FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Fairfax County has an estimated $300M budget deficit for FY26 that will balloon to $500M or more in FY28. Meanwhile, the FCPS teachers union has voted itself an additional $150M in salary increases to bring FCPS teacher salaries in line with salaries in neighboring counties (not reflected in the budget figures). Meanwhile, WMATA continues to seeks additional funding to maintain metro operations in Fairfax County.

The County Board of Supervisors has stated publicly that there will be belt tightening across the board, given taxpayers will not tolerate the property tax increase necessary to make up the funding shortfall, and specifically that FCPS should not expect the funding increases it has regularly received in recent years. Maintaining the status quo in FCPS with a flat budget isn’t feasible given annual inflation—with flat budget, FCPS will face a 2-3% funding shortfall in FY26 and a 5-8% funding shortfall in FY28 assuming it ignores the teachers union’s demands for salary parity with neighboring counties (which could lead to teacher walkouts — albeit not strikes). Making up any significant funding shortfall in one year is very difficult when 95% of the FCPS budget is spent on salaries and transportation.

How much bloat is there in gatehouse? How large are the admin offices at FCPS high schools and middle schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

Overall enrollment is flat to declining but that isn’t true across the system. Enrollment is projected to decline in many boundaries but increase in other boundaries. That’s a great argument for redistricting. Reading through this thread, many say the solution for those growing areas is not redistricting but school expansions (“other schools got them so we should too”). But both FCPS administration and the school board have said in the last year that FCPS cannot afford to undertake the extensive renovations and expansions it has pursued to date, and that, given budget realities and interest rates, FCPS needs to focus its capital budget on renovstions that are much more limited in scope, i.e., which are necessary to keep its aging facilities / construction safe for children. In other words, more capacity isn’t coming where needed and FCPS needs to live within its means, so kids need to be moved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Fairfax County has an estimated $300M budget deficit for FY26 that will balloon to $500M or more in FY28. Meanwhile, the FCPS teachers union has voted itself an additional $150M in salary increases to bring FCPS teacher salaries in line with salaries in neighboring counties (not reflected in the budget figures). Meanwhile, WMATA continues to seeks additional funding to maintain metro operations in Fairfax County.

The County Board of Supervisors has stated publicly that there will be belt tightening across the board, given taxpayers will not tolerate the property tax increase necessary to make up the funding shortfall, and specifically that FCPS should not expect the funding increases it has regularly received in recent years. Maintaining the status quo in FCPS with a flat budget isn’t feasible given annual inflation—with flat budget, FCPS will face a 2-3% funding shortfall in FY26 and a 5-8% funding shortfall in FY28 assuming it ignores the teachers union’s demands for salary parity with neighboring counties (which could lead to teacher walkouts — albeit not strikes). Making up any significant funding shortfall in one year is very difficult when 95% of the FCPS budget is spent on salaries and transportation.

This is your explanation, not FCPS’s. No one in county government is asking people whether they’d pay higher taxes in exchange for decent school facilities and stable boundaries.

If they want to make the case that citizens who pay the most in taxes and get increasingly little in return, while ever-increasing amounts of money are spent on services for illegals and their children, must accept boundary changes in order to balance the county budget, let them make that case.

Instead, we get a lot of pablum about how they want to do things like reduce commuting times to schools so kids can get more sleep, when virtually no one is complaining that their kids are sleep-deprived. Or pull kids out of schools that aren’t over capacity so that other kids who don’t live within the boundaries of those schools might possibly have greater access to the programs at those schools through pupil placements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

Overall enrollment is flat to declining but that isn’t true across the system. Enrollment is projected to decline in many boundaries but increase in other boundaries. That’s a great argument for redistricting. Reading through this thread, many say the solution for those growing areas is not redistricting but school expansions (“other schools got them so we should too”). But both FCPS administration and the school board have said in the last year that FCPS cannot afford to undertake the extensive renovations and expansions it has pursued to date, and that, given budget realities and interest rates, FCPS needs to focus its capital budget on renovstions that are much more limited in scope, i.e., which are necessary to keep its aging facilities / construction safe for children. In other words, more capacity isn’t coming where needed and FCPS needs to live within its means, so kids need to be moved.

Sounds like you got yours, and now are happy to make sure others get the short end of the stick.

