By James Jarvis, FFXNow.com

Published February 26, 2025 at 3:45PM

Fairfax County leaders met on Tuesday (Feb. 25) to address a growing school budget crisis, but after hours of debate, they left without a clear path forward.

Faced with rising costs and economic uncertainty heightened by threats of curtailed federal funding, officials agreed on support for Fairfax County Public Schools as a budget priority but remained divided on how to pay for it.

At the core of the debate was whether to raise taxes, push for more state funding, or make deeper cuts elsewhere in the county’s budget. While school board members urged increased investment to keep teacher salaries competitive and maintain quality services for students, supervisors weighed those requests against broader economic challenges, including the impact of federal job losses, commercial real estate declines and affordability concerns.

Further cuts could affect student services, school officials say

The proposed fiscal year 2026 budget released last week by County Executive Bryan Hill includes an extra $118.6 million for FCPS — far short of the $268 million increase in funding that Superintendent Michelle Reid says is needed to cover rising costs, including a 7% teacher pay raise.

With FCPS facing a $121 million shortfall, plus the potential loss of $168 million in federal aid under new Trump administration policies that tie school funding to compliance with executive orders targeting transgender athletes and diversity programs, county officials expressed concerns about how to fill the gap without overburdening taxpayers or cutting essential services.

At this week’s joint budget policy meeting, some supervisors suggested FCPS find savings by increasing efficiency and consolidating administrative services, pointing to past efforts that reduced central office staff, froze non-essential hiring and streamlined operations. FCPS could further examine department redundancies, optimize transportation routes and re-evaluate facility usage, they said.

However, school officials argued that FCPS has already implemented extensive cost-cutting measures in recent years, saving $51 million through operational efficiencies and fee adjustments in the upcoming budget alone. They warned additional cuts could impact classroom instruction, student support services and teacher retention.

“The school system continually goes through measures to look at business processes, look at service delivery, look at efficiencies, to figure out how can we make sure every penny is spent on the kids in the classroom, and that has not changed,” said Kyle McDaniel, an at-large member and budget chair for the Fairfax County School Board.

Adding to the county’s funding challenges, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay warned that widespread federal job cuts — driven by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency — could further strain Northern Virginia’s economy, driving down commercial real estate values and increasing pressure on affordable housing.

With one of the highest concentrations of federal workers in the country, the region would be hit hard by mass layoffs, particularly among federal contractors, McKay said. The ripple effect could lead to reduced tax revenue, strain local businesses and jeopardize the county’s overall financial stability.

“The impacts of what’s happening here, in a very localized way, scare me way more than what happened during Covid because, in Covid, the entire world was affected, and the federal government came through with money for both schools and the county to help us through … a health emergency that affected our economy and affected our revenues,” he said. “This go-around, we are going to feel the pain of this more than anywhere else in the country, and there is no federal money coming in. In fact, the exact opposite is happening.”

State underfunding, tax hikes and tough choices ahead

In addition to criticizing the Trump administration, members of both the Board of Supervisors and the school board pointed to Virginia’s chronic underfunding of public schools as a key factor in FCPS’ financial strain.

A 2023 JLARC analysis found that FCPS is underfunded by $568.7 million, or about $3,100 per student, based on the state’s own recommendations for what schools should receive.

Although Fairfax County receives the largest total allocation of Standards of Quality (SOQ) funding — approximately $838 million in fiscal year 2024 — its large student population results in some of the lowest per-student funding levels in Virginia​.

With his advertised FY 2026 budget, which would take effect on July 1, Hill proposed a 1.5-cent increase to the real estate tax rate, generating about $51 million in additional revenue but raising the average homeowner’s tax bill by $638.

To fully fund the FCPS budget request through property taxes, however, Hill estimated the county would need to raise the rate by an additional 4.5 cents, bringing the total tax increase for the average homeowner to nearly $1,000 — an option supervisors are reluctant to support.

Supervisors have also floated the idea of introducing a 3-4% meals tax, which could help offset a real estate tax hike, but it wouldn’t take effect until January 2026 at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Hill’s budget proposes the largest program cuts since 2010, with a good chunk of the nearly $60 million in reduced spending coming from public safety agencies. More than 200 county government positions are slated for elimination, with further reductions possible if federal aid is lost.

Despite the uncertainty, county leaders stressed that negotiations are far from over. The Board of Supervisors is set to hold additional budget work sessions in the coming weeks, where officials will continue weighing potential revenue sources and cost-saving measures.

As the county moves toward finalizing its budget, FCPS leaders say they will continue advocating for additional state support, while also preparing contingency plans should federal funding cuts materialize.

“We do want to support our teachers,” Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith said. “I think we just need to keep in mind and explain that to the community … We’re going to have our budget meetings coming up, we’re going to hear from the community, and we’re going to have those discussions. But we have to have that balance because we just can’t keep reaching.”

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hold public hearings on the FY 2026 budget and capital improvement plan from April 22-25, with a final vote on adoption set for May 13.