When Fairfax County Public Schools approved its $2.7 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2017 last May, school officials, staffers and members of the school community seemed pleased that adequate funding would be coming from state and county coffers to cover needed staff pay increases.
Superintendent Karen Garza had led a nearly year-long campaign against program cuts and in support of a step- and a 1-percent market scale adjustment for all eligible employees, as well as $40 million to enhance teacher salaries to make them more competitive. FCPS has pointed out repeatedly it is losing ground compared to other area school districts’ salaries — and is also losing good teachers to neighboring systems.
But according to a recent Washington Post story, the county is now concerned that the Commonwealth of Virginia’s contribution to FCPS will fall $4.4 million short.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday authorized a letter to be sent to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to express concern about projections that state funding will be about a quarter less than the $16.8 million they were expecting for teacher salaries.
Says the Post story:
The lower amount of expected state funding stems from a $266 million negative balance in Virginia’s fiscal 2016 budget, which McAuliffe’s administration attributed to lower-than-expected payroll and sales-tax receipts.
In May, the governor’s office ordered state agencies to trim spending to address the deficit.
Although the difference in state funding seems relatively paltry in relation to the $2.7 billion school budget, it nonetheless frustrated Fairfax supervisors, who have long complained that state funding for local schools is meager.
Meanwhile FCPS says it will find a way to honor the promise of $40 million in teacher raises for Fiscal Year 2017.
“FCPS will ensure our teachers receive the pay increases they deserve,” schools spokesman John Torre said in an email.
“However, any decrease in funding from the state has a negative impact on our budget and places a greater financial burden on our County funding partners and our school division to close the gap. … Even though the state funding is on hold, FCPS is committed to employee salary increases.”
Reston’s Serco Incorporated is among three Northern Virginia businesses that have received recognition from Fairfax County Public Schools for giving back to the community.
Serco, along with Deloitte Consulting and OrthoVirginia, have been nominated to the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Business Honor Roll for their support of K-12 education. They were recognized by the school board at a June 30 meeting.
For seven years, Serco has partnered with Reston’s South Lakes High School to “provide community work experiences in real world settings for students with disabilities to prepare them for the demands of the workplace,” says FCPS.
At Serco, the students attain real-world skills in relation to their ability. Some students work independently in the mail room, scanning and logging packages, assisting with mass mailings, or delivering mail to employees. Others work with adults to restock supplies and clean the kitchen.
The Fairfax County Public Schools Board (FCPS) has voted to extend the contract of FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza, effective today, for an additional four years. The new contract will run through June 30, 2020.
Garza came to FCPS in July of 2013, and has made a number of changes to the nation’s 10th-largest school system.
Garza’s based salary will increase 3 percent, to $300,000, FCPS said.
“Dr. Garza has been an agent of positive change for Fairfax County Public Schools,” School Board Chair Pat Hynes said in a statement. “She has positively engaged the community in a number of critical issues and has been a passionate advocate for our students and teachers.”
“We are pleased to be able to recognize Dr. Garza’s contributions by extending her contract, ensuring administrative stability and continuity in the district,” said Hynes.
Some of the school system highlights under Garza since 2013:
- Creation of the “Portrait of a Graduate” model.
- A new five-year strategic plan for the system
- Later start times for high schoolers
- Elimination of early release Mondays for elementary students
- Lobbying for staff salary increases to keep FCPS competitive with neighboring systems.
- Lowering class sizing and finding funding to keep special programs and extracurricular activities.
Photo: Karen Garza/file photo
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve on Tuesday the steps necessary to get a meals tax referendum on the ballot for November’s general election.
The supervisors are seeking to add a 4-percent meals tax because it will give the county an extra estimated $99 million annually. Seventy percent of that would go to Fairfax County Public Schools, which has faced budget constraints the last several years.
FCPS, which has nearly 200,000 students, received a transfer of just over $2 billion from the supervisors this spring. The county gives 52 percent of its budget to the schools.
The tax would be on restaurant meals, of course, but also prepared foods sold at grocery and convenience stores. Surrounding jurisdictions such as the towns of Herndon and Vienna, as well as Arlington and Alexandria, have meals taxes.
Fairfax County Public Schools says it is seeing a decline in football injuries because of a concussion and injury prevention program it put in place three years ago.
In 2013, FCPS adopted USA Football’s Heads Up Football, an education-based approach to injury prevention. That has resulted in a significant decline in injuries, said Bill Curran, the school system’s director of student activities and athletic programs. FCPS was the first high school program in the U.S. to adopt Heads Up Football.
FCPS reports that concussions have dropped more than 43 percent since its adoption of Heads Up Football, and that injuries have fallen nearly 24 percent.
The Virginia High School League also endorses Heads Up Football.
Head injuries have become a national issue as many former NFL players have presented with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain degenerative brain condition, from repeated tackling and blocking in their careers.
This year, the Pop Warner League — the country’s largest youth football program — settled its first and only concussion-related lawsuit that was brought by the mother of a former player who blamed the sport for her son’s suicide. Read More
A cell phone monopole is back in play for Crossfield Elementary School.
