If you were in charge of FCPS, what budget cuts would you make?

[Anonymous]

There used to be a LOT less ESL kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There used to be a LOT less ESL kids.

That's why they changed to ESOL to pad the numbers with kids who need no services....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have noticed the percentage of the BOS budget to the schools has gone down from year to year. Is anyone looking at the BOS budget with as much scrutiny?

Yes, the Libraries, for instance, have had a 40% cut to their budget in recent years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There used to be a LOT less ESL kids.

http://www.fcps.edu/it/studentreporting/documents/EthnicRpt12.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1) I'd cut out Level IV centers and just implement the advanced curriculum across the board. Keep the Sp. Ed. instructors to help those that can't keep up.

This gets rid of the expense of bussing, applications, the committees that go through all of the applications and the cost of testing in both 1st and 2nd grade plus the make up days for getting into the program while improving the quality of education for all FCPS students.

2) I'd also cut out many of the admin. paper pushing positions.

3) Also, change the school year to a modified calendar with multi-tracking. Several studies have shown that it is more cost effective to multi track with modified calendar year when school capacity is too high. Cheaper than modulars, additions, and new schools which require more staff and a it's a better use of existing facilities. Bonus, no summer learning loss.

Regarding #1: You do realize that children on the high end of the special ed spectrum are just as needy as the children on the lower end, right? I have one of the high end kids who is need of specialized instructions to meet her intellectual needs. She's very Sheldon-like so keeping her in regular classes is very stressful and unfair to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:31 A friend of mine did a poll of their friends on facebook all around the USA and FCPS had the largest class sizes of all 30 people responding and many of these school districts even had textbooks. Not saying these make up a great school system, but it does seem like other counties are able to get along with less and not stress out the parents and teachers as much.

I bet none of your friends is in a county wide district the size of FCPS.

Back home, the school districts are mostly by neighborhood.

Most of the school districts are comparable to our pyramids. (One highschool, 2-4 feeder middle schools, 4-8 feeder elementary schools). Many are much smaller (akin to Falls Church City). One or two are considered quite large back home (a couple of high schools, 4-6 middle schools, about a dozen elementary schools). This is a decent sized Midwest city.

In a situation like this, the affluent districts have schools that are quite exceptional. The middle class districts are not too bad either.

The poorer neighborhoods and urban poverty filled districts are quite abysmal. As in, losing certification and being taken over by the state bad.

Fairfax county is too large. On the plus side, the district works very hard to provide the poorer pyramids and neighborhoods with the same quality of school as one would expect in a county so wealthy. On the negative side, by doing so the district is stretching the resources from the wealthy areas too thin. That is why we are in trouble.

If FCPS broke apart this massive district, and let each pyramid become its own separate school districts, those schools in affluent neighborhoods would be spectacular, with great resources, state of the art facilities, and exceptional teachers and programs. The middle class neighborhoods such as Cluster 6 (Lake Braddock, West Springfield and Robinson pyramids) would all be excellent schools with solid programs, good facilities, and exceptional teachers.

The less affluent pyramids would struggle, and suffer without the benefits FCPS' more affluent communities share with them.

You really cannot compare this massive district with such a varied demographic to your friend's suburban and wealthy districts back home. You just can't. It is like apples and oranges. There really is no comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
12:31 A friend of mine did a poll of their friends on facebook all around the USA and FCPS had the largest class sizes of all 30 people responding and many of these school districts even had textbooks. Not saying these make up a great school system, but it does seem like other counties are able to get along with less and not stress out the parents and teachers as much.

I bet none of your friends is in a county wide district the size of FCPS.

Back home, the school districts are mostly by neighborhood.

Most of the school districts are comparable to our pyramids. (One highschool, 2-4 feeder middle schools, 4-8 feeder elementary schools). Many are much smaller (akin to Falls Church City). One or two are considered quite large back home (a couple of high schools, 4-6 middle schools, about a dozen elementary schools). This is a decent sized Midwest city.

In a situation like this, the affluent districts have schools that are quite exceptional. The middle class districts are not too bad either.

The poorer neighborhoods and urban poverty filled districts are quite abysmal. As in, losing certification and being taken over by the state bad.

Fairfax county is too large. On the plus side, the district works very hard to provide the poorer pyramids and neighborhoods with the same quality of school as one would expect in a county so wealthy. On the negative side, by doing so the district is stretching the resources from the wealthy areas too thin. That is why we are in trouble.

