太子探花

Fairfax Co. proposes smaller raises for teachers because of budget shortfall

A sign for Fairfax County Public Schools headquarters. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)

Fairfax County teachers and other school employees may be getting smaller raises next year because of a $102.5 million budget shortfall.

At a school board meeting on Thursday, Superintendent Michelle Reid said the county鈥檚 board of supervisors didn鈥檛 provide as much funding as it historically has, and it鈥檚 unclear exactly how the district will be funded as part of the Virginia state budget for fiscal years 2025 and 2026.

State lawmakers reached an agreement on a budget package late last week.

As a result, Reid is proposing lowering employee raises from the originally planned 6% to 3%. That decision, though, could have significant consequences, she said.

For one, Virginia鈥檚 largest school district won鈥檛 see a significant improvement in what Reid called 鈥渂eginning salaries.鈥 The county will move from seventh place out of eight school divisions in that category to sixth place out of eight.

In Reid鈥檚 budget proposal, Board Member Melanie Meren said new spending is focused on improving compensation.

鈥淭here’s not much else to cut that would make as meaningful of a change in getting more money available than the straight cutting of the proposed 6% compensation increase, to cut that back to 3%,鈥 Meren said.

When putting together the budget proposal, Reid said she had planned for the Board of Supervisors to transfer about 52.6% of county revenue to the school district, which is the year-over-year average from fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2023. This year, though, it鈥檚 slated to be 51.4%.

The underfunding, Meren said, is the result of old state formulas and old tax policies. Last year, a General Assembly Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report found that Virginia underfunds its public schools and made a series of recommendations for the state to address that.

But, Reid said, the General Assembly 鈥渉as essentially delayed action on these recommendations by continuing to request further study.鈥

The school division鈥檚 projection for what funding it鈥檒l receive from the state 鈥渋s based on returning to the funding levels associated with the Governor鈥檚 Introduced Budget, presented on December 20, 2023,鈥 according to school board documents.

Based on available state funding in the new budget, Reid said, there鈥檚 a chance the full compensation increase could be added back into the school district鈥檚 budget.

鈥淲hat I can say is that, if additional funding comes in from the state in excess of the $12 million needed to close the gap, and if that money or monies should become available, I’ll likely be recommending the restoration of as much of the originally planned salary increase as possible,鈥 Reid said.

There won鈥檛 be program cuts or other changes because of the shortfall, at-large school board member Kyle McDaniel said.

鈥淭he baseline of services 鈥 of class sizes, of programs, of sports, of instruments and arts and all this stuff, the baseline is maintained,鈥 McDaniel said.

The school board is scheduled to vote on adopting the final budget later this month.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

漏 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Scott Gelman

Scott Gelman is a digital editor and writer for WTOP. A South Florida native, Scott graduated from the University of Maryland in 2019. During his time in College Park, he worked for The Diamondback, the school鈥檚 student newspaper.

Federal 太子探花 Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.