Sensible management entails smarter planning, not screwing over schools that have been neglected or in some cases forcing kids to travel longer distances because FCPS is too incompetent to actually add capacity where it is most needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

Overall enrollment is flat to declining but that isn’t true across the system. Enrollment is projected to decline in many boundaries but increase in other boundaries. That’s a great argument for redistricting. Reading through this thread, many say the solution for those growing areas is not redistricting but school expansions (“other schools got them so we should too”). But both FCPS administration and the school board have said in the last year that FCPS cannot afford to undertake the extensive renovations and expansions it has pursued to date, and that, given budget realities and interest rates, FCPS needs to focus its capital budget on renovstions that are much more limited in scope, i.e., which are necessary to keep its aging facilities / construction safe for children. In other words, more capacity isn’t coming where needed and FCPS needs to live within its means, so kids need to be moved.

“We screwed up and added seats where they weren’t most needed, so now we’re going to move your kids to Herndon to cover up our mistakes. Otherwise we can’t keep giving ourselves raises. Please accept our apologies.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

Overall enrollment is flat to declining but that isn’t true across the system. Enrollment is projected to decline in many boundaries but increase in other boundaries. That’s a great argument for redistricting. Reading through this thread, many say the solution for those growing areas is not redistricting but school expansions (“other schools got them so we should too”). But both FCPS administration and the school board have said in the last year that FCPS cannot afford to undertake the extensive renovations and expansions it has pursued to date, and that, given budget realities and interest rates, FCPS needs to focus its capital budget on renovstions that are much more limited in scope, i.e., which are necessary to keep its aging facilities / construction safe for children. In other words, more capacity isn’t coming where needed and FCPS needs to live within its means, so kids need to be moved.

“We screwed up and added seats where they weren’t most needed, so now we’re going to move your kids to Herndon to cover up our mistakes. Otherwise we can’t keep giving ourselves raises. Please accept our apologies.”

Not the DP, but you have to be able readjust things as major as school systems for a county as large ad fairfax once in a while. There isn't a one size solution fits all....it won't always be to build or expand. Look into urban planning, population statistics,and just available land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Fairfax County has an estimated $300M budget deficit for FY26 that will balloon to $500M or more in FY28. Meanwhile, the FCPS teachers union has voted itself an additional $150M in salary increases to bring FCPS teacher salaries in line with salaries in neighboring counties (not reflected in the budget figures). Meanwhile, WMATA continues to seeks additional funding to maintain metro operations in Fairfax County.

The County Board of Supervisors has stated publicly that there will be belt tightening across the board, given taxpayers will not tolerate the property tax increase necessary to make up the funding shortfall, and specifically that FCPS should not expect the funding increases it has regularly received in recent years. Maintaining the status quo in FCPS with a flat budget isn’t feasible given annual inflation—with flat budget, FCPS will face a 2-3% funding shortfall in FY26 and a 5-8% funding shortfall in FY28 assuming it ignores the teachers union’s demands for salary parity with neighboring counties (which could lead to teacher walkouts — albeit not strikes). Making up any significant funding shortfall in one year is very difficult when 95% of the FCPS budget is spent on salaries and transportation.

This is your explanation, not FCPS’s. No one in county government is asking people whether they’d pay higher taxes in exchange for decent school facilities and stable boundaries.

If they want to make the case that citizens who pay the most in taxes and get increasingly little in return, while ever-increasing amounts of money are spent on services for illegals and their children, must accept boundary changes in order to balance the county budget, let them make that case.

Instead, we get a lot of pablum about how they want to do things like reduce commuting times to schools so kids can get more sleep, when virtually no one is complaining that their kids are sleep-deprived. Or pull kids out of schools that aren’t over capacity so that other kids who don’t live within the boundaries of those schools might possibly have greater access to the programs at those schools through pupil placements.

That might be the case for McLean, but Langley Madison and Oakton are recently renovated. Is one rich kid school having trailers really a resaon to panic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

Overall enrollment is flat to declining but that isn’t true across the system. Enrollment is projected to decline in many boundaries but increase in other boundaries. That’s a great argument for redistricting. Reading through this thread, many say the solution for those growing areas is not redistricting but school expansions (“other schools got them so we should too”). But both FCPS administration and the school board have said in the last year that FCPS cannot afford to undertake the extensive renovations and expansions it has pursued to date, and that, given budget realities and interest rates, FCPS needs to focus its capital budget on renovstions that are much more limited in scope, i.e., which are necessary to keep its aging facilities / construction safe for children. In other words, more capacity isn’t coming where needed and FCPS needs to live within its means, so kids need to be moved.

