School bonds on November ballot

[Anonymous]

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Bond debt payments (both principal and interest) is only 10% of the general fund.

This does not send the message you think it sends.

Bond payments being only 10% of the general fund is incredibly good, actually. It is much higher in other counties.

So, you would be thrilled if your car payment was only 10% of your financial assets?

Building a new school is more like a mortgage on a home than it is a car loan. But thanks for pointing out how great it is that Fairfax County is spending only 10% of the general fund on debt, considering most people's home payment is around 30% of their income.

In a county the size of Fairfax, this sounds much more like a family spending 10% on a car loan. One school out of hundreds of schools is hardly the equivalent of your home mortgage to your budget. Remember, schools are over 50% of the budget in Fairfax. To spend 10% on bonds, is additional. And, interest rates are significantly higher than they were.

Most county governments are spending way more than 10% on debt. And at much higher interest rates than Fairfax County pays. I used to live in a city with terrible schools that was paying over 30% of their budget on debt services. They had a BBB rating. Fairfax has better schools while spending less on debt, at a lower rate due to the AAA rating.

My guess is these less affluent areas have to borrow more money and don't have the revenue sources that Fairfax has (the high value Fairfax properties). In other words, Fairfax has no shortage of money with which to avoid debt - it keeps the rating good. Other areas are not so fortunate, not necessarily because they don't spend wisely, but because they don't have a large tax base.

That does not mean that we can't hold Fairfax responsible for bad spending. And there is definitely bad spending.

So, would you rather just raise taxes? Or do you not want to renovate schools?

First, use available space before enlarging schools. Second, stop the elaborate renovations. Keep the renovations modest and stick to what is necessary.

Until then I will vote No on the bonds.

Gee, thanks for suggesting that. I'm sure nobody had ever thought of either of those things.

Well, they surely don't follow through on this. They just say f*&^ you to the taxpayers and do whatever they want. Hence, my no vote.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Another place money could be saved: FLES teachers

Oh now the Rs are out in full force.
Where in Fairfax would parents ever say "oh they cut Spanish at my kid's school" & the majority would be happy?

What do you have against Spanish language that you singled it out? Because FCPS offers FLES/LTC programs in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

And, what do Republicans have to do with your ignorance?

Because Republicans are the ones who want to cut everything in the name of "taxpayers".

And why is taxpayers in quotes? They are the source of the funding. Or in your world does money grow on trees?

FLES is a "nice to have" program that achieves little. Kids are not going to learn a foreign language through FLES. With budget woes and so many children who need so much else, that could easily be cut.

My kids had Chinese one year and Spanish the next year. Everyone was all excited because they thought Spanish would be far more useful than Chinese, but the teacher and the fake immersion format have been horrible. Huge waste of time. I'd rather they have more art or library time.

Fascinating—given that this is not even offered in my kid’s school, I had assumed the PTA paid for these teachers. Had no idea it was county funding. Would sure be nice if this were not yet another inequity in the county. (Although I do NOT think the inequality should be solved by cutting the program where it exists!)

Count yourself lucky. The county actually did research on the effectiveness and students who went through FLES in a language didn't perform any better in the language during middle/high school than students which were brand new to it.

But all sorts get sloppy over How Cool It Is That Our Darlings (aren't) Learning A Language In ES so of course the students are still sitting in the classroom bored, pretending to learn all over again how to say "hi" to their teacher instead of being out on the playground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another place money could be saved: FLES teachers

Oh now the Rs are out in full force.
Where in Fairfax would parents ever say "oh they cut Spanish at my kid's school" & the majority would be happy?

What do you have against Spanish language that you singled it out? Because FCPS offers FLES/LTC programs in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

And, what do Republicans have to do with your ignorance?

Because Republicans are the ones who want to cut everything in the name of "taxpayers".

And why is taxpayers in quotes? They are the source of the funding. Or in your world does money grow on trees?

FLES is a "nice to have" program that achieves little. Kids are not going to learn a foreign language through FLES. With budget woes and so many children who need so much else, that could easily be cut.

My kids had Chinese one year and Spanish the next year. Everyone was all excited because they thought Spanish would be far more useful than Chinese, but the teacher and the fake immersion format have been horrible. Huge waste of time. I'd rather they have more art or library time.

Fascinating—given that this is not even offered in my kid’s school, I had assumed the PTA paid for these teachers. Had no idea it was county funding. Would sure be nice if this were not yet another inequity in the county. (Although I do NOT think the inequality should be solved by cutting the program where it exists!)

Count yourself lucky. The county actually did research on the effectiveness and students who went through FLES in a language didn't perform any better in the language during middle/high school than students which were brand new to it.

But all sorts get sloppy over How Cool It Is That Our Darlings (aren't) Learning A Language In ES so of course the students are still sitting in the classroom bored, pretending to learn all over again how to say "hi" to their teacher instead of being out on the playground.

stfu. this has nothing to do with bonds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another place money could be saved: FLES teachers

Oh now the Rs are out in full force.
Where in Fairfax would parents ever say "oh they cut Spanish at my kid's school" & the majority would be happy?

What do you have against Spanish language that you singled it out? Because FCPS offers FLES/LTC programs in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

And, what do Republicans have to do with your ignorance?

Because Republicans are the ones who want to cut everything in the name of "taxpayers".

And why is taxpayers in quotes? They are the source of the funding. Or in your world does money grow on trees?

FLES is a "nice to have" program that achieves little. Kids are not going to learn a foreign language through FLES. With budget woes and so many children who need so much else, that could easily be cut.

My kids had Chinese one year and Spanish the next year. Everyone was all excited because they thought Spanish would be far more useful than Chinese, but the teacher and the fake immersion format have been horrible. Huge waste of time. I'd rather they have more art or library time.

Fascinating—given that this is not even offered in my kid’s school, I had assumed the PTA paid for these teachers. Had no idea it was county funding. Would sure be nice if this were not yet another inequity in the county. (Although I do NOT think the inequality should be solved by cutting the program where it exists!)

Count yourself lucky. The county actually did research on the effectiveness and students who went through FLES in a language didn't perform any better in the language during middle/high school than students which were brand new to it.

But all sorts get sloppy over How Cool It Is That Our Darlings (aren't) Learning A Language In ES so of course the students are still sitting in the classroom bored, pretending to learn all over again how to say "hi" to their teacher instead of being out on the playground.

stfu. this has nothing to do with bonds.

DP. The common thread is whether FCPS is a trustworthy steward of taxpayer money, whether it’s taxes to support FCPS’s operating budget (which funds FLES, IB, etc) or capital budget (which supports projects like expanding West Potomac to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon has hundreds of empty seats).