Area Public School Budget Cuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, if you are willing to pay mucho bucks so that your child can have art, music, 100 sports options, foreign language in elementary, and on and on ... perhaps you should pay to send your kids to private school rather than expect every citizen of FC to pony up more dough.

How about removing or scaling down CIP projects? Parents whine about the school budgets yet have paid little in user fees.

I would prefer that FCPS cancel the misguided South County Middle School than allow current, aging facilities, such as Longfellow, Edison, Marshall, Jefferson, West Springfield, etc. to fall apart completely.

[Anonymous]

"I don't want all of those things. I just want a reasonable class size, art, music, and PE. I want my child to receive an education appropriate to her needs. That can't be done on $13,000 per student. No need for foreign language or or 100 sports."

Exactly.

Why doesn't Northern Virginia become it's own state; if we are supplying most of the states money?

Why are some areas given "Japenese immersion" (for example - WTF?) and other areas given nothing?

Doesn't this all seem very slanted?

Where is SCMS?

What is CIP?

Thank you in advance for answers.

[Anonymous]

CIP -- Capital Improvement Program

That funds the school rehabilitation and construction. CIP budget money is kept seperate from the general operating (teachers, administrators, etc.) and maintenance budget for the schools.

OK --- let's do a little value trade off Fairfax County spends $13,000 per student and is consistently ranked as one of the best school systems in the country. Washington DC spends $24,600 per student. Considering all the programs we do get, I think we get a pretty good value for our tax dollar. is it perfect no, could it be better yes -- but is pretty dang good already.

One of the things that surprises me is how few student fees there are in FCPS. Where I grew up outside Chicago, if you took the school bus you paid $200 per semester (low income exempted and that was 1982 $$). You paid for your AP/IB etc. exams. You paid a band fee. You paid athletic team fees (some of those cover the entire cost of the program, like cross country for example). What I am saying is that some of these things that have are assumed by FCPS really should be user fees not part of the basic operating budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CIP -- Capital Improvement Program

That funds the school rehabilitation and construction. CIP budget money is kept seperate from the general operating (teachers, administrators, etc.) and maintenance budget for the schools.

OK --- let's do a little value trade off Fairfax County spends $13,000 per student and is consistently ranked as one of the best school systems in the country. Washington DC spends $24,600 per student. Considering all the programs we do get, I think we get a pretty good value for our tax dollar. is it perfect no, could it be better yes -- but is pretty dang good already.

One of the things that surprises me is how few student fees there are in FCPS. Where I grew up outside Chicago, if you took the school bus you paid $200 per semester (low income exempted and that was 1982 $$). You paid for your AP/IB etc. exams. You paid a band fee. You paid athletic team fees (some of those cover the entire cost of the program, like cross country for example). What I am saying is that some of these things that have are assumed by FCPS really should be user fees not part of the basic operating budget.

FCPS teacher here. I agree with this...there are many very well off families in Fairfax who could easily afford these fees. Reduced and free lunch could be exempt. Also, for the person who mentioned Marshall and the state of its facilities, it is scheduled to be renovated starting next year. The funding already went through for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I don't want all of those things. I just want a reasonable class size, art, music, and PE. I want my child to receive an education appropriate to her needs. That can't be done on $13,000 per student. No need for foreign language or or 100 sports."

Exactly.

Why doesn't Northern Virginia become it's own state; if we are supplying most of the states money?

Why are some areas given "Japenese immersion" (for example - WTF?) and other areas given nothing?

