Where does the $3.8 billion go

[Anonymous]

Special education is expensive, and FCPS families are more likely than families in most places to pursue services for their children if they might qualify, and to push for the most support they can get. This is not to say that those families shouldn’t get those services— but it does have a huge impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is pretty easy to find with a Google search. Starting on page 158 you can see what is spent on everything over the last few years. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY-2025-Proposed-Budget.pdf

Also page 58:
89.2% is salaries and benefits. Education is a labor-intensive field.

Though one might question if all the Gatehouse staff heading programs and all the non-instructional teaching staff in schools are truly, strictly necessary. I'd rather cut some random executive principals and pay each teacher in the classroom a few pennies more.

Then you'll be thankful when you note on pg 9 that FCPS has one of the lowest percentage of administrative staff of all surrounding counties. By far.

That is management position.

Non-teaching position to teaching position ratio 9:16

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in grad school (in education) in 2003, we looked at the budget of our respective school systems (it was a class of educators from many counties--Arlington, FCPS, DC, Montgomery, PG, Loudoun). At that time FCPS's was appx $2.2B. I am stunned that less than 20 years later, it is almost $4B. That is a staggering amount of money. PP is correct re: the amount which goes to the people that make the system run. In 2003, it was 85%. I am pleasantly surprised that that total has risen to almost 90%.

I would like to see a citation for the claim "for every 2 people in the classroom, there is 1 that isn't".

DP

Page 110

16k teacher scale position. 9.7k non teacher scale position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in grad school (in education) in 2003, we looked at the budget of our respective school systems (it was a class of educators from many counties--Arlington, FCPS, DC, Montgomery, PG, Loudoun). At that time FCPS's was appx $2.2B. I am stunned that less than 20 years later, it is almost $4B. That is a staggering amount of money. PP is correct re: the amount which goes to the people that make the system run. In 2003, it was 85%. I am pleasantly surprised that that total has risen to almost 90%.

I would like to see a citation for the claim "for every 2 people in the classroom, there is 1 that isn't".

DP

Page 110

16k teacher scale position. 9.7k non teacher scale position.

The janitors, cafeteria staff, bus drivers, counselors, social workers, TA, office staff and school administrators are not paid based on teacher scale positions.

Bus drivers alone, make up a large portion of these numbers.

[Anonymous]

PP who asked for the citation. Thanks for the #s from the budget. And said citation is what I was expecting--including custodians, caf staff, bus drivers, etc. You must have those positions to run a school system.

I guess what I'm really curious about is the ratio of classroom teachers with assigned students to coaches, ed specialists and instructional support jobs (by region & at administrative sites like Willow Oaks).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in grad school (in education) in 2003, we looked at the budget of our respective school systems (it was a class of educators from many counties--Arlington, FCPS, DC, Montgomery, PG, Loudoun). At that time FCPS's was appx $2.2B. I am stunned that less than 20 years later, it is almost $4B. That is a staggering amount of money. PP is correct re: the amount which goes to the people that make the system run. In 2003, it was 85%. I am pleasantly surprised that that total has risen to almost 90%.



There at least 100 instructional coaches in the county and most do not work with kids. I would absolutely get rid of these positions.

I would like to see a citation for the claim "for every 2 people in the classroom, there is 1 that isn't".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in grad school (in education) in 2003, we looked at the budget of our respective school systems (it was a class of educators from many counties--Arlington, FCPS, DC, Montgomery, PG, Loudoun). At that time FCPS's was appx $2.2B. I am stunned that less than 20 years later, it is almost $4B. That is a staggering amount of money. PP is correct re: the amount which goes to the people that make the system run. In 2003, it was 85%. I am pleasantly surprised that that total has risen to almost 90%.



There at least 100 instructional coaches in the county and most do not work with kids. I would absolutely get rid of these positions.

I would like to see a citation for the claim "for every 2 people in the classroom, there is 1 that isn't".

I'm not part of the school system, but as a parent I think that instructional coaches are an important part of the system. From what I gather, they are usually experienced teachers who analyze the data on student performance in their specialties and can see patterns in what is working or not and help teachers and children who are struggling and who go around observing teachers and co-teaching in situations. This in my opinion has never been more important since the teacher shortage has led to hiring untrained teachers. They also are regularly called on to teach themselves. This seems to a necessary check on how the system is working--I can imagine there are some teachers who resent the position because essentially someone has flagged them for underperforming--in terms of student outcomes--compared to their peers so you're more likely to hear people grumbling about these people with cushy jobs commenting on their teaching and whatnot. But I think it sounds like a smart use of resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special education is expensive, and FCPS families are more likely than families in most places to pursue services for their children if they might qualify, and to push for the most support they can get. This is not to say that those families shouldn’t get those services— but it does have a huge impact.

FCPS spends less money on special education students than regular students. Stop blaming the special ed kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in grad school (in education) in 2003, we looked at the budget of our respective school systems (it was a class of educators from many counties--Arlington, FCPS, DC, Montgomery, PG, Loudoun). At that time FCPS's was appx $2.2B. I am stunned that less than 20 years later, it is almost $4B. That is a staggering amount of money. PP is correct re: the amount which goes to the people that make the system run. In 2003, it was 85%. I am pleasantly surprised that that total has risen to almost 90%.