“We screwed up and added seats where they weren’t most needed, so now we’re going to move your kids to Herndon to cover up our mistakes. Otherwise we can’t keep giving ourselves raises. Please accept our apologies.”

Not the DP, but you have to be able readjust things as major as school systems for a county as large ad fairfax once in a while. There isn't a one size solution fits all....it won't always be to build or expand. Look into urban planning, population statistics,and just available land.

It sounds like you’re just making excuses for the lack of coordination between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors when it comes to areas like Tysons.

The BOS has prioritized growth in that area while the SB under-invests in the schools that are supposed to serve that area and over-invests elsewhere. Now the SB can move a bunch of kids around in response to their own incompetence, but in the process they are damaging the county’s efforts to portray Tysons as an area for families to “live, work, and play.”

Maybe we really would just be better off de-funding FCPS and providing generous vouchers, because this school system is incredibly poorly managed, and they impose the costs of their failures on families.

[Anonymous]

For the conspiracy theorist believers that know plans are already made and the court had just been stacked....can you please share the detailed final outcome here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Fairfax County has an estimated $300M budget deficit for FY26 that will balloon to $500M or more in FY28. Meanwhile, the FCPS teachers union has voted itself an additional $150M in salary increases to bring FCPS teacher salaries in line with salaries in neighboring counties (not reflected in the budget figures). Meanwhile, WMATA continues to seeks additional funding to maintain metro operations in Fairfax County.

The County Board of Supervisors has stated publicly that there will be belt tightening across the board, given taxpayers will not tolerate the property tax increase necessary to make up the funding shortfall, and specifically that FCPS should not expect the funding increases it has regularly received in recent years. Maintaining the status quo in FCPS with a flat budget isn’t feasible given annual inflation—with flat budget, FCPS will face a 2-3% funding shortfall in FY26 and a 5-8% funding shortfall in FY28 assuming it ignores the teachers union’s demands for salary parity with neighboring counties (which could lead to teacher walkouts — albeit not strikes). Making up any significant funding shortfall in one year is very difficult when 95% of the FCPS budget is spent on salaries and transportation.

This is your explanation, not FCPS’s. No one in county government is asking people whether they’d pay higher taxes in exchange for decent school facilities and stable boundaries.

If they want to make the case that citizens who pay the most in taxes and get increasingly little in return, while ever-increasing amounts of money are spent on services for illegals and their children, must accept boundary changes in order to balance the county budget, let them make that case.

Instead, we get a lot of pablum about how they want to do things like reduce commuting times to schools so kids can get more sleep, when virtually no one is complaining that their kids are sleep-deprived. Or pull kids out of schools that aren’t over capacity so that other kids who don’t live within the boundaries of those schools might possibly have greater access to the programs at those schools through pupil placements.

That might be the case for McLean, but Langley Madison and Oakton are recently renovated. Is one rich kid school having trailers really a resaon to panic?

I guess that shows they can continue to renovate or expand schools and that it’s arbitrary to now claim otherwise. McLean certainly needs it as much if not more than Madison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Fairfax County has an estimated $300M budget deficit for FY26 that will balloon to $500M or more in FY28. Meanwhile, the FCPS teachers union has voted itself an additional $150M in salary increases to bring FCPS teacher salaries in line with salaries in neighboring counties (not reflected in the budget figures). Meanwhile, WMATA continues to seeks additional funding to maintain metro operations in Fairfax County.

The County Board of Supervisors has stated publicly that there will be belt tightening across the board, given taxpayers will not tolerate the property tax increase necessary to make up the funding shortfall, and specifically that FCPS should not expect the funding increases it has regularly received in recent years. Maintaining the status quo in FCPS with a flat budget isn’t feasible given annual inflation—with flat budget, FCPS will face a 2-3% funding shortfall in FY26 and a 5-8% funding shortfall in FY28 assuming it ignores the teachers union’s demands for salary parity with neighboring counties (which could lead to teacher walkouts — albeit not strikes). Making up any significant funding shortfall in one year is very difficult when 95% of the FCPS budget is spent on salaries and transportation.

