Superintendent meets with students

            Superintendent Jack D. Dale of Fairfax County Public Schools met with local student journalists from all over the county for a press conference on Jan. 16. Dale spoke briefly about the operating budget, capital budget and the proposed boundaries to accommodate the growing populations in certain schools. FCPS Spokesperson Paul Regnier was also in attendance.

            The Board of Supervisors told FCPS that it  had incurred a $100 million deficit and that cuts had to be made to balance the budget. Dale proposed to minimize the deficit by 50% through cuts made in schools and the central office. The effects of the budget cuts will be three times as severe in the central office than in the schools, with only a one and half percent of the schools budget being cut and roughly four and a half percent being cut from the central office.

            “I am trying to protect the schools as much as possible,” said Dale.

The deficit was created when real estate values dropped in Northern Virginia and less money was collected from the real estate taxes. Because of the sudden drop in housing values, Dale was told to plan the 2009 budget without the expectation of any new money from the county.

The operating budget is roughly $2.3 billion, 87% of which goes towards the salaries of 22,000 employees. The county funds approximately Seventy-two percent of the operating budget, 20% comes from the state and the remaining funding is provided by federal grants.

            Dale is still including a three percent cost of living adjustment, the expansion of full day kindergarten and replacing the current grading system, SASI, with a newer, more advanced system.  Because cuts have to be made, Dale suggested that schools should begin imposing fees for certain activities that students usually enjoy for free.

Under Dale’s budget, students would have to pay $84 for every AP or IB test they plan to take and students would also have to pay a $100 fee for sports. Only the sports recognized as such by the Virginia High School League, such as baseball, basketball, lacrosse and many others would charge the fee.

Dale also spoke about minimizing the summer school programs and offering more online courses to students.

            Dale then shifted discussion from the operating to the capital budget.  Every year the county spends $155 million on bricks, mortar and other building supplies.  In recent years the county has discovered it to be more cost effective to move away from building new schools and renovate older schools. Currently, FCPS is short 433 classrooms in elementary schools.

Although Dale did admit that completely rebuilding a school could be cheaper than renovating some schools such as Glasgow Middle School. Much of the capital budget will go towards building two new elementary schools to adapt to the growing population. Although these construction projects maybe subject to change because of spikes in the cost of construction material, which in the past five years has doubled. The budget proposes that, for the next five years, the county spend $312 million on 19 elementary schools and $230 million on five high schools.

In high schools alone, 1,500 more students enrolled than expected and projections for the next year predict at least 1,000 more new students who were not taken into account when calculating the budget. This has led the county to consider redistricting, where the boundaries for schools are redrawn, which would relocate thousands of students to different schools.

Dale ended the press conference by opening the floor to questions from the students in attendance. Questions regarding school and bus stop security, later openings, and adjusting the grading scale were answered. A public hearing focused on the FY 2009 Budget will be held on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in Luther Jackson Middle School. The meeting is open to all who wish to attend and or testify.