This article originally appeared here, at ffxnow.com

Fairfax County leaders anticipate asking voters to support funding this fall for early childhood education facilities.

Details of the potential standalone bond referendum, including the proposed dollar amount and projects to be supported, will come when County Executive Bryan Hill unveils his fiscal year 2026 budget and related capital-improvement program on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

The amount proposed by Hill will be “in alignment with current economic realities,” Leonard said at a meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 28) of the Board of Supervisors’ Health and Human Services Committee.

The Board of Supervisors will have to green-light the measure and petition the Fairfax County Circuit Court to get a referendum on the ballot. If approved by voters, bond funding would be focused on capital projects, rather than the cost of providing services.

County officials had planned on holding referendums in 2022 and 2024 to provide funding for early childhood education, but ultimately pulled those plans back.

As for the dollar figure to be requested, “we’re working on trying to put together the amount,” said Christopher Leonard, the deputy county executive for health, housing and human services.

At the work session, county staff detailed ongoing efforts to increase accessibility to early childhood education services, focusing primarily on the 25,000 youth living in households that earn less than 350% of the federal poverty level.

That’s about one-third of all Fairfax County children. They are served by a variety of early childhood programs, from Head Start and the Virginia Preschool Initiative to direct financial subsidies.

“We’re trying to be really creative and increase the numbers of those being served,” Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS) Deputy Director Keisha Dotson said. “Family choice is central to all of our programs.”

Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who chairs the committee, concurred that “there are so many ways” to provide assistance to the county’s youngest children.

“One size does not fit all,” she said.

While “a ton of progress” is being made in providing options, there is a need to accelerate efforts to collaborate with Fairfax County Public Schools and private developers to create early childhood education facilities, Board Chairman Jeff McKay said.

“The more joint opportunities we can take advantage of, the better,” he said.

One complexity facing local officials is a decline since the pandemic era in Fairfax County’s overall youth population. A number of factors have contributed to the drop, county officials say, including the high cost of housing and a post-Covid desire by some families to move where they have more space.

FCPS data released last October showed that, if overall trends continue, a majority of students could come from households described as economically disadvantaged.

Leonard said making accurate predictions on youth population trends, and deciding how best to respond to them, is a challenge.

“We’re trying to make adjustments on the fly,” he said.

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity said any increase in the number of available slots in early-childhood programs needs to also include an analysis of how effective those programs are in helping support children before they head to K-12 classrooms.

“Our number-one goal here is closing the achievement gap,” which “hasn’t gone anywhere” in recent years, Herrity said.

Dotson responded that the achievement gap — persistent disparities in academic success for Black and Latino students, English-language learners and other demographics — is a complicated issue that “can’t be told by numbers alone.” However, improvements are being made in measuring outcomes of early-childhood programs, she said.