FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

School boundaries would have a bigger impact on the 2025 election if the federal government weren’t currently in total chaos. This isn’t like 2021 when everyone had COVID fatigue and were over the restrictions. The boundary adjustment is deeply unpopular, but it’s got a lot of competition with King Trump and President Musk trying to cut jobs and funding that many Fairfax county residents rely on.

More Joe Biden type thinking. Remember how there was no way Trump could get reelected after January 6? The Dobbs decision? People care more about where their kids go to school than they care about the price of eggs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

School boundaries would have a bigger impact on the 2025 election if the federal government weren’t currently in total chaos. This isn’t like 2021 when everyone had COVID fatigue and were over the restrictions. The boundary adjustment is deeply unpopular, but it’s got a lot of competition with King Trump and President Musk trying to cut jobs and funding that many Fairfax county residents rely on.

It’s the very fact that people may be grappling with a lot of potential upheaval that may make them particularly likely to take it out on local Democrats adding unnecessary fuel to the fire by threatening unwelcome school boundary changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

School boundaries would have a bigger impact on the 2025 election if the federal government weren’t currently in total chaos. This isn’t like 2021 when everyone had COVID fatigue and were over the restrictions. The boundary adjustment is deeply unpopular, but it’s got a lot of competition with King Trump and President Musk trying to cut jobs and funding that many Fairfax county residents rely on.

It’s the very fact that people may be grappling with a lot of potential upheaval that may make them particularly likely to take it out on local Democrats adding unnecessary fuel to the fire by threatening unwelcome school boundary changes.

This is me. I’m ready to vote all the bums out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

School boundaries would have a bigger impact on the 2025 election if the federal government weren’t currently in total chaos. This isn’t like 2021 when everyone had COVID fatigue and were over the restrictions. The boundary adjustment is deeply unpopular, but it’s got a lot of competition with King Trump and President Musk trying to cut jobs and funding that many Fairfax county residents rely on.

It’s the very fact that people may be grappling with a lot of potential upheaval that may make them particularly likely to take it out on local Democrats adding unnecessary fuel to the fire by threatening unwelcome school boundary changes.

This exactly. The attitude that “this is fine because Elon Musk is ruining lives” is akin to saying looting is fine after a fire. Looters get shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t just to align 6th graders with middle school standards, curriculum, etc. It’s also to introduce universal pre-K into the elementary schools. They’re essentially adding on an entire new grade level’s worth of students. I assume they would have pre-K-4 for 4 year olds at first and then maybe expand to pre-K 3 within a few years. I don’t think it would be as large of a cohort as an elementary grade 1-12 because some parents would elect to stay at day cares for a better schedule with fewer holidays and breaks.

I’ll just take my kids’ school as an example, they have averaged around 75 Kindergarten students a year and this is generally a little smaller than 1-6, I’d assume due to kids going to private K or perhaps being homeschooled for a year. If half chose FCPS Pre-K as 4 year olds, that’s around 38 kids they have to find space for. You wouldn’t put 38 kids in one classroom, so you’d need 2 classrooms of 18-20. And a teacher for each class, and probably an assistant. When my younger kid was in the special needs preschool they ate lunch in their classrooms, so cafeteria space wasn’t affected. But they still got outdoor recess (at a special, self contained playground! Not every school has that unless they already have a preschool!), music, and library time. Multiply 38 kids times 141 elementary schools and you’re adding AT LEAST 5300 students to FCPS overnight. And that’s a conservative estimate just based on 4 year olds and based on half of parents continuing at day care/private pre K. The number would only increase as time went on and they fleshed out the programs some more.

To take this thought process a step further, how are they going to pay for that? They've already adopted a budget this year for teacher raises that they don't actually have the money for. They need the Board of Supervisors to increase the FCPS budget and it's not clear they're going to be able to do that. Especially now that we're seeing economic turmoil thanks to government worker and contractor layoffs.

I don't think you're wrong. They are 100 percent working to do all of this so they can add universal pre-K and be applauded by parents of young children everywhere. But Fairfax County doesn't have the money to do this and given what's happening with the local economy, they won't have the money to do this unless services are cut somewhere else. Do we cut fire and police department budgets? Cut the parks and libraries' budget?

