Arlington schools aren鈥檛 adding quite as many students as they used to, and that鈥檚 quite good news indeed for officials bracing for an and their families.
Arlington Public School leaders are still worried about just how much the company and its 25,000 workers will , of course. The school system is already trying to fast enough to match the Arlington saw over the last decade, and that鈥檚 before Amazon brings 25,000 employees to Crystal City and Pentagon City.
But Superintendent Patrick Murphy believes there鈥檚 light at the end of the tunnel for the school system, giving him hope that the tech giant鈥檚 arrival won鈥檛 be hugely disruptive for Arlington classrooms over the coming years.
鈥淏ased on what we鈥檙e seeing, we鈥檙e not going to continue at the pace of enrollment growth we鈥檝e experienced here in the last 10 years,鈥� Murphy said during an Amazon question-and-answer session livestreamed on Facebook yesterday (Wednesday). 鈥淚 think this will work. But we are going to have to make some adjustments and pay attention to it.鈥�
APS has added an average about 800 students per year over the last five years, school statistics show.
But the county鈥檚 school enrollment only increased by 578 students between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years, and rose by 556 students between the 2017-18 school year and the current year. The school system鈥檚 also estimate that Arlington schools will add closer to 500 to 600 students per year over the next decade, with the number generally falling annually.
With Amazon on board, Murphy says that his staff鈥檚 early estimates suggest that the company will only add between 73 and 98 students to APS each year, considering that Amazon plans to only bring workers to the area over a period of 12 years. The company plans to move just a few hundred employees to its new headquarters next year, then add between 1,500 and 2,000 workers each year through 2030.
That means each county school may only see an additional two to three students join their classrooms annually, officials say, making the change a gradual one. Murphy expects that schools closest to the freshly dubbed 鈥淣ational Landing鈥� area will feel the greatest impact, but he added there鈥檚 no 鈥渘ice, neat and tidy鈥� way to estimate the exact impacts this far out.
Murphy also reiterated the oft-cited statistic that only 15 to 20 percent of Amazon鈥檚 employees are likely to settle in Arlington, based on the county鈥檚 experience with other large companies in the past.
However, county officials hope that Amazon will , and even help Arlington attract other tech firms on its own, so Jeff Bezos鈥� employees aren鈥檛 the only ones who will arrive in the county in the coming years.
But, once again, leaders stressed that the entire D.C. region, and its schools, will share the burden of absorbing the new arrivals.
鈥淲hen you bring a company like this in, it ends up supporting other businesses鈥� but they won鈥檛 all locate here,鈥� said Victor Hoskins, head of Arlington Economic Development. 鈥淪ome in alexandria, some in D.C., some in Fairfax County, some in Prince William. Some will be further out, some will be closer in.鈥�
Murphy and Hoskins are both optimistic that Amazon will bring plenty of benefits to local schools as well. Not only do they envision the school system building stronger, tech education-centric partnerships with Arlington universities to meet Amazon鈥檚 demand for skilled workers, but they expect the increased tax revenue the company generates will redound to the benefit of county schools.
It will before Arlington officials start to see any sort of Amazon effect in the county鈥檚 coffers (making the next few years a bit , in the meantime).
Yet as the company and its employees move in, Murphy hopes the added tax dollars not only funds the construction of more schools, but can also kickstart the expansion of Arlington鈥檚 pre-K offerings.
鈥淎 rising tide lifts all boats, and I really want that conversation to gain some momentum,鈥� Murphy said.