Verizon Wireless is seeking to build a cell phone tower at the Fairfax County Public Schools elementary school at 2791 Fox Mill Rd.
Verizon is working with local firm Milestone Communications to get approval to build the pole and improve cell phone reception in the area. The proposal is for a 138-foot tower disguised to look like a tree.
The request to build the pole comes about 2 1/2 years after a similar proposal fell apart in the application process. T-Mobile and Milestone filed an application in November of 2013 seeking to build at Crossfield. The request was postponed indefinitely.
Meanwhile, there was organized resident opposition to the 2013 proposal, including a petition signed by fewer than 200 people. Residents said there was already a cell phone tower nearby, that the tower would affect home values, and that cell phones should not be allowed on elementary school property because studies showing longterm health effects are inconclusive.
There was also a proposal by AT&T and Milestone for a pole at Hunters Woods Park, a Reston Association property, in June of 2014. The RA Design Review Board nixed the idea of a 115-foot pole in the woods behind a soccer field.
But many poles have been built on to public lands in recent years. South Lakes High School, Herndon Middle School, Madison High School and Carson Middle School are among the many FCPS properties that have cell phone towers on their grounds.
The cell phone companies pay the landowners to lease the pole space. FCPS, for instance, has made more than $4 million from the arrangement over the last several years, FCPS officials said.
Milestone collects rent from the wireless carriers on its towers, 40 percent of which goes to FCPS. Schools receive $25,000 each time a tower is built, and then $5,000 from each wireless carrier that leases space on the tower.
Milestone says schools and parks are ideal locations for these towers because they often have existing structures, such as field light poles, in place.
FCPS says it has has done studies on cell phones being located on school grounds and has determined the practice is safe.
Have some thoughts on a pole for Crossfield? A community meeting has been scheduled for May 19, 7 p.m., at the North County Government Center, Hunter Mill District Office, 1801 Cameron Glen Dr.
Map of proposed cell phone tower location/Credit Milestone Communications
Good news for Fairfax County Public Schools high school students who drive to school: fees for parking passes will stay the same next year.
There had been a FCPS School Board proposal to increase the fees from $200 to $300 next year. Money from parking fees goes to the individual school and not FCPS.
However, at a board work session this week, the proposal “failed to get board support,” said At-Large member Ryan McElveen.
Want to buy a 5,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Fairfax County house designed for residents to age in place?
The house is on the market in Springfield for $935,000. Its contractors: FCPS high school students.
The house, which took 17 months to complete, was built as part of FCPS’ residential construction program.
For 45 years, FCPS has partnered with the Foundation for Applied Technical Education, Inc. (FATE). Together, they have built 23 houses. Read More
The Fairfax County School Board voted last week to institute a new school-year calendar that begins school prior to Labor Day.
That’s a change from the last few decades, where FCPS has started the Tuesday after Labor Day.
FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza will now draft a new school year calendar, which will be voted by the board later this fall. The new schedule would go into effect in 2017-18. The first day of school that year would be Aug. 28.
The new calendar will also end school earlier in June. The last day of school for 2015-16 is June 23.
The Code of Virginia (22.1-79.1) allows local Boards of Education to waive a state requirement to begin schools after Labor Day if a district is closed an average of eight days per year during five of the past 10 years due to weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergencies.
FCPS qualifies for the waiver because, during five of the past 10 years, the district has averaged 8.4 days missed due to weather conditions and other events.
Based upon this current average of missed days, the waiver option will continue at least through the 2019-20 school year, FCPS said.
The school board’s decision was also based in part on results of an April survey of parents and staff. While parents were in favor of the change by a small percentage of the 41,942 responses, it was school staff members that really showed their support, with 64 percent (of the 12,105 responses) of them favoring the pre-Labor Day start.
Here is what the numbers look like:
Parents (41,942 responses)
- 52.58% Support (22,054)
- 47.42% Do not support (19,888)
Staff – (14,105 responses)
- 64.29% Support (9,068)
- 35.71% Do not support (5,037)
The Fairfax County School Board voted on Thursday to begin the school year prior to Labor Day, which is a break with the traditional September start.
The vote directs Superintendent Karen Garza to draft a calendar for the 2017-18 school year that begins the school year one week earlier prior to Labor Day. The 2017-18 school year will begin on Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, FCPS says.
Garza says this change is being made to provide more instructional time before winter break, enhanced flexibility to help students and school staff members meet college application deadlines, and to end the school year earlier in June.
The 2016-17 school year calendar was approved by the School Board on December 3, 2015; the first day of the 2016-17 school year will be Sept. 6.
The final 2017-18 calendar will be voted on by the School Board in the fall, FCPS says. Residents will have a chance to offer input and opinion.
FCPS this month conducted a survey asking parents and students what they thought of the change.
In Fairfax County, school has for decades started the day after Labor Day in accordance with the Virginia “Kings Dominion” law. Read More
The Fairfax County Planning Commission has deferred decision on the planned $105 million addition to Herndon High School until its April 13 meeting.
The planning commission discussed the more than 100,000-square-foot addition to the school at its March 16 meeting. It moved to defer a vote, which would recommend the addition for approval to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, in order to further review proffer amendments outlined in this planning staff report.