The push for UPK is coming from Reid herself, the SB never mentioned it and still isn’t mentioning it. During one of his outreach meetings, Mateo Dunne didn’t mention the push for UPK and how it relates to 6th to Middle until directly asked by a meeting attendee. Reid wants to be the big savior introducing an expensive UPK program, but she and the board need to read the room about what’s going on nationally at the moment. Not to mention the governor’s race! I have to wonder if there will be any pressure from VA Dems to try to put the brakes on everything for a few months until after November?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

Nope. But whatever helps you sleep at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

Nope. But whatever helps you sleep at night.

DP, awfully confident for a party that’s totally lost in the wilderness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t just to align 6th graders with middle school standards, curriculum, etc. It’s also to introduce universal pre-K into the elementary schools. They’re essentially adding on an entire new grade level’s worth of students. I assume they would have pre-K-4 for 4 year olds at first and then maybe expand to pre-K 3 within a few years. I don’t think it would be as large of a cohort as an elementary grade 1-12 because some parents would elect to stay at day cares for a better schedule with fewer holidays and breaks.

I’ll just take my kids’ school as an example, they have averaged around 75 Kindergarten students a year and this is generally a little smaller than 1-6, I’d assume due to kids going to private K or perhaps being homeschooled for a year. If half chose FCPS Pre-K as 4 year olds, that’s around 38 kids they have to find space for. You wouldn’t put 38 kids in one classroom, so you’d need 2 classrooms of 18-20. And a teacher for each class, and probably an assistant. When my younger kid was in the special needs preschool they ate lunch in their classrooms, so cafeteria space wasn’t affected. But they still got outdoor recess (at a special, self contained playground! Not every school has that unless they already have a preschool!), music, and library time. Multiply 38 kids times 141 elementary schools and you’re adding AT LEAST 5300 students to FCPS overnight. And that’s a conservative estimate just based on 4 year olds and based on half of parents continuing at day care/private pre K. The number would only increase as time went on and they fleshed out the programs some more.

To take this thought process a step further, how are they going to pay for that? They've already adopted a budget this year for teacher raises that they don't actually have the money for. They need the Board of Supervisors to increase the FCPS budget and it's not clear they're going to be able to do that. Especially now that we're seeing economic turmoil thanks to government worker and contractor layoffs.

I don't think you're wrong. They are 100 percent working to do all of this so they can add universal pre-K and be applauded by parents of young children everywhere. But Fairfax County doesn't have the money to do this and given what's happening with the local economy, they won't have the money to do this unless services are cut somewhere else. Do we cut fire and police department budgets? Cut the parks and libraries' budget?

The push for UPK is coming from Reid herself, the SB never mentioned it and still isn’t mentioning it. During one of his outreach meetings, Mateo Dunne didn’t mention the push for UPK and how it relates to 6th to Middle until directly asked by a meeting attendee. Reid wants to be the big savior introducing an expensive UPK program, but she and the board need to read the room about what’s going on nationally at the moment. Not to mention the governor’s race! I have to wonder if there will be any pressure from VA Dems to try to put the brakes on everything for a few months until after November?

UPK is very popular. And many families will view this as free childcare.

VA Dems have nothing to worry about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

Nope. But whatever helps you sleep at night.

DP, awfully confident for a party that’s totally lost in the wilderness.[/quote]

Only lost because all our rangers were fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

Nope. But whatever helps you sleep at night.

DP, awfully confident for a party that’s totally lost in the wilderness.[/quote]

Only lost because all our rangers were fired.

Tone-deaf witticisms aside, Fairfax residents are smart enough to understand which party is respectively doing the damage in the county/country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure many of you threatening to vote R up down the ballot, know that there are residents in Ffx Co who are either happy with possible boundary changes, or don’t really care. This thread seems to be an echo chamber of worried, concerned and/or freaked out parents. I am not sure how much of an impact your votes will make. I do think a lot of non-voters will be more motivated to vote next time around after what is going on in the White House.

Ok, Joe Biden. School boundaries have no effect on people. They never vote based on concerns with their local schools. Just ask our current governor, Terry McAuliffe. He cleaned that Trumper Youngkin’s clock, right?