In this day & age when the economy is globalized, our population is increasingly ethnically diverse, and many govt./industry organizations are lacking people who are proficient in certain languages, it's critical for more of our kids to become bilingual. We're at a major economic disadvantage otherwise. Not to mention a military/security disadvantage if we don't have enough folks who can translate terrorist communications. Four years of high school French (or whatever) simply don't result in proficiency. Fairfax County is world renowned for having one of the best foreign language programs in the country. The immersion program has been around for 20 years now -- long enough for the earliest graduates to show demonstrated fluency and career success. In addition to the full immersion program at 12 elementary schools, there's the Foreign Language in the Elementary School program (FLES), which currently is in place at 32 elementary schools and -- were it not for recent budget limitations & threatened cuts -- is supposed to be expanded to ALL elementary schools, so that everyone has access. The FLES program enables kids to attain proficiency in a variety of languages -- including Arabic & Chinese -- by integrating language study with the core curriculum for a couple of hours each week. It's an amazing program and has been of great benefit to a wide variety of students. There have been studies that show a direct connection between elementary foreign language learning and stronger academic achievement, better test scores, higher cognitive capabilities & creativity, etc. And many families move to the county because of these programs. There's an organization called Fairfax FLAGS (www.fairfaxflags.org) which is working hard to restore funding in the School Board's budget for the FLES program, as well as to preserve the immersion program. We encourage everyone to check out the site & get involved!

As far as funding is concerned, our biggest priorities right now are to 1) write e-mails/letters to Gov. McDonnell & ask him not to freeze the local composite index (LCI), which otherwise would prevent us from getting $60M that we deserve 2) write the Board of Supervisors and delegates/state senators and ask them to reinstate the auto decal fee (somewhere between $25-30), which will bring in an additional $20M to the county. I personally am also willing to pay a bit more in property taxes to help not just the schools but our financially strapped libraries and other services.

[Anonymous]

This is not part of the school budget, but SACC fees should be looked at as well. My SACC fees are approximately half what I would pay for an outside daycare center. Why not make them a bit more competitive? I hate to suggest it, but I would gladly pay more and maybe it would help cut down on the ridiculous wait lists. SACC is already more appealing (for me) than outside programs because my kids are not shuttled back and forth and the staff are excellent. I feel it's a real extension of their day and they've learned so much there.

Of course, the reduced fee schedule could stay in place for those unable to pay full rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"I don't want all of those things. I just want a reasonable class size, art, music, and PE. I want my child to receive an education appropriate to her needs. That can't be done on $13,000 per student. No need for foreign language or or 100 sports."

Exactly.

Why doesn't Northern Virginia become it's own state; if we are supplying most of the states money?

Why are some areas given "Japenese immersion" (for example - WTF?) and other areas given nothing?

In this day & age when the economy is globalized, our population is increasingly ethnically diverse, and many govt./industry organizations are lacking people who are proficient in certain languages, it's critical for more of our kids to become bilingual. We're at a major economic disadvantage otherwise. Not to mention a military/security disadvantage if we don't have enough folks who can translate terrorist communications. Four years of high school French (or whatever) simply don't result in proficiency. Fairfax County is world renowned for having one of the best foreign language programs in the country. The immersion program has been around for 20 years now -- long enough for the earliest graduates to show demonstrated fluency and career success. In addition to the full immersion program at 12 elementary schools, there's the Foreign Language in the Elementary School program (FLES), which currently is in place at 32 elementary schools and -- were it not for recent budget limitations & threatened cuts -- is supposed to be expanded to ALL elementary schools, so that everyone has access. The FLES program enables kids to attain proficiency in a variety of languages -- including Arabic & Chinese -- by integrating language study with the core curriculum for a couple of hours each week. It's an amazing program and has been of great benefit to a wide variety of students. There have been studies that show a direct connection between elementary foreign language learning and stronger academic achievement, better test scores, higher cognitive capabilities & creativity, etc. And many families move to the county because of these programs. There's an organization called Fairfax FLAGS (www.fairfaxflags.org) which is working hard to restore funding in the School Board's budget for the FLES program, as well as to preserve the immersion program. We encourage everyone to check out the site & get involved!

As far as funding is concerned, our biggest priorities right now are to 1) write e-mails/letters to Gov. McDonnell & ask him not to freeze the local composite index (LCI), which otherwise would prevent us from getting $60M that we deserve 2) write the Board of Supervisors and delegates/state senators and ask them to reinstate the auto decal fee (somewhere between $25-30), which will bring in an additional $20M to the county. I personally am also willing to pay a bit more in property taxes to help not just the schools but our financially strapped libraries and other services.

People move here for jobs and newer housing in VA. PTA's can pay for extras like foreign language and immersion can be run with zero extra funding.

