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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

+1. It's long past time to tweak the LCI. We should not be sending 70% of our tax dollars downstate and getting pennies in return.

Money flowing to Richmond is why through to have a casino in Fairfax county. It didn’t go through this session, but it will be back again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wr wouldn’t have to make so many cuts if Youngkin didn’t cut the budget.

We wouldn't hsve budget issues if our Board of Supervisors didn't waste money on stipid stuff like covid memorials and unversal basic income for certain zip codes, no strings attached. That costs millions

[Anonymous]

Which zip codes? I'm looking for a new house and it would be great if it came with Universal Basic Income ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So not only do our middle school kids have to still have a crappy 7:30 at start time next year, but now they have absolutely nothing to look forward to after school. And they may have to move middle schools due to the boundary changes. F you, school board and Reid.

Well this is actually on the county, not FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Should they? Maybe. Do they? Not even close. There is a sliding income scale for SACC fees.

[Anonymous]

I am OK with it. My kidd are out and we would have never complained about the start times. We just changed middle school times and all I saw this year was stupid parents getting angry about middle school times. It was overreaching. 2 years is just fine with a 7:30 start. Stop complaining about small issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which zip codes? I'm looking for a new house and it would be great if it came with Universal Basic Income ...

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/fairfax-county-pilot-program-provide-2m-guaranteed-income-180-eligible-families

2 million dollars in the first year given to 180 families, no strings attached, not even required financial literacy/budgeting classes, for Zip Codes: 22306, 22309, 20190, 20191, 22041, 20170, 22003, 22150, 20120 or 20151.

"The pilot includes three elements:

A monthly payment of $750 to 180 eligible families for 15 months.
Freedom of choice for the families to use the cash as they deem necessary.
Optional financial coaching and the opportunity to increase their social networks through virtual or in-person events."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wr wouldn’t have to make so many cuts if Youngkin didn’t cut the budget.

We wouldn't hsve budget issues if our Board of Supervisors didn't waste money on stipid stuff like covid memorials and unversal basic income for certain zip codes, no strings attached. That costs millions

I can’t find any evidence that the UBI effort is ongoing and planned for FY2026.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A Covid memorial! What a load of garbage. Nobody wants to remember Covid, least of all the people who lived through that poorly handled pandemic. Who elected these people? They should all be fired next election.

How about rather than creating crappy Covid memorials, we focus on the children who are living?

100% CONTACT THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. WE'D RATHER HAVE SCHOOL PROGRAMS THAN A USELESS COVID MEMORIAL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof, if I were a local business owner I’d be campaigning to keep the program. On Fridays when it doesn’t happen the local shopping centers are mobbed with middle schoolers behaving poorly, to the point cops have been called many times.

12-14 year olds cannot get out at 2:15 and be on their own for 3-5 hours. They will find trouble.

If they’re pushing middle schoolers to be the late start/end schools, I’m okay with it.

Why are today’s 12-15yo kids less capable of being allowed to get out at 2:30 than GenX at the same age? And don’t even start with the nonsense that moms were home. We were the latchkey kids.

Gen X latchkey here. It was a terrible experience which I wouldn’t recommend for any MS child.

I agree. I *hated* being a latchkey kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Right but don't a lot of parents pick their kids up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree about the busses. For one thing, if you choose to send your child to Thomas Jefferson, you should be responsible for getting your child to and from. There is no reason to dedicate busses all over the county to transport kids to that school. It's incredibly inefficient.

+1000.

Wouldn’t even make a dent if cut this because is sweeper buses that do this. Biggest cost cut would be to cut your ES for AAP, which may happen if stop centers with new boundaries. But as is, won’t cut either bc that is how getting experience admits to the schools. Would only hurt those with financial need, etc if did now.

Friends, the county budget for middle school after school programs and the school system budget for busses are TWO SEPARATE BUDGETS. Take this to the middle school start times conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the issue is that FCPS asked for more funds because of the promise to increase teacher salaries to recruit and retain good teachers. I wonder if they considered scaling the after school clubs to 3 days per week.

I think they are already 3 days per week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am OK with it. My kidd are out and we would have never complained about the start times. We just changed middle school times and all I saw this year was stupid parents getting angry about middle school times. It was overreaching. 2 years is just fine with a 7:30 start. Stop complaining about small issues.

the after school program is not related to start times and is not a small issue. Stop being a jerk.

[Anonymous]

$2 million would be enough to keep MS afterschool programs

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/fairfax-county-pilot-program-provide-2m-guaranteed-income-180-eligible-families