On Tuesday, September 15, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to spend $707,908 to bring crossing guards back to 10 high schools for the rest of the school year. (FOX 5 DC) Dozens of parents, students, and School Board members urged the board to act, and one student told supervisors plainly that they were angry. (WJLA 7News)
It’s good news. It’s also an admission. The same board cut these guards only four months ago, and families have been warning about it for more than a year. So how did we get here?
It starts with the money. Year after year, Fairfax taxpayers have sent more to the school system. The Fairfax County Public Schools operating budget grew from about $3.0 billion in FY 2020 (FCPS) to about $4.1 billion proposed for FY 2027, roughly a third higher. (FCPS) The county’s own FY 2027 proposal raised its transfer to FCPS by about $99 million, to roughly $2.8 billion. (Fairfax County budget documents) Chairman McKay says more than half of every county dollar now goes to FCPS. (Connection Newspapers)
Homeowners are footing the bill. Herrity says county taxes are up 60 percent over ten years (Fairfax Station Connection), and even after this year’s small rate cut, the average homeowner’s tax bill is rising about $337. (Patch)
Despite all that, the Board of Supervisors told residents in 2025 that the county was nearly $300 million in the red. With more than half the budget flowing to FCPS, the board could have demanded receipts and done real oversight of how that money was being spent. Instead, the Democrat majority went hunting for cuts elsewhere, and high school crossing guards landed on the chopping block.
Spring 2025. Citing that nearly $300 million shortfall, the county proposed cutting 16 high school crossing guard positions. (WTOP) Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity, the board’s lone Republican, warned that nearly half of the proposed line-item cuts hit public safety, including ambulances and crossing guards. (Mount Vernon Gazette) The board patched the program with one-time money for a single year. (FFXnow)
February 2026. The county’s new budget proposal eliminated the high school crossing guard program outright: 13 full-time positions, for a savings of about $1.89 million. (FFXnow)
May 2026. The board adopted the budget 9-1. Herrity was the only no vote. (FFXnow) Even Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn, a Democrat, says he asked Chairman Jeff McKay during budget talks to spare the high school crossing guards and was turned down. (Supervisor Alcorn’s statement)
August 2026. School opened with no guards at high school crossings. Fairfax County Public Schools said the county eliminated them despite FCPS concerns. (WTOP)
September 1, 2026. During the second week of school, a 16-year-old was hit by a car during morning drop-off near South Lakes High School in Reston. (FOX 5 DC) Thankfully, the student’s injuries were minor. Police said the student was not in a crosswalk, and no guard had been posted at that spot before. (WJLA 7News) By dismissal that same afternoon, a crossing guard was back at South Lakes, and the county soon returned guards to 11 high schools on a temporary basis. (WTOP)
If the cut was truly safe, why did the county rush a guard back the same day?
Chairman McKay called the original decision “data driven.” (FOX 5 DC) Residents at Tuesday’s meeting asked the board to publish the metrics it relied on, after waiting more than two and a half hours past the scheduled start of the public hearing to speak. (WJLA 7News) Even the savings number has been questioned. (FOX 5 DC)
Herrity didn’t mince words, calling the cut one of “the dumber decisions this board has made.” (WUSA9)
And the fix may not be complete. Mount Vernon School Board member Mateo Dunne points out that Fairfax has 26 high schools and the restoration covers only 10, which by his count leaves 16 high schools without crossing guards. (WUSA9)
Right after the budget passed, Hunter Mill School Board member Melanie Meren used her May 7 constituent newsletter to criticize the board for eliminating high school crossing guards. (FFXnow)
Chairman McKay didn’t answer with data. He texted Meren that what she wrote was “crazy” and told her to apologize. (WJLA 7News) Then, in a group text that included Meren and a person she believes was County Executive Bryan Hill, McKay shared a screenshot of those messages with the note “What I sent the bimbo.” (WTOP)
Meren asked him directly whether she was the bimbo. McKay said yes, because “everyone here is angry as heck and it costs the schools.” (Patch)
The backlash was swift. Sixteen members of Fairfax County’s General Assembly delegation called McKay’s language “outrageous and deeply disturbing,” and the School Board and the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers condemned it as well. (Annandale Today) McKay apologized, first in a statement and then at the board’s May 19 meeting. Not one of his fellow supervisors addressed it in the remarks that followed. (FFXnow)
A School Board member raised a student safety concern, and the most powerful Democrat in Fairfax County answered with a sexist insult. Less than four months later, a student was hit near South Lakes High School, in Meren’s own district, and the board reversed course.
This is the part that should make every Fairfax taxpayer angry. Money is not the problem in this county.
Crossing guards are paid through the police department, not the school system. (WTOP) But the same board of Democrats writes both checks. Out of a $5.9 billion budget, $1.89 million is about three cents of every hundred dollars. They chose not to spend it on kids crossing busy roads.
What You Need To Know:
Early voting in Virginia begins this Friday, September 18, 2026. (Fairfax County Office of Elections) Vote early, and bring a neighbor who is fed up with one-party rule.
Remember these names. All ten Board of Supervisors seats are up in November 2027. Talk to other parents at pickup, share this article, and show up at Board of Supervisors meetings when the next budget is written. Tell supervisors that student safety is not a line item to trade away.
Fairfax families deserve leaders who put safety first, not leaders who find the money only after a child is hurt.
Sources: FOX 5 DC (Sept. 15) · FOX 5 DC (Sept. 8) · WJLA 7News · WTOP · WUSA9 · FFXnow · Supervisor Alcorn’s statement · Patch · Connection Newspapers · Fairfax Station Connection · WTOP (May 2026) · FFXnow (May 19) · Patch (May 2026) · Annandale Today · WJLA 7News (May 2026) · Mount Vernon Gazette · FCPS · Fairfax County