Fairfax does not need to go from blue to red for the dems to lose in November. This is going to be a BIG issue. FCPS is going to cost the dems Virginia.

Nope. But whatever helps you sleep at night.

DP. You only need to look at the last state election for proof. The common thread are school boards who disregard parents’ views and try to impose their own agendas without any mandate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t just to align 6th graders with middle school standards, curriculum, etc. It’s also to introduce universal pre-K into the elementary schools. They’re essentially adding on an entire new grade level’s worth of students. I assume they would have pre-K-4 for 4 year olds at first and then maybe expand to pre-K 3 within a few years. I don’t think it would be as large of a cohort as an elementary grade 1-12 because some parents would elect to stay at day cares for a better schedule with fewer holidays and breaks.

I’ll just take my kids’ school as an example, they have averaged around 75 Kindergarten students a year and this is generally a little smaller than 1-6, I’d assume due to kids going to private K or perhaps being homeschooled for a year. If half chose FCPS Pre-K as 4 year olds, that’s around 38 kids they have to find space for. You wouldn’t put 38 kids in one classroom, so you’d need 2 classrooms of 18-20. And a teacher for each class, and probably an assistant. When my younger kid was in the special needs preschool they ate lunch in their classrooms, so cafeteria space wasn’t affected. But they still got outdoor recess (at a special, self contained playground! Not every school has that unless they already have a preschool!), music, and library time. Multiply 38 kids times 141 elementary schools and you’re adding AT LEAST 5300 students to FCPS overnight. And that’s a conservative estimate just based on 4 year olds and based on half of parents continuing at day care/private pre K. The number would only increase as time went on and they fleshed out the programs some more.

To take this thought process a step further, how are they going to pay for that? They've already adopted a budget this year for teacher raises that they don't actually have the money for. They need the Board of Supervisors to increase the FCPS budget and it's not clear they're going to be able to do that. Especially now that we're seeing economic turmoil thanks to government worker and contractor layoffs.

I don't think you're wrong. They are 100 percent working to do all of this so they can add universal pre-K and be applauded by parents of young children everywhere. But Fairfax County doesn't have the money to do this and given what's happening with the local economy, they won't have the money to do this unless services are cut somewhere else. Do we cut fire and police department budgets? Cut the parks and libraries' budget?

The push for UPK is coming from Reid herself, the SB never mentioned it and still isn’t mentioning it. During one of his outreach meetings, Mateo Dunne didn’t mention the push for UPK and how it relates to 6th to Middle until directly asked by a meeting attendee. Reid wants to be the big savior introducing an expensive UPK program, but she and the board need to read the room about what’s going on nationally at the moment. Not to mention the governor’s race! I have to wonder if there will be any pressure from VA Dems to try to put the brakes on everything for a few months until after November?

UPK is very popular. And many families will view this as free childcare.

VA Dems have nothing to worry about.

FCPS can’t even get the money it wants to operate without UPK.

The Ds on the SB are basically reduced to random acts of virtue signaling when they’ve demonstrated no ability to live within their current means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t just to align 6th graders with middle school standards, curriculum, etc. It’s also to introduce universal pre-K into the elementary schools. They’re essentially adding on an entire new grade level’s worth of students. I assume they would have pre-K-4 for 4 year olds at first and then maybe expand to pre-K 3 within a few years. I don’t think it would be as large of a cohort as an elementary grade 1-12 because some parents would elect to stay at day cares for a better schedule with fewer holidays and breaks.

I’ll just take my kids’ school as an example, they have averaged around 75 Kindergarten students a year and this is generally a little smaller than 1-6, I’d assume due to kids going to private K or perhaps being homeschooled for a year. If half chose FCPS Pre-K as 4 year olds, that’s around 38 kids they have to find space for. You wouldn’t put 38 kids in one classroom, so you’d need 2 classrooms of 18-20. And a teacher for each class, and probably an assistant. When my younger kid was in the special needs preschool they ate lunch in their classrooms, so cafeteria space wasn’t affected. But they still got outdoor recess (at a special, self contained playground! Not every school has that unless they already have a preschool!), music, and library time. Multiply 38 kids times 141 elementary schools and you’re adding AT LEAST 5300 students to FCPS overnight. And that’s a conservative estimate just based on 4 year olds and based on half of parents continuing at day care/private pre K. The number would only increase as time went on and they fleshed out the programs some more.