[Anonymous]

As someone who grew up in the "other" Virginia outside of NOVA, I think you folks in FC can darn well pay fees if you want money for all the many, many extras you desire for your kids. As for objecting to sending "your" taxdollars down south to provide somewhat decent schools in other poorer and more rural areas of the state ... I find this extremely interesting given the high level of liberal voters who live in Alexandria and Arlington in particular. What about redistributing money from "have a lots" to "have much less"???? HA!

[Anonymous]

People move here for jobs and newer housing in VA. PTA's can pay for extras like foreign language and immersion can be run with zero extra funding.

Extras?! Chess & various other extracurricular clubs should be "extras" run through the PTA. Foreign language programs should continue to be interwoven with the basic curriculum as they're essential to our nation's future. People move to Fairfax County for a variety of reasons, and our excellent language programs are one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, if you are willing to pay mucho bucks so that your child can have art, music, 100 sports options, foreign language in elementary, and on and on ... perhaps you should pay to send your kids to private school rather than expect every citizen of FC to pony up more dough.

How about removing or scaling down CIP projects? Parents whine about the school budgets yet have paid little in user fees.

I would prefer that FCPS cancel the misguided South County Middle School than allow current, aging facilities, such as Longfellow, Edison, Marshall, Jefferson, West Springfield, etc. to fall apart completely.

Curious as to why you think this is misguided. We are in this area now and I thought South County was VERY overcrowded. Don't they need the separate school?

[Anonymous]

Even recognizing that the FCPS projections are notoriously unreliable (they routinely project under-enrollment when they want to redistrict and over-crowding when they want to build new schools), FCPS is projecting excess capacity at many neighboring middle and high schools (Hayfield, Key, Lake Braddock and Robinson MS and Lake Braddock, Hayfield, Lee and Lake Braddock HS).

Seems to me that building another SC middle school is a done deal, but I'm just saying that, if the choice is between (1) redistricting and renovating some existing facilities that - as in West Springfield's case - are literally falling apart and (2) building new schools in a part of the county where there is excess capacity, I know what I'd prefer.

[Anonymous]

I think you folks in FC can darn well pay fees if you want money for all the many, many extras you desire for your kids. As for objecting to sending "your" taxdollars down south to provide somewhat decent schools in other poorer and more rural areas of the state ... I find this extremely interesting given the high level of liberal voters who live in Alexandria and Arlington in particular.

You'll note thatneither Arlington nor Alexandria (City) are part of FCPS.

[Anonymous]

One of the best ideas I have heard so far (at the Freedom Hill ES/Kilmer MS PTAs meeting) is to establish a FCPS Foundation as a 503(c) to accept charitable donations on behalf of the school system for system wide programs. Many of the PTAs in FC are 503(c) already and this may make some sense to solicit private and corporation donations that could benefit students. It would also relieve some spending pressures for differentiated programs and extracurricular activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the best ideas I have heard so far (at the Freedom Hill ES/Kilmer MS PTAs meeting) is to establish a FCPS Foundation as a 503(c) to accept charitable donations on behalf of the school system for system wide programs. Many of the PTAs in FC are 503(c) already and this may make some sense to solicit private and corporation donations that could benefit students. It would also relieve some spending pressures for differentiated programs and extracurricular activities.

I think this is a fantastic idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the best ideas I have heard so far (at the Freedom Hill ES/Kilmer MS PTAs meeting) is to establish a FCPS Foundation as a 503(c) to accept charitable donations on behalf of the school system for system wide programs. Many of the PTAs in FC are 503(c) already and this may make some sense to solicit private and corporation donations that could benefit students. It would also relieve some spending pressures for differentiated programs and extracurricular activities.

The School Board is actually discussing this, but part of the problem is how to handle the "non-participants" -- e.g., if there was a foundation to cover the $210,000 per year to cover transportation for GT kids to the GT Centers, what would happen for the kids where the schools/parents did not donate money vs. the schools/parents that did.

It's good to know that the FC Board of Supervisors is going to fight this LCI idea, though. That madness is just a double smack in the face.