For two years, Fairfax conservatives have warned that the FCPS School Board funds the classroom last. This week, a Fairfax mother put the receipts on the page.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora — an author, a contributor to The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, and Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network — laid out where Fairfax County Public Schools actually spends. In her own words:

“As Virginia’s largest public school district continues to decline academically, Fairfax County Public Schools’ environmental and sustainability program has exploded in scale since 2020.”

“Despite a $197 million increase from the fiscal year 2026 budget, Fairfax County’s school board members voted last month to reduce school reserve staffing by $8.8 million, eliminating 70 positions.”

“Increasing class sizes and cutting teaching positions while failing to eliminate programs that do not support academic achievement is a symptom of weak and obscenely irresponsible leadership.”

The Board Found $2 Million for “Green.” It Cut 70 Teaching Jobs.

Read those numbers again. A $197 million budget increase. Then the School Board cut $8.8 million and 70 positions.

What survived the knife? Lundquist-Arora documents a 19-person environmental bureaucracy — energy management, “Get2Green,” zero-waste, climate-action coordination — costing roughly $2.2 million a year in salaries.

Superintendent Michelle Reid is paid $445,353. Her chief of staff makes $306,154. Class sizes climb. Reading scores slide. The climate coordinators stay.

Fairfax conservatives didn’t need a study to see the trade. For two years, the Committee has documented a School Board that funds consultants, administrators, and climate coordinators — and treats reading and math scores as someone else’s problem.

A district that found room for a 19-person sustainability office could not find room for 70 teachers. That is not a shortfall. It is an answer about who matters.

The students pay the difference. Bigger classes, fewer teachers, slipping scores — while the climate office grows. Parents were told this is leadership. Lundquist-Arora’s numbers call it what it is.

Fairfax parents fund one of the best-resourced school districts in Virginia. What they are not getting, her column shows, is the best-taught one — and the gap is widening by design.

This is not a budget accident. It is a priority — chosen by a 12-member, Democrat-endorsed School Board that answers to Fairfax parents only once every four years.

The next time is November 2, 2027.

Further reading: “Fairfax School District Prioritizes ‘Green Initiatives’ Over Academic Proficiency” — The Daily Signal, June 1, 2026.