Fairfax County leaders met on Tuesday (Feb. 25) to address a growing school budget crisis, but after hours of debate, they left without a clear path forward.
Faced with rising costs and economic uncertainty heightened by threats of curtailed federal funding, officials agreed on support for Fairfax County Public Schools as a budget priority but remained divided on how to pay for it.
Fairfax County transportation planners are considering enabling more secondary schools to participate in a program giving students free Metrobus rides in Northern Virginia.
Five schools have been identified as potential expansion sites to the program, which already is in place at Justice, Annandale, Falls Church and George C. Marshall high schools and the Davis Center.
An Edison High School student was arrested this morning (Thursday) for allegedly bringing a gun to the Rose Hill school.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, a student alerted the school resource officer (SRO) assigned to Edison “about a possible firearm on school property.”
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) could face a significant funding gap as county leaders weigh a budget proposal that falls short of what the school system requested, while looming federal policy changes threaten to cut millions in aid.
On Tuesday (Feb. 18), County Executive Brian Hill unveiled a proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026 that includes $125.3 million in additional funding for schools, with $118.6 million going directly to FCPS’ operating budget.
Fairfax County will look at creating a corps of “community safety officers,” who would have fewer powers than sworn law-enforcement personnel but could support the police department’s mission in an era of recruiting challenges.
“Based on experiences in other jurisdictions around the country and in our region, it could have some merit,” Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said when proposing on Tuesday (Feb. 18) that staff study the issue.
Fairfax County School Board members are mulling whether to increase the number of student representatives on the body.
The proposal, currently in the exploratory stage, is part of a broader push toward more direct engagement with the 180,000-plus students enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools.
Several Northern Virginia school districts, including Fairfax County Public Schools, are in the crosshairs of the U.S. Department of Education after a conservative legal group filed a complaint challenging their transgender-inclusive bathroom and locker room policies.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation this week into Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun and Prince William schools in response to the complaint from America First Legal, a nonprofit founded by former Trump advisor Stephen Miller.
For Fairfax County Public Schools officials, an already daunting budget season has been complicated by a new financial risk: the possibility of losing federal funding.
Last month, the federal Office of Management and Budget issued a memo directing federal agencies to halt spending so it can review financial assistance programs to ensure they align with administration priorities — which include eliminating diversity initiatives, rolling back environmental regulations, and restricting immigration.
Fairfax County Public Schools is facing a legal and financial dilemma after the Virginia High School League’s (VHSL) executive committee voted to ban transgender student athletes from competing in girls’ sports.
The league, which governs public school sports and other competitions across Virginia, announced the policy change on Monday (Feb. 10) after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to withhold funding from educational and athletic institutions that let transgender girls and women to compete in female sports.
With winter weather currently blanketing the D.C. region, Fairfax County Public Schools has declared tomorrow (Wednesday) a snow day.
All schools and offices will be closed tomorrow, and activities on school grounds have been canceled. Students were dismissed three hours early today (Tuesday) in anticipation of snow starting to fall this afternoon into the evening.