This is your explanation, not FCPS’s. No one in county government is asking people whether they’d pay higher taxes in exchange for decent school facilities and stable boundaries.

If they want to make the case that citizens who pay the most in taxes and get increasingly little in return, while ever-increasing amounts of money are spent on services for illegals and their children, must accept boundary changes in order to balance the county budget, let them make that case.

Instead, we get a lot of pablum about how they want to do things like reduce commuting times to schools so kids can get more sleep, when virtually no one is complaining that their kids are sleep-deprived. Or pull kids out of schools that aren’t over capacity so that other kids who don’t live within the boundaries of those schools might possibly have greater access to the programs at those schools through pupil placements.

That might be the case for McLean, but Langley Madison and Oakton are recently renovated. Is one rich kid school having trailers really a resaon to panic?

Madison got an addition. The rest of the school wasn’t renovated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Fairfax County has an estimated $300M budget deficit for FY26 that will balloon to $500M or more in FY28. Meanwhile, the FCPS teachers union has voted itself an additional $150M in salary increases to bring FCPS teacher salaries in line with salaries in neighboring counties (not reflected in the budget figures). Meanwhile, WMATA continues to seeks additional funding to maintain metro operations in Fairfax County.

The County Board of Supervisors has stated publicly that there will be belt tightening across the board, given taxpayers will not tolerate the property tax increase necessary to make up the funding shortfall, and specifically that FCPS should not expect the funding increases it has regularly received in recent years. Maintaining the status quo in FCPS with a flat budget isn’t feasible given annual inflation—with flat budget, FCPS will face a 2-3% funding shortfall in FY26 and a 5-8% funding shortfall in FY28 assuming it ignores the teachers union’s demands for salary parity with neighboring counties (which could lead to teacher walkouts — albeit not strikes). Making up any significant funding shortfall in one year is very difficult when 95% of the FCPS budget is spent on salaries and transportation.

This is your explanation, not FCPS’s. No one in county government is asking people whether they’d pay higher taxes in exchange for decent school facilities and stable boundaries.

If they want to make the case that citizens who pay the most in taxes and get increasingly little in return, while ever-increasing amounts of money are spent on services for illegals and their children, must accept boundary changes in order to balance the county budget, let them make that case.

Instead, we get a lot of pablum about how they want to do things like reduce commuting times to schools so kids can get more sleep, when virtually no one is complaining that their kids are sleep-deprived. Or pull kids out of schools that aren’t over capacity so that other kids who don’t live within the boundaries of those schools might possibly have greater access to the programs at those schools through pupil placements.

That might be the case for McLean, but Langley Madison and Oakton are recently renovated. Is one rich kid school having trailers really a resaon to panic?

Madison got an addition. The rest of the school wasn’t renovated.

Madison got $23.5 million

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

+1
2 or 3 seats out of 50 would be the right amount of voice. The vast majority should have been parents.

According to the census, there are 412,663 households in Fairfax County. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/HSD410223#HSD410223

According to FCPS, there are almost 183,000 students in FCPS.

Some households have more than one adult and some households have more than one child in the public schools. So, any guesses for what percentage of adults in the county have no children currently in the schools? My guess is between 60-70%.

You seem to be saying that the very large majority of households with no children currently enrolled in the public schools only deserve 4-6% representation. I am not suggesting that it should be commensurate with the population or even close to it, but it should be more than 4-6%. Perhaps, 2-3 seats for those with under 5 year olds, 2-3 seats for those whose children are within 5 years of their high school graduation and 2-3 for the others.

DP. My biggest issue with the whole process is that the school board has intentionally marginalized the very families who will be most affected by the changes. That’s of course intentional but it’s just so richly ironic that the left now seeks to silence its victims.

It's ironic that all your assumptions are based on conspiracy.

DP. It all starts with the fact that no one associated with FCPS has remotely made a compelling case for boundary adjustments at a time when enrollment is flat and birth rates are declining. Add to that the fact that, as discussed earlier, the purported benefits described by FCPS seem contrived.

