Within the next few years, all middle school age students who qualify for advanced academic programs in Fairfax County Public Schools will have the opportunity to take those courses without leaving their neighborhood schools.
Under a plan approved by the school board on a 10-1 vote last Thursday (Aug. 27), FCPS will transition over several years from a model that let many students opt out of their assigned local school to join other students at one with an established advanced academic program, or AAP, center.
Beginning this fall, the first of 11 middle schools that didn’t previously offer AAP will begin phasing in the programming.
“What this means is that students no longer have to choose between staying in their neighborhood-based school or taking AAP, as previously was the case for these 11 middle schools,” Kyle McDaniel, an at-large school board member, said during the meeting.
The new AAP programs will be set up at Poe, Franklin, Hayfield, Key, Whitman, Holmes, Herndon, Liberty, Robinson, Stone, Irving, and Thoreau middle schools.
Poe was already approved last fall to begin implementing the program for the 2026-2027 academic year, so incoming sixth graders at the school have access now.
Franklin, Hayfield, Key, Whitman, and Holmes are now developing plans for implementation, starting with grade seven, next fall.
Four more schools — Herndon, Liberty, Robinson, and Stone — will begin adding AAP classes for seventh graders in the 2028-2029 school year, with eighth graders gaining access the following year. The final two schools, Irving and Thoreau, will begin offering the program for seventh graders in school year 29-30.
The plan will still require school board approvals for each phase of the rollout, following community engagement for each group of schools.
A few board members asked Superintendent Michelle Reid why the community engagement sessions are coming after approval of the overall plan. Reid responded that the board had directed her last fall to develop the comprehensive plan for establishing AAP centers in every middle school.
“Virginia Code requires a public hearing for boundary adjustments, and because technically this would be moving children within a boundary, [the] code requires us to do a public hearing,” she said.
The move to add advanced placement at all schools will have costs. Teacher certifications, which are required to lead advanced coursework, are expected to total about $330,000 across FCPS over a period of several years.
Thoreau and Irving middle schools will need to undergo construction — estimated at about $675,000 total — to alleviate overcrowding and accommodate new students. A third middle school, Franklin, will also experience overcrowding, but since it’s already scheduled to be renovated starting in fiscal year 2030, adding AAP shouldn’t bring additional costs.
At the same time, FCPS expects to save money on transportation, given that it will no longer have to bus numerous students to schools outside of their neighborhoods. That amount “is hard to quantify,” Reid said.
Several board members expressed optimism that the move would alleviate inequity between the county’s districts and high school pyramids, such as Lewis High School. Many students and parents have recently testified before the board about the detrimental impact of declining enrollment at Lewis, raising concerns about programs not being offered.
While the move will strain capacity at three schools, it is expected to help with overcrowding at others, as more students stay in their neighborhood school.
“There are schools in my district that are over capacity because the kids are being bused to … Twain, which right now is over capacity because it’s the only AAP center in my district,” Franconia District Representative Marcia St. John-Cunning said. “… This will put more kids into Key Middle School, which right now is under capacity.”
The next step is for FCPS to conduct community engagement for the schools that are expected to phase in AAP in fall 2027: Franklin, Hayfield, Holmes, Key, and Whitman middle schools. The board will officially vote on implementing programs for that group in December.