If FCPS broke apart this massive district, and let each pyramid become its own separate school districts, those schools in affluent neighborhoods would be spectacular, with great resources, state of the art facilities, and exceptional teachers and programs. The middle class neighborhoods such as Cluster 6 (Lake Braddock, West Springfield and Robinson pyramids) would all be excellent schools with solid programs, good facilities, and exceptional teachers.

The less affluent pyramids would struggle, and suffer without the benefits FCPS' more affluent communities share with them.

You really cannot compare this massive district with such a varied demographic to your friend's suburban and wealthy districts back home. You just can't. It is like apples and oranges. There really is no comparison.

agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) I'd cut out Level IV centers and just implement the advanced curriculum across the board. Keep the Sp. Ed. instructors to help those that can't keep up.

This gets rid of the expense of bussing, applications, the committees that go through all of the applications and the cost of testing in both 1st and 2nd grade plus the make up days for getting into the program while improving the quality of education for all FCPS students.

2) I'd also cut out many of the admin. paper pushing positions.

3) Also, change the school year to a modified calendar with multi-tracking. Several studies have shown that it is more cost effective to multi track with modified calendar year when school capacity is too high. Cheaper than modulars, additions, and new schools which require more staff and a it's a better use of existing facilities. Bonus, no summer learning loss.

Regarding #1: You do realize that children on the high end of the special ed spectrum are just as needy as the children on the lower end, right? I have one of the high end kids who is need of specialized instructions to meet her intellectual needs. She's very Sheldon-like so keeping her in regular classes is very stressful and unfair to her.

Children who have special needs, at either end of the spectrum, should have special services available to them. Do the masses of kids in today's AAP have special needs? Not on your life. AAP needs a huge revamp to service only those students who have a clear and compelling need for separate instruction. The program as it is currently run is a joke and a disgrace, for both the highly gifted learners and the smart Gen Ed kids whose classes are being depleted.

[Anonymous]

No more hand outs

[Anonymous]

16:53 Two of my friends in that poll live in smaller inner city school districts. You are correct that they don't disperse the funds as much like FCPS does with their needs based staffing ratio and some of the schools are not doing well, but there are more FARM kids in their districts than FCPS, not less. Isn't a large district supposed to make things cheaper for everyone, not more expensive? Less need for administration for instance. As far as I know, none of the schools in their districts are taken over by the state either. And they have charter middle and high schools too for children who are the smartest in their district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:16:53 Two of my friends in that poll live in smaller inner city school districts. You are correct that they don't disperse the funds as much like FCPS does with their needs based staffing ratio and some of the schools are not doing well, but there are more FARM kids in their districts than FCPS, not less. Isn't a large district supposed to make things cheaper for everyone, not more expensive? Less need for administration for instance. As far as I know, none of the schools in their districts are taken over by the state either. And they have charter middle and high schools too for children who are the smartest in their district.

Have you been in any of the administrative offices of fcps? If you have been there you wouldn't be asking this question.

[Anonymous]

Supposedly they have the least amount of administration compared to neighboring counties. Do they count administrative positions differently? It's hard to make an argument against administration when they list this every year. No, I haven't been in Gatehouse or any of the other administration buildings. Certainly seems like more administration than our neighboring private school, but apparently less than Montgomery County, Loudon County, Alexandria City, Falls Church City, and Arlington County.

[Anonymous]

I have heard that some of the people at Gatehouse are counted as "in school" resources. I'd love to hear from someone that knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coaching jobs are in addition to regular teaching jobs and are not limited to PE teachers. Physics and calculus teachers are welcome to take coaching jobs. At one school in our area, the Latin teacher is the girls basketball coach.

At my Florida high school, which is a three-time Blue Ribbon of Excellence school, most of our Athletic Director's salary as well of that of many of our other coaches are paid from money raised by the Booster Club. We have had championship programs in all sports for 30 + years and a nationally ranked football program. Growing up, my chemistry teacher coached the swim team, my English teacher the baseball team and another English teacher the football team. What is the role if a Booster Clubs for school sports in FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard that some of the people at Gatehouse are counted as "in school" resources. I'd love to hear from someone that knows.

Some special needs teachers may be centrally assigned but spend most of their time working directly with kids.

Look at the Washington Boards of Education WABE http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/wabe/ annual guides for comparison. FY14 guide shows the following for "non-school positions":

Alexandria 9.9%
Arlington 9.3%
Fairfax County 7.0%
Falls Church 7.9%
Loudoun 6.9%
Montgomery 8.9%