So FCPS wouldn’t agree to provide McLean with comparable facilities to similar schools elsewhere in the county because equity, and now McLean is finally fed up and wants to create a separate city? Good for them. That’s what self-governance is all about.

Taxation without representation. The only issue is doesn’t the City of Falls Church - even though it’s separate - still fall under FCPS? Agree on IG reporting! Curriculum choices, et al.

I know people in favor are not concerned about the tax issue right now. We came from Upstate NY- One Town- 2 School Districts in the town of about 70,000. North side schools were considered better- and more development of housing, etc. Our taxes on a 500k house were 3x as much as what they are now on a 900k house. They had a good Police Dept- which is very expensive, Volunteer FD, Town Govt, Highway Dept, all the other various Depts, a landfill- no trash service. I was surprised that FCPS was so big. I would expect it to take a long time to get off the ground- if it does. I don't see any reason to not explore the viability.

Anonymous wrote:LOL. That's fine. Watch your taxes go up, up, up, up, up.

Myra. They will be like Westchester. Want a $3m house? Your taxes will be $50k a year to pay for the public schools, police, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I might move to McLean if they do. I hate the inefficiencies of the large school districts around here.

Absolutely. It's really startling to people who came from areas where there are smaller school districts.

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Anonymous wrote:I will pay higher taxes if it means bringing control of our schools back to McLean and keeping said tax dollars here in McLean!

Tax dollars do stay in McLean. Sheesh.

Umm, no, they don’t. The high property taxes that I pay here in McLean get sent all over the county and are subsidizing other locales.

Yes. They stay in the county. It's a big county but the money stays in the county, including McLean. You're not subsidizing Arlington or Prince William.

And I am pretty sure you don't just drive in McLean - that you go to stores, restaurants, into the city, etc. And that is what you pay for...

What a surprise that McLean residents want segregation. Living up to the rep on DCUM for all these years.

The virtue of a big county and big school system is to be able to spread things around a bit for the greater good. FCC formed because of its desire to avoid black people and they pretty well have succeeded.

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Anonymous wrote:This is not only in response to the overcrowded mess that is MHS. It is in response to the BoS' plans to modify the zoning ordinances.

What are the plans and the concerns? What are the issues? Someone please clue me in! XYZ for dummies style, just the main stuff.

Some issues and all are pre pandemic:
1. Inequitable taxation- special tax district. Mclean and Reston pay while other areas with similar sites do not. Proof on county website and Board of Supervisors meetings.
2. Fiscal irresponsibility. bond projects- inequitable distribution and purpose. Example is West Potomac addition that is not needed as per the Board of Supervisors. Fairfax County is incurring debt that is unnecessary.
3. trash/recycling- individuals and HOA's have contracts with private haulers. Many legal entities like counties, cities, and towns have the contracts with haulers and bill property owners. The bill is paid to the jurisdiction which might have a combination of private haulers and public employees/trucks. No gross variability in service which exists in Fairfax County. Most of the politically dominant areas in FX like the Lee and Mount Vernon District have county trash so IMHO they never pursued the issue diligently.

Under VA Law counties and cities are required to develop and implement solid waste management plan.

4. Gross inefficiency and resource allocation in FCPS.
- Langley has open capacity. FCPS did not reassign any of Mclean to Langley.
-Mount Vernon and Lee have open capacity - no reassignment from West Potomac.
-FCPS chooses to bus walkers for Whitman to Sandburg.
-cost of IB v AP, cost of magnet school programs, cost of busing for AAP,
5. Sully District is a perfect example of neglect. It was created after the 1990 census and has grossly overcrowded schools. Oakton HS is another example of utter mismanagement. Huge, illogical boundary and will be over capacity after the addition. FCPS should have used bond money to construct a new western HS rather than expand Oakton, Herndon, Madison.

6. Property tax rates have risen dramatically. Fairfax used to allocate 1 cent on the total rate for storm water. That got broken out as a separate line item and is now over 3. Add it back in to get the real rate. While the rate increased the county lowered it's level of service on items like dry pond maintenance onto private home owners. Also the county has been severely deficient in site plan approval for storm water run-off. It is possible that the bulk of the money goes to stuff like the Huntington Levee - New orleans style. IDK. All I know is people have been asked to help fund work privately that the county used to do.

I also grew up in an area with town-administered schools. One of its greatest strengths was oversight. We had an extensive inspector general report every five years. It covered curriculum, teacher and student performance, facilities, planning and most importantly finances. When has FCPS, LCPS or APS had an IG report?

I grew up in Boston.

Every town has its own school system.

I grew up in Natick and they had their own schools. Wellesley, Newton, Framingham.etc...

Some of the smaller towns had combined schools.

It is so much easier to run a school system for one town than what is going on here in Fairfax County. Issues get resolved so much faster.

Hiw much is Tyson's service and retail really producing right now? How will these industries change in the future?

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to see the fight between McLean and Fairfax County over who gets to keep the Tysons commercial tax base that supports the entire state as well as the metro stations now that Fairfax helped pay for them.

Things like this might delay McLean separating for years. Too many interests are affected. I think McLean is going to end up trying to separate for 5-7 years, and then the parents that wanted the better schools will have kids aging out and losing steam. I think McLean residents will try to vote out the equity SB candidates. FCPS will be so afraid faced with the budget realities if McLean leaves that it will stop delaying the McLean High overcrowding/need for renovation issues to entice McLean to stay.

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Anonymous wrote:Sorry, haven't had time to read thru 27 pages of comments, but is this separation mostly about the schools? Or something else (lack of police protection, other county services)?

I don't live in McLean, but honestly I don't blame folks there for wanting to incorporate. This school system is too big and needs to be broken up. It isn't responsive to the community and it's just broken. It was bad before but the pandemic has really highlighted what a terrible situation this is for many in the county.

It’s entirely about FCPS and their disgraceful mismanagement.

No, it's not. It's about other issues.

No, it’s not. If FCPS was doing their job, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Zoning. It's about zoning. That's not FCPS.

Read the article. It specifically calls outs schools as the major reason.

Anonymous wrote:Citizen of McLean here. I love this idea!!! How to help make this happens?

Start by joining MCA!

https://mca-va.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=9&club_id=942659

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Anonymous wrote:Sorry, haven't had time to read thru 27 pages of comments, but is this separation mostly about the schools? Or something else (lack of police protection, other county services)?

I don't live in McLean, but honestly I don't blame folks there for wanting to incorporate. This school system is too big and needs to be broken up. It isn't responsive to the community and it's just broken. It was bad before but the pandemic has really highlighted what a terrible situation this is for many in the county.

It’s entirely about FCPS and their disgraceful mismanagement.

No, it's not. It's about other issues.

No, it’s not. If FCPS was doing their job, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Zoning. It's about zoning. That's not FCPS.

What are you talking about? FCPS as a whole has fallen off the cliff with its “equity” nonsense, and from this all things have followed. The school system is coasting on its once excellent reputation. The last decade or so has made it abundantly clear how absurd things have become. Zoning may be a part of this, but mainly it’s insanely bad planning and choices on the part of FCPS. Period.

I believe this is actually being led by Fairfax County. Bulova started this trajectory before she retired. FCPS followed suit