Fairfax County’s school board approved a nearly $4 billion budget Thursday that will give educators a raise but may also result in more students in their classrooms.
The budget includes a 5% raise for administrative and executive positions and a 6% raise for instructional and operational personnel through the Northern Virginia school district’s first collective bargaining agreement. But it also includes a series of cuts that could impact class sizes.
The final package comes after weeks of district leaders working to figure out how to cut about $121 million, while minimizing the impact on students. Some school board members said the cuts are the result of the Board of Supervisors not fulfilling Superintendent Michelle Reid’s full budget request. The supervisors, though, maintain the state is underfunding Virginia’s largest division.
“Despite its historic nature, we have to be honest — this budget is not everything we wanted it to be,” School Board Chair Karl Frisch said. “We are disappointed that FCPS did not receive full funding from our state and county partners. The superintendent has done an incredible job working to bridge the $121 million funding shortfall while trying to limit the impact of cuts on classrooms.”
Teachers who are part of the union had initially been expecting a 7% raise, but the group had to return to the bargaining table once the division learned how much it was receiving from the county.
Nonetheless, Frisch said the agreement is about “improving the quality of education in Fairfax County Public Schools by underscoring the notion that teachers working conditions are students learning conditions.”
As part of the cuts, the district is also changing the way it staffs schools.
General education positions will be reduced across elementary, middle and high schools, and in a memo to families, Reid said “class sizes will go up.” However, class sizes will still be in compliance with state requirements and the school district’s internal guidelines, she said.
The approved plan reduces central office budgets by 3% and cuts funding for electric buses and non-local professional development travel. It also delays the rollout of new social studies materials and removes funding for classroom monitors — a post-pandemic role that helped ensure general education teachers had planning time and assisted with recess coverage and grading.
“If budget cuts become normalized, we could lose years of progress we have made in making education fair, innovative, accessible for all students,” Board member Seema Dixit said.
Reid had previously said the changes shouldn’t result in layoffs, because the school system has more vacancies than the nearly 275 jobs that would be impacted.
Board member Mateo Dunne, meanwhile, said news of the last-minute changes “caused a lot of trauma, honestly, for employees who found out on a Friday morning that their positions might be eliminated or cut back the following year, and they might not be able to pay their mortgages or meet their family needs.”
Funding for special education department chairs in elementary schools and advanced academic resource teachers will also be reduced, but Reid said they’re “working with schools to find school-based funding to keep those positions whole for at least the coming year.”
Board member Melanie Meren said while the board of supervisors provides more money to schools each year, “FCPS requires more money each year to maintain the level of public education expected in this community.”
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