill, a process that could take weeks or even months to complete.
“Hopefully we’ll get the $43 million somewhere” along the way, said Sully District school board member Seema Dixit, who chairs that body’s budget committee.
The 90-minute session both began and ended on relatively cordial notes. In the middle, though, there were signs of tension.
Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez questioned whether the school board is putting in the same amount of effort lobbying state lawmakers as their supervisor counterparts were.
“Are you going to Richmond? Have you backed up the talk? I’d love to hear examples — specific, concrete examples,” said Jimenez, who chairs the supervisors’ legislative committee.
His comments drew flak from a number of school board members.
“Absolutely we are doing the work,” Hunter Mill District Representative Melanie Meren shot back.
School board members actively advocate for more funding as outlined in a 2023 study by the legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission (JLARC), according to Mason District Representative Ricardy Anderson.
The study found that Virginia’s formulas for calculating K-12 public schools’ funding and staffing needs result in local school divisions receiving less money per student than the national and regional average as well as three neighboring states (Maryland, Kentucky and West Virginia).
If all of the study’s recommendations were implemented, FCPS alone would receive an additional $568.7 million from the state, though the local funding obligation would also increase by over $1 billion.
“We’re pushing,” she said. “We are just one [school] board out of 133. We’ve had some successes. Would we want more? Absolutely.”
Dranesville District school board member Robyn Lady said engaging in a local blame game throughout the budget season would be counterproductive.
“I don’t want to point fingers at each other. I want to point fingers at the state,” she said.
Northern Virginia’s legislative delegation in Richmond is well aware of unmet education needs locally, Lady said.
“It’s the rest of the state that doesn’t seem to care,” she said, pressing to build advocacy alliances across the commonwealth.
At the gathering, a number of supervisors zeroed in on the issue of increasing administrative staffing and ongoing school construction in a district has been reporting declines in student enrollment.
“Even though there’s a decrease in students, there’s an increase in students’ needs,” Franconia District School Board member Marcia St. John-Cunning asserted.
Budget season rolls on through May 5, when supervisors are expected to adopt the FY 2027 spending plan, set tax rates and determine how much funding goes to FCPS.
“We’ve got the benefit of time” to make the correct decisions, McKay said.