There at least 100 instructional coaches in the county and most do not work with kids. I would absolutely get rid of these positions.

I would like to see a citation for the claim "for every 2 people in the classroom, there is 1 that isn't".

I'm not part of the school system, but as a parent I think that instructional coaches are an important part of the system. From what I gather, they are usually experienced teachers who analyze the data on student performance in their specialties and can see patterns in what is working or not and help teachers and children who are struggling and who go around observing teachers and co-teaching in situations. This in my opinion has never been more important since the teacher shortage has led to hiring untrained teachers. They also are regularly called on to teach themselves. This seems to a necessary check on how the system is working--I can imagine there are some teachers who resent the position because essentially someone has flagged them for underperforming--in terms of student outcomes--compared to their peers so you're more likely to hear people grumbling about these people with cushy jobs commenting on their teaching and whatnot. But I think it sounds like a smart use of resources.

My kid's teacher had them do a big project designed by one of these instructional coaches. Teacher knew it was terrible and was proving a point. She asked the kids for feedback on it. The kids universally panned it. Honestly it was worse than something a teacher would buy off of Teachers Pay Teachers.

Maybe it was an anomoly, but I don't think teachers would complain about these coaches if it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in grad school (in education) in 2003, we looked at the budget of our respective school systems (it was a class of educators from many counties--Arlington, FCPS, DC, Montgomery, PG, Loudoun). At that time FCPS's was appx $2.2B. I am stunned that less than 20 years later, it is almost $4B. That is a staggering amount of money. PP is correct re: the amount which goes to the people that make the system run. In 2003, it was 85%. I am pleasantly surprised that that total has risen to almost 90%.



There at least 100 instructional coaches in the county and most do not work with kids. I would absolutely get rid of these positions.

I would like to see a citation for the claim "for every 2 people in the classroom, there is 1 that isn't".

I'm not part of the school system, but as a parent I think that instructional coaches are an important part of the system. From what I gather, they are usually experienced teachers who analyze the data on student performance in their specialties and can see patterns in what is working or not and help teachers and children who are struggling and who go around observing teachers and co-teaching in situations. This in my opinion has never been more important since the teacher shortage has led to hiring untrained teachers. They also are regularly called on to teach themselves. This seems to a necessary check on how the system is working--I can imagine there are some teachers who resent the position because essentially someone has flagged them for underperforming--in terms of student outcomes--compared to their peers so you're more likely to hear people grumbling about these people with cushy jobs commenting on their teaching and whatnot. But I think it sounds like a smart use of resources.

My kid's teacher had them do a big project designed by one of these instructional coaches. Teacher knew it was terrible and was proving a point. She asked the kids for feedback on it. The kids universally panned it. Honestly it was worse than something a teacher would buy off of Teachers Pay Teachers.

Maybe it was an anomoly, but I don't think teachers would complain about these coaches if it was.

I'm pretty sure a teacher who thinks a project is terrible isn't going to teach it well. No surprise there. My kids have had two teachers who were hired through non-traditional routes (one teacher-trainee the other career switchers). Their instructional coaches (two different people) have been amazing resources--and these teachers actually appreciate them too which speaks volumes for their desire to improve.

[Anonymous]

Here is the link that shows they spend about $300 less on special education students vs bob special ed students.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/study-analyzes-virginias-k-12-education-funding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in grad school (in education) in 2003, we looked at the budget of our respective school systems (it was a class of educators from many counties--Arlington, FCPS, DC, Montgomery, PG, Loudoun). At that time FCPS's was appx $2.2B. I am stunned that less than 20 years later, it is almost $4B. That is a staggering amount of money. PP is correct re: the amount which goes to the people that make the system run. In 2003, it was 85%. I am pleasantly surprised that that total has risen to almost 90%.

I would like to see a citation for the claim "for every 2 people in the classroom, there is 1 that isn't".

This is an average increase of 2.7% per year over that time period. Inflation has averaged 2.6% since 2003. Sure it is a stager ring amount of money but context helps here.

[Anonymous]

The budget book has the info on all of this.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY-2025-Proposed-Budget.pdf

Page 8:
20% on special ed

Page 110:
Vast majority of employees are teachers and people in schools. This graph is ONLY full-time positions, so it doesn't include bus drivers or other part time staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is expensive, and FCPS families are more likely than families in most places to pursue services for their children if they might qualify, and to push for the most support they can get. This is not to say that those families shouldn’t get those services— but it does have a huge impact.

FCPS spends less money on special education students than regular students. Stop blaming the special ed kids.

Absolutely false. They spend nearly double per kid for kids who receive special education services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the link that shows they spend about $300 less on special education students vs bob special ed students.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/study-analyzes-virginias-k-12-education-funding

That’s a link about state funding, not FCPS spending! Please learn more before you make assertions.