HHS has not been renovated in more than 20 years and is at 107 percent capacity, FCPS documents show.
According to a Planning and Zoning Staff Report, the plans for HHS include 138,558 square feet of additions and modifications that will expand the school to 431,000 square feet with a capacity for 2,500 students (from 2,146).
The Herndon addition was approved and partially funded as part of the FCPS Fiscal Year 2017 – 2021 Capital Improvement Program. The CIP reflects $310 million approved by county voters in a 2015 School Bond Referendum. Countywide, FCPS plans $777 million in renovations and expansions to schools.
See specifics of the plan, which calls for 193 more parking spaces and moving and replacing some athletic facilities, in this previous Reston Now article.
Rendering of planned HHS addition/Courtesy FCPS
Three freshman from South Lakes High School won first place awards at the Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair at Robinson High School last weekend. They will move on to the Virginia State Science Fair in Lexington April 8-9.
Winners included Ghaaliyah Brown (The Effect of Garlic Juice on the Growth Rate of Oral Bacteria); Rachel Taylor (The Effect of Roadside Pollutants on Plant Growth); and Alessandra Mandala-Kol (The Effect of Type of Compost on the Health of Kidney Bean Plant).
South Lakes sent 20 students to the fair, which featured more than 400 county students. All the SLHS students’ projects were place winners.
Other winners:
Honorable Mentions: Ilana Levy and Alex Loukili.
Third Place: Soemi Photavath, Anna Prater, Rachel Kessler, Anika Kumar, Sanika Lawate, Michael Gmarnik, Phillip Bladen, Lina Modjarrad; and the team of Daniel Sprague and Caroline Kulczycky.
Second Place: Stephanie Williams, Gwyneth Pudner, Aravindan Balaguru, Michelle Whitlock; team of Jacob Mamros, Max Peters, and Ashton Reinhold; team of Samuel Wirth and Charles Zawacki.
For complete FCPS Regional Science Fair information, visit FCPS’ website.
The Fairfax County School Board is seriously considering starting school before Labor Day in 2017-18.
The school board’s Public Engagement Committee (PEC) will discuss the matter at a work session on Thursday. The PEC is planning an online survey to gauge community opinion on the calendar, says school board At-Large member Ryan McElveen, who chairs the PEC.
The survey will take place in April, and the board will vote on the calendar change April 28, he added.
The 2016-17 calendar will not change. That was adopted in December, and school will begin on Sept. 6, 2016.
In Fairfax County, school has for decades started the day after Labor Day in accordance with the Virginia “Kings Dominion” law.
Fairfax County Public Schools are planning to add more than 100,000 square feet of space to Herndon High School, which has not been renovated since 1991 and is currently at 107 percent capacity.
The Herndon addition was approved as part of the FCPS Fiscal Year 2017 – 2021 Capital Improvement Program. The CIP reflects $310 million approved by county voters in a 2015 School Bond Referendum. Countywide, FCPS plans $777 million in renovations and expansions to schools.
FCPS is seeking a proffer amendment and will go before the Fairfax County Planning Commission on March 16.
According to a Planning and Zoning Staff Report, the plans for HHS include 138,558 square feet of additions and modifications that will expand the school to 431,000 square feet with a capacity for 2,500 students (from 2,146).
The additions would be located at the front and rear of the existing building. The additions also include the extension of the second floor along the front and west wing of the existing structure.
Other site plans:
- Revisions to the existing parking front parking lots and bus loop
- Relocation of the tennis courts
- Replacement and/or expansion of some of the existing structures related to the athletic facilities
- The addition of 193 parking spaces.
FCPS is also seeking to modify the transitional screening requirements along all lot lines in favor of the existing vegetation and supplemental landscaping and to waive or modify barrier requirements at all borders on the 40-acre site. Read More
Fairfax County Executive Ed Long presented a proposed $3.99 billion budget Tuesday to the county Board of Supervisors that includes a real estate tax increase of 4 cents (to $1.13) for every $100 of value for Fairfax County homeowners.
That will represent a tax bill increase of about $303 for the average county homeowner, Long said.
And while that increase will provide an additional $23.31 million to the county’s coffers, the county is still offering far less than the 6.7-percent increase Fairfax County Public Schools requested for Fiscal Year 2017.
Long, who said Fairfax is still suffering from a sluggish economy and slow growth in the real estate market, also said the county will start off FY 2018 with a $74 million deficit.
See an executive summary of the 2017 budget — including other county spending and savings — on Fairfax County’s website.
Long is proposing the county transfer a total of $2.08 billion to the schools. That number is a 3-percent increase from Fiscal Year 2016. Included in that number is a school operating transfer of $1.88 billion (a 3 percent, or $54.75 million, increase from 2016).
The county is also offering $13.1 million in construction support and a school debt service transfer of $189.87 million.
Earlier this month, the Fairfax County School Board requested an FY 2017 operating transfer of $1.95 billion — a $122.7 million increase (6.7 percent) over the FY 2016 General Fund transfer. Read More
