The Trump administration is moving forward with a threat to withhold over $3 million in grant funding for Fairfax County’s public magnet schools.
The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights gave Fairfax County Public Schools and districts in Chicago and New York City until Tuesday (Sept. 23) to agree to stop giving students access to locker rooms and restrooms corresponding with their gender identity or risk losing funding for specialty magnet schools.
County leaders have now joined School Board members in pushing for more early budget collaboration, to avoid repeating an impasse that soured relationships last spring.
At a Sept. 16 meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Budget Policy Committee, County Executive Bryan Hill said school leaders needed to develop a “budget of reality” for fiscal 2027.
Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent (FCPS) Michelle Reid sent a message to the school community explaining more about the ongoing legal fight with the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Alexandria dismissed a lawsuit the Fairfax and Arlington school boards filed against the DOE after the federal department froze their funding. The DOE put the schools on “high risk” status and restricted their access to federal funds after they refused to rescind policies allowing students to use bathrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity.
Some Fairfax County School Board members hope closer collaboration with their Board of Supervisors’ counterparts will make for smoother future budget processes than was experienced earlier this year.
Fairfax County Public Schools needs to convince local elected officials and the broader community that “we are being as strategic as possible with every dollar,” Mason District School Board member Ricardy Anderson said during a school board work session on Tuesday (Sept. 9) about budget planning and communications strategies.
Fairfax County Public Schools is appealing the dismissal of its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education.
The school system asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit of Virginia yesterday (Tuesday) to overturn a lower court’s decision denying a preliminary injunction that would’ve prevented the Education Department (DOE) from restricting its access to federal funding, Superintendent Michelle Reid announced.
Fairfax County Public Schools has encountered at least a temporary setback in its bid to prevent the federal government from cutting off funding over its support for transgender students.
On Friday (Sept. 5), a federal judge in Alexandria dismissed the lawsuit that the Fairfax and Arlington county school boards had filed against the U.S. Education Department, denying their requests for an injunction to halt the funding freeze as the case proceeds.
A West Springfield High School student died earlier this week from a drug overdose, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) officials have confirmed.
FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid announced the death in a letter on Wednesday (Sept. 3), sharing guidance for parents, students and community members.
Fairfax County Public Schools is rolling out advanced weapons detectors to all middle and high schools, but is that enough to keep schools safe? At least one member of the school board says no.
“Technology can identify a weapon or observe a fight, but it requires a human to intervene to seize the weapon or stop the fight,” Mount Vernon District Representative Mateo Dunne told FFXnow.
Fairfax County supervisors on Tuesday (Aug. 26) honored five teams and multiple individuals for winning Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 6 state championships in spring sports competition.
“This has become a special tradition — a proud moment,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said during the presentation, which filled the board auditorium at the Fairfax County Government Center with student-athletes, coaches and families.
A former Fairfax County Public schools contractor will serve prison time after admitting to committing multiple child sex crimes.
Arturo Elmore-Adon was sentenced Thursday (Aug. 29) to 31 years behind bars, though all but seven were suspended by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Michael F. Devine, according to online court records.
