Fairfax conservatives have spent the year warning that the 12-Democrat-endorsed School Board treats taxpayer money as theirs to redistribute up the org chart, not down to classrooms. This week, Fairfax author Stephanie Lundquist-Arora put the receipts on the page.
Writing in The Daily Signal on May 4, 2026, she documents that Fairfax County Public Schools — the same district that cut 275 teaching positions and raised class sizes this year while Superintendent Michelle Reid pleaded “chronic underfunding” — quietly launched a district-funded doctoral program for administrators already earning more than $200,000 a year.
Her column is reprinted in full below.
Fairfax Schools Fund PhDs for Highly Paid Administrators as Teacher Positions Cut, Class Sizes Raised
By Stephanie Lundquist-Arora — May 4, 2026After cutting 275 teaching positions and increasing class sizes this academic year, Fairfax County Public Schools has launched a program to fund Ph.D.s for some of its highest-paid district administrators.
On Aug. 5, 2025, FCPS Chief of Schools Geovanny Ponce, who earns an annual salary of $289,565, emailed hundreds of district administrators to announce the program. “FCPS is launching a district-sponsored doctoral cohort program in partnership with George Mason University,” he wrote. “This program will lead to an Education Leadership PhD concentration, providing an opportunity to deepen your expertise and advance your career.”
On Dec. 16, 2025, Kathryn Blackburn, a program assistant at George Mason University, emailed dozens of selected FCPS administrators to notify them about the program’s upcoming virtual orientation. “During this orientation,” she wrote, “students and leadership will learn about program requirements and expectations, student responsibilities, as well as answer questions about the program.”
The Executive Limitation 4 Monitoring Report — intended to demonstrate and certify whether the district’s superintendent is complying with School Board policy on human resources, specifically how the district manages its workforce — was presented at the Dec. 4, 2025, meeting of the Fairfax County School Board. It describes the district-funded program, stating, “FCPS supports high-achieving leaders through this rigorous academic experience, which will include dedicated FCPS-led in-person and hybrid sessions.”
The report, which appears to be the only publicly available information on the program, does not outline its cost to taxpayers or the application process for interested administrators. It does, however, specify that eligible participants must have at least five years of experience as a principal, director, or above, and “must commit to remaining in FCPS for a period of time following completion of the program.”
Given that Superintendent Michelle Reid, who earns an annual salary of $445,353, has argued that Fairfax County Public Schools — Virginia’s largest school district — is in crisis due to “years of chronic underfunding,” severe enough to increase class sizes, it is inconsistent to support funding a Ph.D. program for some of the district’s highest-paid administrators.
It is also concerning that the School Board certified her as compliant in managing the district’s workforce at its December meeting despite ongoing concerns about how limited resources are being allocated.
In fact, some of the selected candidates who received GMU’s orientation email earn more than $200,000 per year. Among the roughly 20 administrators selected are individuals listed in the table below. Their fiscal year 2026 salaries, along with their positions, were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Name Position Salary (FY2026) William Solomon Chief Human Resources $278,323 Rebecca G Baenig Assistant Superintendent $233,309 Pablo Resendiz Assistant Superintendent $228,735 Marie M Lemmon Assistant Superintendent $228,735 Kimberly P Greer Executive Principal $223,318 Bettrys Huffman Executive Director $216,766 April Lashana Cage Executive Principal $210,407 Candace J Hunstad Executive Director $194,356 Ponce, who announced the program, selected two of his long-time colleagues for the district-funded Ph.D. cohort. Reid recruited Ponce, William Solomon, and Pablo Resendiz to join Fairfax County Public Schools in July 2023, shortly after their failing former district, Houston Independent School District, was placed under state intervention for sustained performance and governance concerns.
Houston ISD’s trash is Fairfax County’s treasure, apparently.
Despite Resendiz’s candidacy in this doctoral program and the stated requirement to remain in FCPS, he has recently alerted colleagues that he would be taking leave from the district for at least a year. While Fairfax County’s taxpayers cover expenses for his Ph.D., Resendiz will be the regional chief for Fort Worth Independent School District’s North campuses.
Selecting colleagues from his former school district for the Ph.D. program is not Ponce’s only decision drawing scrutiny. Ponce, who is slated to lead the public school district in Champaign, Illinois, next year, has drawn scrutiny over hiring practices involving close associates.
For example, inside sources claim the district hired Gustavo Suarez, Ponce’s father-in-law, to be FCPS’s business operations assistant in a non-competitive process. A FOIA response confirmed that an individual named Gustavo Suarez is working as a business operations assistant in FY2026, with an annual salary of $79,774.
Such patterns of internal hiring and close professional relationships help contextualize broader concerns about how district resources and opportunities are allocated. The new doctoral program, for example, raises questions about FCPS priorities at a time when the district has reduced teaching positions and increased class sizes amid claims of chronic underfunding.
While the initiative is framed as a professional development opportunity for senior leaders, it is being implemented for some of the district’s highest‑paid administrators with limited publicly available detail on its overall cost, selection process, or return on investment.
The overlap between senior leadership, internal recruitment networks, and eligibility for the doctoral program further underscores concerns about transparency and decision-making within the district.
At moments like this, strong external monitoring of public school systems is essential to ensure that resource allocation aligns with community needs and that oversight does not rely solely on internal actors.
As FCPS continues to cite fiscal constraints in instructional areas, the decision to finance Ph.D.s for top district administrators earning over $200,000 annually is indefensible.
Read those numbers again. Two hundred and seventy-five classroom teaching positions cut. Class sizes up. And then a doctoral program for administrators who already make more than every classroom teacher in the building combined — paid for by the same parents who got told there wasn’t money for instruction.
This is not a budget mistake. This is the priority. Superintendent Michelle Reid serves at the pleasure of a 12-Democrat-endorsed School Board, and that Board certified her as compliant in workforce management at its December 4, 2025 meeting — with this PhD program already running. They knew. They signed off.
Every member is on the November 2027 ballot: Chair Sandy Anderson (Springfield), Vice Chair Robyn Lady (Dranesville), Karl Frisch (Providence), Ricardy Anderson (Mason), Tom Dannan II (Braddock), Seema Dixit (Sully), Mateo Dunne (Mount Vernon), Ryan McElveen (At-Large), Kyle McDaniel (At-Large), Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill), Ilryong Moon (At-Large), and Marcia St. John-Cunning (Franconia). All twelve. No Republican voice in the room when the priorities got set.
Breaking the 12-0 lock on the Fairfax County School Board takes more than reading a column and shaking your head. It takes Republican challengers in every magisterial district in 2027 — and before that, it takes resources to fight the federal map Richmond is drawing right now to lock in Democrat power through the November 3, 2026 midterm.
Out-of-state Democrat PACs are already wiring money in. The only way Fairfax conservatives answer that is with Fairfax dollars in Fairfax hands. Donate to the Fairfax County Republican Committee today — and forward this column to one neighbor whose kid is sitting in a bigger class this year so a six-figure administrator can collect a doctorate. Match your donation with theirs. That is how 275 teachers come back and twelve School Board seats become a real fight.
Further reading: “Fairfax Schools Fund PhDs for Highly Paid Administrators as Teacher Positions Cut, Class Sizes Raised” — Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, The Daily Signal, May 4, 2026. Reprinted with permission.