All told, it feels like we’re being asked to go along with some Orwellian farce, where anything can be done to advance an “equity” agenda, so long as that word is replaced with “efficiency” as often as possible.

Maybe the concerns expressed by posters here will turn out to be unfounded, and the scale of the changes will be more modest and aligned with what the affected communities actually want. If so, that will be despite the lack of candor on the part of Reid and the School Board, and largely due to people finding other avenues to express their concerns even when Reid and the School Board tried their hardest to orchestrate a process where those concerns would be ignored.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Fairfax County has an estimated $300M budget deficit for FY26 that will balloon to $500M or more in FY28. Meanwhile, the FCPS teachers union has voted itself an additional $150M in salary increases to bring FCPS teacher salaries in line with salaries in neighboring counties (not reflected in the budget figures). Meanwhile, WMATA continues to seeks additional funding to maintain metro operations in Fairfax County.

The County Board of Supervisors has stated publicly that there will be belt tightening across the board, given taxpayers will not tolerate the property tax increase necessary to make up the funding shortfall, and specifically that FCPS should not expect the funding increases it has regularly received in recent years. Maintaining the status quo in FCPS with a flat budget isn’t feasible given annual inflation—with flat budget, FCPS will face a 2-3% funding shortfall in FY26 and a 5-8% funding shortfall in FY28 assuming it ignores the teachers union’s demands for salary parity with neighboring counties (which could lead to teacher walkouts — albeit not strikes). Making up any significant funding shortfall in one year is very difficult when 95% of the FCPS budget is spent on salaries and transportation.

This is your explanation, not FCPS’s. No one in county government is asking people whether they’d pay higher taxes in exchange for decent school facilities and stable boundaries.

If they want to make the case that citizens who pay the most in taxes and get increasingly little in return, while ever-increasing amounts of money are spent on services for illegals and their children, must accept boundary changes in order to balance the county budget, let them make that case.

Instead, we get a lot of pablum about how they want to do things like reduce commuting times to schools so kids can get more sleep, when virtually no one is complaining that their kids are sleep-deprived. Or pull kids out of schools that aren’t over capacity so that other kids who don’t live within the boundaries of those schools might possibly have greater access to the programs at those schools through pupil placements.

That might be the case for McLean, but Langley Madison and Oakton are recently renovated. Is one rich kid school having trailers really a resaon to panic?

Madison got an addition. The rest of the school wasn’t renovated.

Madison got $23.5 million

Right. For an addition. A renovation costs more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Do the people representing each pyramid all have children currently enrolled in FCPS?

No they do not, this was confirmed at the Mount Vernon community meeting when one of the community reps had only older children who had already graduated.

I think this is good. Most adults in Fairfax County do not have children in the schools, but since they are also part of the community and also pay taxes that fund the schools, they should have a say too.

Except when this argument is applied to the immigration issue, the same folks say stfu "just because you pay property taxes doesn't mean your kid has priority over the new arrival undocumented ESL kids". So yeah miss me with this. They should not have an equal say as parents with children in FCPS.

Parents already have an outsized role here, not asking for parity - but it’s nice that some of the committee member represent the majority.
If you don’t include their voices, you will have a problem with community support and a much harder time paying for it all.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that the key to better schools is getting more people who don’t have any significant stake more involved. 🙄

Thinking that people who live in your community with no children in public schools means they do not have a stake in the public schools is not correct. Of course they have a stake. They are part of the community.

Thinking that non parents should have more than minimal representation on the committee that primarily affects school kids is like saying I should have a say in the California interstate Highway system because I drive there once every couple of years.

I don’t pay for the California interstate system, but my taxes do pay for the school system. If you want us to pay for it, we need to be included. If you want us to hire your graduates, we need to be included.

You don’t pay federal taxes? Weird.

Half my federal taxes do not go to California, like more than half my property taxes and some of my state taxes go to FCPS. I have much more invested in the local school system.

So why are you allowing Lewis to be overrun by undocumented nonnative speakers that is on the verge of a loss in accreditation causing the school board to trigger this comprehensive boundary review to provide balance via equity?

[Anonymous]

Schools will lose accreditation under the new metrics because of the ESOL students; particularly the Spanish-speaking kids that are chronically absent, but still enrolled at the school.

We need to start kicking kids out if they miss too many days. End of story.