PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can't afford afterschool programs but are building....a covid memorial? Is this real?

Are you serious? Why would we need a memorial for that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can't afford afterschool programs but are building....a covid memorial? Is this real?

The COVID memorial is $200k. The afterschool program is just under $4M. I’m not saying that the COVID memorial is worth it, I’m just pointing out that the magnitudes are different.

[Anonymous]

Interestingly, it appears that SACC costs the county $38.5M. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/Documents/fy2026/advertised/overview/Programs%20for%20School%20Related%20Services-1.pdf

[Anonymous]

They are raising assessments AND the property tax rate. I don't understand where all the money goes. The county services our family would use are libraries--which are in complete disrepair and disgusting and unusable--and the ms afterschool program. Our kids play rec soccer and they don't even get to practice on a real field because our league says there is a field shortage. They play rec basketball and practice once a week in school gyms and those are closed half the time and practice is canceled. Other counties have much nicer amenities. Where does all the money go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can't afford afterschool programs but are building....a covid memorial? Is this real?

The COVID memorial is $200k. The afterschool program is just under $4M. I’m not saying that the COVID memorial is worth it, I’m just pointing out that the magnitudes are different.

Its 200k wasted and makes you wonder what other foolishness is being spent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interestingly, it appears that SACC costs the county $38.5M. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/Documents/fy2026/advertised/overview/Programs%20for%20School%20Related%20Services-1.pdf

Shouldn't the fees charged the parenta cover the costs of SACC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can't afford afterschool programs but are building....a covid memorial? Is this real?

The COVID memorial is $200k. The afterschool program is just under $4M. I’m not saying that the COVID memorial is worth it, I’m just pointing out that the magnitudes are different.

No, the $200,000 is just an estimated “artist’s fee.” That $ does not include the costs for what will also be needed like all reviews to meet the zoning regulations and any modifications to be compliant with stormwater management. One design has already been rejected, which means more time being spent on this with fewer employees with time to work on all projects. I won’t argue for or against in this post, but let’s be clear the cost is NOT $200,000- that is just what artist fee, which in no way is the full cost for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are raising assessments AND the property tax rate. I don't understand where all the money goes. The county services our family would use are libraries--which are in complete disrepair and disgusting and unusable--and the ms afterschool program. Our kids play rec soccer and they don't even get to practice on a real field because our league says there is a field shortage. They play rec basketball and practice once a week in school gyms and those are closed half the time and practice is canceled. Other counties have much nicer amenities. Where does all the money go?

You realize that the entire county budget is posted online, right? You can find out exactly where the money goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can't afford afterschool programs but are building....a covid memorial? Is this real?

The COVID memorial is $200k. The afterschool program is just under $4M. I’m not saying that the COVID memorial is worth it, I’m just pointing out that the magnitudes are different.

No, the $200,000 is just an estimated “artist’s fee.” That $ does not include the costs for what will also be needed like all reviews to meet the zoning regulations and any modifications to be compliant with stormwater management. One design has already been rejected, which means more time being spent on this with fewer employees with time to work on all projects. I won’t argue for or against in this post, but let’s be clear the cost is NOT $200,000- that is just what artist fee, which in no way is the full cost for this.

Don't they usually have artist competitions for this type of thing? Look into the history of the Vietnam memorial. Did they choose an artist without a competition bid?

Stupid idea in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can't afford afterschool programs but are building....a covid memorial? Is this real?

The COVID memorial is $200k. The afterschool program is just under $4M. I’m not saying that the COVID memorial is worth it, I’m just pointing out that the magnitudes are different.

Its 200k wasted and makes you wonder what other foolishness is being spent.

You mean like the $86 million getting wasted on Dunn Loring ES? It’s in the capital rather than operating budget, but when flaky morons like Karl Frisch are put in power to push through their pet projects everyone else suffers.

[Anonymous]

Cut the busses. They are inefficient and cost a lot of money. The middle school gets out at 2:10 and there are two after school sessions. Kids can sign up for one or both. There is only one bus and if my kids took it, they would not get home until 6pm. There isn’t a bus every day of the week. This is why my oldest never stayed for any of the programs and my current MS student isn’t either. 6:30 am (the bus pick up) to 6pm is too long of a day.

[Anonymous]

8:48 again and for those who don’t understand, the late bus is not the normal bus. It’s a bus that does a longer route to cover a greater distance to take more kids home.

[Anonymous]

County also cutting the affordable (and few are now even at rec centers) middle school VIP 5 week summer camp, which has been at 5 middle schools- so not even reducing to 1 school, but cutting all. By report numbers, will “save” exactly the cost of the artist fee for the memorial=$200,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are raising assessments AND the property tax rate. I don't understand where all the money goes. The county services our family would use are libraries--which are in complete disrepair and disgusting and unusable--and the ms afterschool program. Our kids play rec soccer and they don't even get to practice on a real field because our league says there is a field shortage. They play rec basketball and practice once a week in school gyms and those are closed half the time and practice is canceled. Other counties have much nicer amenities. Where does all the money go?

70% of our taxes (from food, property, gas, plastic bags, etc) go to Richmond and south.
There's relarively a small/disproportional amt for the northern counties despite the dense population (1.8 million people in Ffx Co...I'm guessing adjacent counties are also almost as highly populated).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is getting buried in the start times thread, but wanted to ask everyone to please contact the Board of Supervisors and ask them to NOT push this proposed cut through next year. Middle schoolers love the after school program and it give a lot of kids who might otherwise get in trouble or be at home all alone something to do after school a few days a week. Everyone I've talked to has praised this program. Again, please contact your district's supervisor and ask them to say no to this proposal.

*NOTE this is NOT related to the start times at all. This is a COUNTY budget issue, whereas the start times are an FCPS issue.

Where are you getting this info from and what are the specifics?