Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid has proposed trimming a number of items from the school system’s fiscal year 2027 budget to address a $28.9 million shortfall.
“At this time,” Reid wrote in a May 8 letter to FCPS families, “I am proposing to make up the difference by reducing the staffing reserve, leveraging alternative major maintenance funding, extending the time to refresh FCPSOn technology devices, deferring microcredentialing, reducing math adoption curriculum materials, and reducing the Superintendent’s Strategic Reserve.”
During a presentation before the Fairfax County School Board last Thursday (May 7), the superintendent touted an additional $4.1 million designated for after-school programs for middle school students, and as well as the school system’s ability to provide the pay raises it promised in a contract negotiated with the Fairfax Education Unions in the fall of 2024.
This year, FCPS intends to allocate an additional $178.4 million to employee compensation after a shortfall forced the school system to cut back on raises promised for the current fiscal year 2026.
But Reid also said that FCPS still needs to make cuts, proposing eliminating more than $8.7 million from a staffing reserve — a contingency budget for staffing needs that come about after the budget is finalized.
Among other changes, the revised budget saves more than $5 million by not automatically refreshing electronic devices in schools, and $4.9 million by deferring a “micro-credentialing” program for teachers.
The superintendent said that the changes to the budget were necessitated by uncertainty around state funding, as well as Fairfax County’s adopted budget for fiscal year 2027, which provided FCPS with about $39.6 million less than it requested.
According to Reid’s presentation, FCPS will have reduced spending by $208.1 million over the past two years if her proposed cuts are approved. In addition to giving workers lower raises than planned, last year’s cuts included the elimination of classroom monitors, reductions in special education teachers and electric bus purchases, and delays in purchasing new social studies materials.
While school board members said they intended to save most of their feedback for a May 14 work session, they did provide some direction for Reid ahead of it.
Melanie Meren, who represents the Hunter Mill District on the school board, referencing recent parental pushback on the use of tablets and screens, asked Reid to come to the session prepared to “dig into” FCPS’ use of technology.
“I feel like it’s an opportunity to reduce our tech spending,” Meren said.
The school board recently passed a resolution encouraging parents to delay giving smartphones to their children until they’re in high school.
Given that some items could be restored if the Virginia General Assembly provides new funding, some of the school board members asked Reid to come prepared to discuss what would happen in that scenario.
“If there are budget numbers that have been put out in Richmond, I’d like to know what they are,” said Karl Frisch, the Providence District representative. “I know they’ve been brought up in other settings. Because I’d like at least some folks to know, what is the realm of possibilities of that almost $29 million shortfall being at least partially filled? And secondarily, when we have the work session, I’ll be interested to know in what order the priority is for filling those buckets.”
Reid and FCPS Chief Financial Officer Leigh Burden said discrepancies between the budget plans proposed by state Senate and House of Delegates made it impossible to provide a range.
A public hearing was held last night (May 12) at 6 p.m. in the Luther Jackson Middle School auditorium. The school board is scheduled to vote on May 21 to approve a final budget that will take effect on July 1.
