[guardian]

Anonymous wrote:
Our tax bill is up 10% over last year---went from 6K to 6600.

It's clear that the numbers of students are up, but revenues are not going up fast enough. I can only surmise that these students' families are not paying taxes somehow. They must be doubling and tripling up in houses or coming in from somewhere outside the county. Something is very wrong. If this rate of increase keeps up, I will be paying $7200 next year. My pay is not going up at the rate of 10% per year! Not even close.

Really, if they cracked down on this housing issue of multiple families in homes, they would probably solve this issue.

Our tax bill is up 10% over last year---went from 6K to 6600.

It's clear that the numbers of students are up, but revenues are not going up fast enough. I can only surmise that these students' families are not paying taxes somehow. They must be doubling and tripling up in houses or coming in from somewhere outside the county. Something is very wrong. If this rate of increase keeps up, I will be paying $7200 next year. My pay is not going up at the rate of 10% per year! Not even close.

Anonymous wrote:Our house been assessed higher the past two year, but neighborbood comps have not increased the same amount. They have been getting extra money.

Yes, the county preliminary forecast about $150M in additional tax receipts. Mo money...mo money...mo money

Our house been assessed higher the past two year, but neighborbood comps have not increased the same amount. They have been getting extra money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no cuts. There have never been.

Actual numbers from http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/budgetdocuments.shtml

Year Budget Growth
2014 $3,458,612,301 13.2959%
2013 $3,052,723,802 5.2784%
2012 $2,899,667,909 3.6362%
2011 $2,797,930,754 13.5300%
2010 $2,464,486,233 0.3886%
2009 $2,454,946,306 2.4217%
2008 $2,396,899,736

There will be more dollars next year than this. In English, there are no cuts for FCPS.

To the teachers that report cuts, yes, classrooms are not the priority and they've been sacrificed for pet projects, but FCPS has more money each year.

Please people...don't fall for the hysteria. Do the math. Really, look at actual numbers.

You again? You really need to stop posting this nonsense. Costs grow as years go by and currently Fairfax County is experiencing an enrollment growth as well. The "cuts" are what is provided per student, not in actual dollars, but in actual services per student. If you can't see that services are going down per student from year to year especially for our general education students, you are blind.

I'm not blind, but you're not good at math.

Cost per pupil:
2014 13,472
2015 13,519
2016 13,718 (forecast)

Math is not nonsense.

You make my point. Actual dollars continue to go up. Services go down. It's management priorities that are the problem. Not funding.

You again? You really need to stop posting this nonsense. Costs grow as years go by and currently Fairfax County is experiencing an enrollment growth as well. The "cuts" are what is provided per student, not in actual dollars, but in actual services per student. If you can't see that services are going down per student from year to year especially for our general education students, you are blind.

The cuts that should be made first are at the top. There is still plenty of cream there. Reduce the staff at Gatehouse and close some of the other administrative buildings.

Cuts in some of the special programs would help the schools overall. Example: cut AAP centers and provide it at the schools. That would save buses and other administrative costs that get added. FLES is a very poor program that would not be missed. Quit giving the teachers so much busy work to turn into administration and that would help, too. Cut instructional coaches. Cut any teacher that does not work with kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no cuts. There have never been.

Actual numbers from http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/budgetdocuments.shtml

Year Budget Growth
2014 $3,458,612,301 13.2959%
2013 $3,052,723,802 5.2784%
2012 $2,899,667,909 3.6362%
2011 $2,797,930,754 13.5300%
2010 $2,464,486,233 0.3886%
2009 $2,454,946,306 2.4217%
2008 $2,396,899,736

There will be more dollars next year than this. In English, there are no cuts for FCPS.

To the teachers that report cuts, yes, classrooms are not the priority and they've been sacrificed for pet projects, but FCPS has more money each year.

Please people...don't fall for the hysteria. Do the math. Really, look at actual numbers.

I see you have conveniently forgotten to account for COL increases, increases in numbers of students, increases state transfer costs...........

Huh? Do you not know the difference between costs and revenue?

Sure, costs have gone up. So has revenue. You can argue, budgets have not gone up as much as costs, maybe. Then have an honest debate about raising taxes or cutting the growth in spending.

You can NOT argue there have been cuts. There haven't. That's not honest.