To take this thought process a step further, how are they going to pay for that? They've already adopted a budget this year for teacher raises that they don't actually have the money for. They need the Board of Supervisors to increase the FCPS budget and it's not clear they're going to be able to do that. Especially now that we're seeing economic turmoil thanks to government worker and contractor layoffs.

I don't think you're wrong. They are 100 percent working to do all of this so they can add universal pre-K and be applauded by parents of young children everywhere. But Fairfax County doesn't have the money to do this and given what's happening with the local economy, they won't have the money to do this unless services are cut somewhere else. Do we cut fire and police department budgets? Cut the parks and libraries' budget?

The push for UPK is coming from Reid herself, the SB never mentioned it and still isn’t mentioning it. During one of his outreach meetings, Mateo Dunne didn’t mention the push for UPK and how it relates to 6th to Middle until directly asked by a meeting attendee. Reid wants to be the big savior introducing an expensive UPK program, but she and the board need to read the room about what’s going on nationally at the moment. Not to mention the governor’s race! I have to wonder if there will be any pressure from VA Dems to try to put the brakes on everything for a few months until after November?

UPK is very popular. And many families will view this as free childcare.

VA Dems have nothing to worry about.

It’s popular in a vacuum, but not if it results in a bunch of boundary changes, and it seems like no one really wants 6th to middle. People were very concerned about that at the meeting I attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t just to align 6th graders with middle school standards, curriculum, etc. It’s also to introduce universal pre-K into the elementary schools. They’re essentially adding on an entire new grade level’s worth of students. I assume they would have pre-K-4 for 4 year olds at first and then maybe expand to pre-K 3 within a few years. I don’t think it would be as large of a cohort as an elementary grade 1-12 because some parents would elect to stay at day cares for a better schedule with fewer holidays and breaks.

I’ll just take my kids’ school as an example, they have averaged around 75 Kindergarten students a year and this is generally a little smaller than 1-6, I’d assume due to kids going to private K or perhaps being homeschooled for a year. If half chose FCPS Pre-K as 4 year olds, that’s around 38 kids they have to find space for. You wouldn’t put 38 kids in one classroom, so you’d need 2 classrooms of 18-20. And a teacher for each class, and probably an assistant. When my younger kid was in the special needs preschool they ate lunch in their classrooms, so cafeteria space wasn’t affected. But they still got outdoor recess (at a special, self contained playground! Not every school has that unless they already have a preschool!), music, and library time. Multiply 38 kids times 141 elementary schools and you’re adding AT LEAST 5300 students to FCPS overnight. And that’s a conservative estimate just based on 4 year olds and based on half of parents continuing at day care/private pre K. The number would only increase as time went on and they fleshed out the programs some more.

To take this thought process a step further, how are they going to pay for that? They've already adopted a budget this year for teacher raises that they don't actually have the money for. They need the Board of Supervisors to increase the FCPS budget and it's not clear they're going to be able to do that. Especially now that we're seeing economic turmoil thanks to government worker and contractor layoffs.

I don't think you're wrong. They are 100 percent working to do all of this so they can add universal pre-K and be applauded by parents of young children everywhere. But Fairfax County doesn't have the money to do this and given what's happening with the local economy, they won't have the money to do this unless services are cut somewhere else. Do we cut fire and police department budgets? Cut the parks and libraries' budget?

The push for UPK is coming from Reid herself, the SB never mentioned it and still isn’t mentioning it. During one of his outreach meetings, Mateo Dunne didn’t mention the push for UPK and how it relates to 6th to Middle until directly asked by a meeting attendee. Reid wants to be the big savior introducing an expensive UPK program, but she and the board need to read the room about what’s going on nationally at the moment. Not to mention the governor’s race! I have to wonder if there will be any pressure from VA Dems to try to put the brakes on everything for a few months until after November?

UPK is very popular. And many families will view this as free childcare.

VA Dems have nothing to worry about.

