Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

People who don't understand that serving 100,000 students on $100,000, is better than serving 150,000 students on $110,000 are the ones with a problem with math. I don't support a tax increase and I think programs should be cut, but the math argument is silky because FCPS has seen a significant increase in kids, and the budget increases have not kept pace with those increases.

Finally, something we can agree on!

-OP, parent, tax increase supporter

+1

Also, there is a poster that is vehemently and militantly opposed to this, but the towns should operate independently. FCPS is just too big to manage properly.

Can one be vehement and not militant, or militant but not vehement?

In any event, I don't see many benefits from losing the economies of scale associated with a large system, as much as some rich people would like to give the shaft to the poorer areas. Nor do I see any evidence that Arlington or Falls Church City do anything better than FCPS. Arlington has lower test scores and has totally mismanaged its capacity planning, while FCC has sky-high taxes and is forced to send students to a school that is physically located in Fairfax County. I'd rather fix the issues in FCPS than replicate the mistakes of the smaller area school systems.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a super athlete, a rock star, or Van Gough, but I would have an issue with a school that doesn't offer sports, music, or art. They are all important to the whole-child. They all add value to a child's education and for many kids, make school fun to attend. If you want to limit that number of sports offered, that's fine.

PE is part of the curriculum. I'm talking about EXTRAcurricular sports. And probably, band, etc., too.

PE isn't academic, get rid of it. It's not within the school's core purpose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

People who don't understand that serving 100,000 students on $100,000, is better than serving 150,000 students on $110,000 are the ones with a problem with math. I don't support a tax increase and I think programs should be cut, but the math argument is silky because FCPS has seen a significant increase in kids, and the budget increases have not kept pace with those increases.

Finally, something we can agree on!

-OP, parent, tax increase supporter

+1

Also, there is a poster that is vehemently and militantly opposed to this, but the towns should operate independently. FCPS is just too big to manage properly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a super athlete, a rock star, or Van Gough, but I would have an issue with a school that doesn't offer sports, music, or art. They are all important to the whole-child. They all add value to a child's education and for many kids, make school fun to attend. If you want to limit that number of sports offered, that's fine.

PE is part of the curriculum. I'm talking about EXTRAcurricular sports. And probably, band, etc., too.

Band is a class too

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a super athlete, a rock star, or Van Gough, but I would have an issue with a school that doesn't offer sports, music, or art. They are all important to the whole-child. They all add value to a child's education and for many kids, make school fun to attend. If you want to limit that number of sports offered, that's fine.

PE is part of the curriculum. I'm talking about EXTRAcurricular sports. And probably, band, etc., too.

Anonymous wrote:One thing to be aware of this year is that there is an additional payment to the VRS retirement system of about 26 million because we didn't pay it during the recession. This is not a recurring cost.

And they have more than that left over from last year. So no need increase the baseline budget for it.

I'm not a super athlete, a rock star, or Van Gough, but I would have an issue with a school that doesn't offer sports, music, or art. They are all important to the whole-child. They all add value to a child's education and for many kids, make school fun to attend. If you want to limit that number of sports offered, that's fine.

One thing to be aware of this year is that there is an additional payment to the VRS retirement system of about 26 million because we didn't pay it during the recession. This is not a recurring cost.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

People who don't understand that serving 100,000 students on $100,000, is better than serving 150,000 students on $110,000 are the ones with a problem with math. I don't support a tax increase and I think programs should be cut, but the math argument is silky because FCPS has seen a significant increase in kids, and the budget increases have not kept pace with those increases.

Finally, something we can agree on!

-OP, parent, tax increase supporter

Well. No.

Enrollment is flat. From FCPS: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY17ProposedBudgetPresentation.pdf Slide 16:

Due to slowing growth, there is no requirement to add additional funding for enrollment in FY 2017

Your "math" example is a farce. Please source your numbers. I'd love yo see your reference for 50% growth. Or are you making up numbers....almost the definition of a math fail.

what's the cost per pupil in the new budget vs old/existing?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

People who don't understand that serving 100,000 students on $100,000, is better than serving 150,000 students on $110,000 are the ones with a problem with math. I don't support a tax increase and I think programs should be cut, but the math argument is silky because FCPS has seen a significant increase in kids, and the budget increases have not kept pace with those increases.

Finally, something we can agree on!

-OP, parent, tax increase supporter

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

People who don't understand that serving 100,000 students on $100,000, is better than serving 150,000 students on $110,000 are the ones with a problem with math. I don't support a tax increase and I think programs should be cut, but the math argument is silky because FCPS has seen a significant increase in kids, and the budget increases have not kept pace with those increases.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

Yep, my real estate assessment went up again this year.

That is because your house value increased. That is a good thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

Yep, my real estate assessment went up again this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What budget crisis? The budget goes up every single year.

This. I've stopped taking their cries of woe seriously. It's a complete 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

The school board and FCPS has a problem with math. MORE money every single year is hardly a budget crisis.

More students too.