And to your points on costs:

COL is close to zero. It is zero for the military. DoL statistics say 1.89%. Pick your number, it's low.
There were 3089 new students last year so a 1.6% increase (3089/184,625)
Don't you mean decreases in State transfers? Doesn't matter, the budget numbers include all transfers.

Doesn't nearly account for where the money is going.

Show your math please.

Anonymous wrote:There are no cuts. There have never been.

Actual numbers from http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/budgetdocuments.shtml

Year Budget Growth
2014 $3,458,612,301 13.2959%
2013 $3,052,723,802 5.2784%
2012 $2,899,667,909 3.6362%
2011 $2,797,930,754 13.5300%
2010 $2,464,486,233 0.3886%
2009 $2,454,946,306 2.4217%
2008 $2,396,899,736

There will be more dollars next year than this. In English, there are no cuts for FCPS.

To the teachers that report cuts, yes, classrooms are not the priority and they've been sacrificed for pet projects, but FCPS has more money each year.

Please people...don't fall for the hysteria. Do the math. Really, look at actual numbers.

You again? You really need to stop posting this nonsense. Costs grow as years go by and currently Fairfax County is experiencing an enrollment growth as well. The "cuts" are what is provided per student, not in actual dollars, but in actual services per student. If you can't see that services are going down per student from year to year especially for our general education students, you are blind.

Free/Reduced lunch - can we at least ATTEMPT to verify the information people put on these forms? My understanding is that you could fudge these numbers all you want and no one verifies any of it. I'd like to see how much this is abused. I've taught kids with smart phones and brand name clothes who get lunch for free. Something's not adding up there...

agree--but don't the feds pay for the lunch? Does that come out of our budget?

FCPS teacher here...

Late buses - in a time of budget crisis, why are we spending money on late buses so kids can stay after school to play basketball?
SBTS and coaches - should be on the same 194 day contract as teachers - no need for them to work (and get paid for) extra days
AP/IB - I hate IB. I'd like to see it gone. I think it's a waste of money. But since I'm sure that will never happen, I'd like to at LEAST see people have to PAY for taking those tests. I think it's ridiculous that the county pays those fees.
194 day contracts - we used to only work 193 days. I'd be okay with them moving us back to 193 day contracts and taking the money saved and applying it toward the deficit. I can't remember why they moved us to 194 in the first place...something to do with budget maybe? But I honestly can't remember.
Summer school below the high school level - aside from ESY for special education students - waste of money
Free/Reduced lunch - can we at least ATTEMPT to verify the information people put on these forms? My understanding is that you could fudge these numbers all you want and no one verifies any of it. I'd like to see how much this is abused. I've taught kids with smart phones and brand name clothes who get lunch for free. Something's not adding up there...

Anonymous wrote:There are no cuts. There have never been.

Actual numbers from http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/budgetdocuments.shtml

Year Budget Growth
2014 $3,458,612,301 13.2959%
2013 $3,052,723,802 5.2784%
2012 $2,899,667,909 3.6362%
2011 $2,797,930,754 13.5300%
2010 $2,464,486,233 0.3886%
2009 $2,454,946,306 2.4217%
2008 $2,396,899,736

There will be more dollars next year than this. In English, there are no cuts for FCPS.

To the teachers that report cuts, yes, classrooms are not the priority and they've been sacrificed for pet projects, but FCPS has more money each year.

Please people...don't fall for the hysteria. Do the math. Really, look at actual numbers.

I see you have conveniently forgotten to account for COL increases, increases in numbers of students, increases state transfer costs...........

There are no cuts. There have never been.

Actual numbers from http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/budgetdocuments.shtml

Year Budget Growth
2014 $3,458,612,301 13.2959%
2013 $3,052,723,802 5.2784%
2012 $2,899,667,909 3.6362%
2011 $2,797,930,754 13.5300%
2010 $2,464,486,233 0.3886%
2009 $2,454,946,306 2.4217%
2008 $2,396,899,736

There will be more dollars next year than this. In English, there are no cuts for FCPS.

To the teachers that report cuts, yes, classrooms are not the priority and they've been sacrificed for pet projects, but FCPS has more money each year.

Please people...don't fall for the hysteria. Do the math. Really, look at actual numbers.

This is gross:


Reduce classroom/general area cleanings to once a week

They could make money charging fees for busing-this is common in other parts of the country.

I don't think any elementary school wants to be the one site where they consolidate all the ED elementary school kids...