It’s popular in a vacuum, but not if it results in a bunch of boundary changes, and it seems like no one really wants 6th to middle. People were very concerned about that at the meeting I attended.

Exactly this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t just to align 6th graders with middle school standards, curriculum, etc. It’s also to introduce universal pre-K into the elementary schools. They’re essentially adding on an entire new grade level’s worth of students. I assume they would have pre-K-4 for 4 year olds at first and then maybe expand to pre-K 3 within a few years. I don’t think it would be as large of a cohort as an elementary grade 1-12 because some parents would elect to stay at day cares for a better schedule with fewer holidays and breaks.

I’ll just take my kids’ school as an example, they have averaged around 75 Kindergarten students a year and this is generally a little smaller than 1-6, I’d assume due to kids going to private K or perhaps being homeschooled for a year. If half chose FCPS Pre-K as 4 year olds, that’s around 38 kids they have to find space for. You wouldn’t put 38 kids in one classroom, so you’d need 2 classrooms of 18-20. And a teacher for each class, and probably an assistant. When my younger kid was in the special needs preschool they ate lunch in their classrooms, so cafeteria space wasn’t affected. But they still got outdoor recess (at a special, self contained playground! Not every school has that unless they already have a preschool!), music, and library time. Multiply 38 kids times 141 elementary schools and you’re adding AT LEAST 5300 students to FCPS overnight. And that’s a conservative estimate just based on 4 year olds and based on half of parents continuing at day care/private pre K. The number would only increase as time went on and they fleshed out the programs some more.

To take this thought process a step further, how are they going to pay for that? They've already adopted a budget this year for teacher raises that they don't actually have the money for. They need the Board of Supervisors to increase the FCPS budget and it's not clear they're going to be able to do that. Especially now that we're seeing economic turmoil thanks to government worker and contractor layoffs.

I don't think you're wrong. They are 100 percent working to do all of this so they can add universal pre-K and be applauded by parents of young children everywhere. But Fairfax County doesn't have the money to do this and given what's happening with the local economy, they won't have the money to do this unless services are cut somewhere else. Do we cut fire and police department budgets? Cut the parks and libraries' budget?

The push for UPK is coming from Reid herself, the SB never mentioned it and still isn’t mentioning it. During one of his outreach meetings, Mateo Dunne didn’t mention the push for UPK and how it relates to 6th to Middle until directly asked by a meeting attendee. Reid wants to be the big savior introducing an expensive UPK program, but she and the board need to read the room about what’s going on nationally at the moment. Not to mention the governor’s race! I have to wonder if there will be any pressure from VA Dems to try to put the brakes on everything for a few months until after November?

UPK is very popular. And many families will view this as free childcare.

VA Dems have nothing to worry about.

FCPS can’t even get the money it wants to operate without UPK.

The Ds on the SB are basically reduced to random acts of virtue signaling when they’ve demonstrated no ability to live within their current means.

Exactly. Pointing you to this story from Fairfax Now on the FCPS budget: https://www.ffxnow.com/2025/02/20/fcps-planning-for-the-worst-with-federal-aid-at-risk-and-limited-county-funding

"Even without the federal funding uncertainty, Fairfax County is struggling to close an estimated $292.7 million budget shortfall — the second year in a row it has faced a major financial gap.

Hill’s $5.7 billion budget proposal attempts to balance rising costs with slowing revenue growth, but it still required nearly $60 million in spending reductions, the most since fiscal year 2010.

To help bridge the shortfall, Hill has proposed:

A 1.5-cent real estate tax increase, adding $50.9 million in revenue but increasing the average homeowner’s tax bill by $638
Cutting 208 county positions and some programs, such as high school crossing guards, totaling $59.8 million
A 2% increase in the transient occupancy or hotel tax, expected to bring in $13 million
Additionally, Hill pointed out that home values continue to rise, giving the county $197.5 million in additional revenue at the current real estate tax rate.

A 3 or 4% food and beverage tax is also under consideration, though if approved, it would take effect in January 2026 instead of at the beginning of fiscal year 2026 on July 1. A 4% tax would generate $65.1 million over half a year, Hill estimated.

Even with these changes, McDaniel worries the county may be underestimating future financial pressures, particularly if federal funding cuts materialize or other county services require additional resources."